英國比薩餅連鎖店擬擴張中國業務
PizzaExpress’s new Chinese private equity owner is eyeing a buyout of the chain’s Hong Kong-based franchise partner as the chain beloved of the British middle classes expands across Asia.
Beijing-based Hony Capital, which acquired the pizza group in a £900m deal with Cinven last year, intends to directly acquire 26 franchised PizzaExpress restaurants in China the company said on Monday, and plans to open up to 15 more every year.
總部位於北京的弘毅投資(Hony Capital)去年與Cinven達成一筆9億英鎊的交易，收購了PizzaExpress。這傢俬募股權集團週一宣佈，擬直接收購中國境內26家PizzaExpress特許經營餐廳，並計劃每年開張至多15家新餐廳。“The PizzaExpress board were very keen to grow our business in China before Hony Capital acquired us,” said Richard Hodgson, chief executive. “Our restaurants in China are typically twice as busy as those in the UK.”
“弘毅投資收購我們之前，PizzaExpress董事會就非常熱衷於發展我們在中國的業務，”PizzaExpress行政總裁理查德•霍奇森(Richard Hodgson)表示，“我們在中國的餐廳一般要比在英國的餐廳繁忙兩倍。”
The Hony deal showed the growing Chinese investor appetite for British consumer brands, and followed on from Bright Food’s purchase of Weetabix in a deal that valued the breakfast cereal at $1.2bn.
弘毅的這筆交易顯示了中國投資者對英國消費品牌的“胃口”越來越大。此前光明食品(Bright Food)曾收購維他麥(Weetabix)，該交易對這款早餐麥片品牌的估值達到12億美元。PizzaExpress opened its first wholly-owned restaurant in Beijing last year, and another in Shenzhen will follow shortly. “There are dozens of second-tier Chinese cities with populations similar to that of London,” Mr Hodgson said, adding that between 10 and 15 openings a year were being targeted.
PizzaExpress去年在北京開了其第一家獨資餐廳，在深圳的另一家餐廳也很快將開張。“中國有幾十個人口規模與倫敦相仿的二線城市，”霍奇森表示。他補充說，目前的目標是每年開張10至15家新餐廳。“It has taken us 15 years to get to 27 restaurants, and we’re not about to make any mistakes in China by rushing,” he added.
“我們花了15年發展到27家餐廳的規模，我們不會倉促行事、在中國犯下任何錯誤，”他補充說。This compares with a target of 20 openings a year in the UK, where PizzaExpress has 400 restaurants, and last month celebrated 50 years since its first outlet was opened in Soho.
相比之下，PizzaExpress計劃在其擁有400家餐廳的英國每年開張20家新餐廳。上月，這家比薩連鎖店慶祝了其首家餐廳在倫敦蘇豪區(Soho)開張50週年。The China franchise was established 15 years ago by Justin Kennedy, a former investment banker at Citigroup in Hong Kong, who introduced a ‘Peking Duck’ pizza for Chinese diners.
按特許經營模式運作的在華業務是15年前由前花旗集團(Citigroup)投資銀行家賈斯汀•肯尼迪(Justin Kennedy)在香港建立的。他爲中國食客推出了“北京烤鴨”比薩餅。First-half results released on Monday showed the chain was earning a decent crust for its new Chinese owners, with a 15.8 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to £55m on total revenues that grew 9.4 per cent to £231m.
週一發佈的上半年業績顯示，這家比薩連鎖店爲中國新東家帶來了不錯的盈利，未計利息、稅項、折舊及攤銷的盈利(EBITDA)增長15.8%，達到5500萬英鎊，總營收增長9.4%，達到2.31億英鎊。The group’s UK restaurants saw a 6.8 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the 28 weeks to 11 January, compared with the same period a year ago. Mr Hodgson said sales had been boosted by “improved consumer sentiment, particularly in London” and the number of covers and average spend per head were both rising.
該集團在英國的餐廳在截至1月11日的28周裏實現6.8%的同店銷售同比增長。霍奇森表示，提振銷售的主因是“消費者信心好轉，特別是在倫敦”，顧客人數和人均消費雙雙上升。Combined with the impact of deflationary ingredients prices, this boosted the group’s ebitda margin by 1.3 percentage points to 23.8 per cent.
再加上食材價格下降的影響，該集團的EBITDA利潤率得到1.3個百分點的提振，達到23.8%。International sales, including China and the Middle East, rose 45 per cent on a like-for-like basis, with restaurants opened in Delhi and Mumbai in the period.
包括中國和中東在內的海外銷售在同店基礎上增長45%，其間在德里和孟買開張了新餐廳。Sales to UK supermarkets — responsible for 31m pizza sales a year, compared with 29m sold through its UK restaurants — were “trading well ahead of last year” he added.
他補充稱，面向英國超市的銷售“生意遠遠超過上一年度”。PizzaExpress面向英國超市每年銷售3100萬張比薩餅，相比之下該集團的英國餐廳每年銷售2900萬張比薩餅。
