Scoring Bigg's in Nigeria

It's an advantage he believes the fastfood franchiser has achieved in Nigeria through a 49% stake in UAC Restaurants.

Acquired from conglomerate UAC of Nigeria in a hotly contested race, the stake brings with it Bigg's, Africa's largest non-SA fast-food franchiser. "It adds 165 stores to our 177 in 15 African countries and takes us close to our initial target of 400," says Kevin Hedderwick, CEO.

Bigg's, which boasts 100,000 customers a day and meat pies as its biggest seller, provides the footprint Famous Brands has so far failed to achieve in Nigeria. After 11 years in Africa's most populous country Famous Brands has a mere eight franchise stores across five of its brands.

The alliance with UAC also solves another big challenge in Africa. "Having the right partner is one of the keys to success," says Hedderwick. "We could not be involved with better people."

It is a lesson Famous Brands learnt the hard way from a foray into Angola that got no further than two stores. "We tied up with the wrong partner," says Hedderwick.

UAC itself is no stranger to alliances with SA companies. In 2011 it sold a 49% stake in its food manufacturing unit UAC Foods to Tiger Brands for R421m and in May this year sold a 49% stake in its logistics unit, MDS, to Imperial for US$26,7m.

It adds up to three notable alliances under the UAC umbrella, which could prove to be a strong synergistic combination, says Richard Middleton of Investec Asset Managers.

Indicating this, Hedderwick says: "Two of our main focus areas will be manufacturing and logistics." The alliance with UAC also provides a "dedicated resource" in Nigeria, which will enable Famous Brands to drive growth of its other brands, especially Debonairs Pizza, he says.

With Bigg's in its stable, Famous Brands has set itself an even more ambitious goal in Africa. "We want to add 200 stores over the next three years," says Hedderwick.

Source: Financial Mail, via I-Net Bridge