STOPPRESS
Franchise Brands Worldwide on acquisition trail
Stephen Hemsley
Franchise Brands Worldwide, whose franchises include repair service ChipsAway and cleaning franchise Ovenclean, have announced ambitious plans for expansion of the group and are actively seeking acquisition prospects. Group chairman Stephen Hemsley is a
well-recognised fi gure within the franchising industry, best known for his 15-year association with Domino’s – initially as fi nance director followed by an eight-year spell as chief executive, subsequently executive chairman (now currently acting as non-executive
chairman). Together with former co-director at Domino’s Pizza, Nigel Wray, Hemsley became involved with the acquisition of ChipsAway, Ovenclean and two other brands from administration after the collapse of the My Home group in 2008. With these businesses they formed Franchise Brands Worldwide. Announcing the expansion plans, Stephen Hemsley said: “We know franchising. We recognised that ChipsAway and Ovenclean had a good foothold in their marketplace, a critical mass and the potential for growth. The franchises are now stable and growing well, so now we’re back on the acquisition trail.” “We’ve looked into a number of possibilities to date, but the risk/reward balance has to be right. We’re very protective of our reputation and won’t get involved in anything that we don’t believe will work as well for the franchisees as for the franchisor. The fi rst thing we look at is how the franchisees make their money and then we look at the corporate structure. Successful franchises are built on successful franchisees, otherwise you can’t recruit and you can’t grow.”
“We’re not interested in start-ups. Our ideal franchise would be an established business of around 50 franchisees, with the potential to grow to a network of around 200. Above all, a franchise joining the group must buy into the FBW philosophy. They need to invest energy and enthusiasm; we’ll provide the ‘corporate’ element. If they love their business and are fully engaged with our vision, then we will work well together.”
Whilst no sector is a particular target, Stephen Hemsley also made clear that business-to- consumer service providers will make a good fi t for the Franchise Brands Worldwide model. He confi rmed: “The repeat order, regular customer base ‘milk round’ franchises tend to be best suited to centralised marketing and fi nance functions, particularly if they are royalty-based rather than operating a fl at-fee licence. In our experience, royalty-based franchises allow the franchisor to see what sells, deliver higher quality marketing support and, ultimately, enable the franchisor to identify with the success of the franchisees, which, after all, is at the heart of a franchise partnership that works.”
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION
Business Franchise
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