TIDMFRAN

RNS Number : 7441D

Franchise Brands PLC

01 July 2021

1 July 2021

FRANCHISE BRANDS PLC

("Franchise Brands", "the Group" or "the Company")

Share purchase programme

The Company announces that it will continue its discretionary programme to buy ordinary shares of 0.5p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") for the next six-month period from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021, up to an aggregate value of GBP260,000 (the "Programme").

The Company will continue to use its Employee Benefit Trust (the "EBT"), details of which were announced on 1 July 2020, to purchase Ordinary Shares. The Programme seeks to mitigate the dilutive impact of share option awards and to improve overall shareholder return.

During the period 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021 ("H1 2021"), the EBT purchased 145,593 Ordinary Shares at an average price of 138 pence per share. 132,940 Ordinary Shares held by the EBT have been used to satisfy the exercise of options over Ordinary Shares. Accordingly, the EBT currently holds 168,278 Ordinary Shares (31 December 2020: 155,625 Ordinary Shares) which represents 0.16 per cent. (31 December 2020: 0.16 per cent.) of the Company's current issued share capital. The net cash cost to the Company during H1 2021 was GBP140,000, with the net underspend to the announced GBP200,000 available for the H1 2021 period being rolled forward to the next six-month period.

The Company and the EBT have entered into arrangements with the Company's joint broker, Dowgate Capital Limited ("Dowgate"), to carry out on-market purchases of Ordinary Shares under the Programme, including on a discretionary basis independent of the Company during any prohibited periods of the Company, as determined by the UK Market Abuse Regulation, which may fall during the period of the Programme.

The Company was granted authority by its shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM") on 20 April 2021 to purchase up to 9,575,847 Ordinary Shares (which represents 10 per cent. of the current issued share capital) subject to a maximum price limit, as detailed in the AGM notice. This authority will expire at the end of the next AGM of the Company in 2022 or, if earlier, at the close of business on 20 July 2022.

Enquiries:

 
 Franchise Brands plc                                 + 44 (0) 1625 813231 
 Stephen Hemsley, Executive Chairman 
 Chris Dent, Chief Financial Officer 
 Julia Choudhury, Corporate Development Director 
 
 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser 
  and Joint Broker)                                   +44 (0) 20 3328 5656 
 Jeremy Porter / Liz Kirchner (Corporate Finance) 
  Amrit Nahal (Sales and Corporate Broking) 
 
 Dowgate Capital Limited (Joint Broker)               +44 (0) 20 3903 7715 
 James Serjeant / Colin Climie / Nicholas Chambers 
 
 MHP Communications (Financial PR)                    +44 (0) 20 3128 8100 
 Katie Hunt                                           +44 (0) 7884 494112 
                                                      franchisebrands@mhpc.com

About Franchise Brands plc

Franchise Brands is focused on building market-leading businesses in selected customer segments using primarily a franchise model. The Group currently has a combined network of over 425 franchisees across five principal franchise brands. Our focus is on established brands which can benefit from our shared support services, specialist sector expertise, management experience and group resources.

The Group is organised into a B2B division comprised of Metro Rod, Metro Plumb, and Willow Pumps, and a B2C division that incorporates ChipsAway, Ovenclean and Barking Mad. This divisional organisation of our brands is designed to provide a greater focus and structure to support the strategic development of our B2B and B2C brands.

Each of our brands are leaders in their respective markets and each brand has a long trading history. The combined trading history of all the Group's brands is over 135 years.

Franchise Brands plc employs some 280 people across three principal locations in Macclesfield, Kidderminster and Aylesford.

For further information, visit www.franchisebrands.co.uk.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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