FAMOUS BRANDS LIMITED - Voluntary trading update

Voluntary trading update

FAMOUS BRANDS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1969/004875/06)
Share code: FBR
ISIN code: ZAE000053328
(“Famous Brands” or “the Group” or “the Company”)


Voluntary trading update

COVID-19: Impact on the business of reduced lockdown restrictions

Shareholders are referred to the announcements published on SENS on
23 March 2020 and 3 April 2020.

In compliance with Government-legislated lockdowns implemented across
our trading jurisdictions, namely South Africa (SA), the rest of
Africa and the Middle East (AME), and the United Kingdom (UK), the
majority of the Group’s restaurants have been closed, with the
exception of limited operations in some markets. In addition, the
Group’s Manufacturing and Logistics operations have also been closed,
with the exception of a small component of direct sales to the retail
market and one manufacturing plant with essential-supplier status,
Lamberts Bay Foods, which supplies potato products.

While the impact of the lockdowns on our business has been varied
across the geographies, the Group has effectively generated negligible
revenue for a period of five weeks.

In light of recent measures to ease lockdown restrictions by the
Governments in our respective trading markets, the Board of Directors
(“the Board”) herewith updates shareholders on the potential impact
these measures might have on the business:

UK
     •   With effect from 29 April 2020, GBK Restaurants Ltd (“GBK”)
         commenced reinstating limited delivery services in a few
         restaurants where practicable. This will potentially form the
         basis of a slow and phased restart.
     •   Wimpy UK has successfully operated delivery and take-away
         services where practicable and in line with regulations since
         23 March 2020.
AME
         Our restaurants in Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,
         Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, UAE, Zambia and
         Zimbabwe continue to trade, albeit with limited services.
SA
     •   In terms of Stage 4 regulations which came into effect on 1 May
         2020 in SA, restaurants may now offer delivery-only services.
         These services are confined to controlled trading hours between
         09h00 and 19h00.    All deliveries must be dispatched well in
         advance of 19h00.
  •   With effect from 1 May 2020, the Group commenced reopening a
      limited number of restaurants for delivery-only services across
      a broad geographical spectrum in a phased programme.
  •   The Group’s Leading brands will be the primary providers of this
      delivery-only service. These brands include Steers, Debonairs
      Pizza and Fishaways, and to a much smaller extent, Wimpy and
      Mugg & Bean. Details of the operating activities of each brand
      will be communicated on the individual brand websites or relevant
      social media channels.
  •   Where practicable, the Group’s Signature brand offerings will
      trial delivery operations with limited geographical coverage.
  •   In terms of the supply chain operation, support to the brands’
      franchise partners will be provided by the Logistics division;
      at this point it is not deemed necessary to bring Manufacturing
      capability on line.
  •   While management is hopeful that these trading activities might
      provide a much-needed boost to revenue and morale, the viability
      of this limited delivery offering remains to be proved.
      Shareholders will be apprised of further updates in this regard
      in due course.


The Board and management fully endorse the various Governments'
decisive actions to contain the spread and impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, and all of the Group’s reopened operations will be managed
responsibly and in compliance with COVID-19 risk mitigating
regulations.

The financial information on which this announcement is based has not
been reviewed or reported on by the Group’s external auditors.

Midrand
4 May 2020

Sponsor
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited

Date: 04-05-2020 07:05:00
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