Tue 8th Dec 2015 - Nando's buys global IP for £480m; GBK returns to profit Nando’s buys global IP for £480m: Nando’s Group Holdings has reported it bought the global intellectually property rights to Nando’s for £480m earlier this year. It was valued with an “arm’s length valuation” and includes the “name, trademarks and system, with the latter including styles, recipes and secret formulae, process and menu items”. The company said acquisitions reflected “management’s continued intent to strengthen the global management of the Nando’s brand and further development of the business”. It added that a range of values for IP assets were calculated for the Intellectual Property assets from £455m to £520m and the consideration was settled at £480m, which is slightly lower than the mid-point of the range. The deal means the company now owns all or very large stakes in subsidiary businesses in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with minority stakes in Indian, Malaysian and Singapore businesses. Meanwhile, Nando’s Group Holdings, which includes Gourmet Burger Kitchen, has reported turnover rose to £587m in the year ending 28 February 2015, up from £535m the year before. Pre-tax profit was down to £44.6m compared to £47.2m the year before. The number of restaurant rose by a net figure of 31 to 401 at the year-end. The company stated: “On 22 February 2015, the company acquired a number of operating companies in various countries, all focused on operating restaurants and other businesses under the Nando’s brand. As result there was an impact on the balance sheet of the company and the group in these financial statements. These acquisitions occurred just prior to the year-end so do not materially impact on the profit and loss performance of the company or group in the current year.” The company reported it also runs 207 restaurants internationally and there are 583 that are run on a franchised basis. Capital investment in the year rose to £63.3m from £56.5m the year before. Gourmet Burger Kitchen reports return to pre-tax profit: Gourmet Burger Kitchen has made a return to pre-tax profit for the year ending 22 February 2015. The company reported a pre-tax profit of £1,114,000, compared to a loss of £139,000 the year before, according to accounts filed with Companies House. Turnover also increased to £55,807,000, compared to £50,496,000 the previous year. The company stated: “We continued our programme of organic openings during the year, opening four (year ended 24 February 2014: three) new restaurants and closing one (2014: zero) taking the total number operated by Gourmet Burger Kitchen to 63 restaurants as at 22 February 2015 (2014: 60). Revenue increased 11% to £55.8m (year ended 23 February 2014: £50.5m). Gross profit increased by 14% to £23.4m (2014: £20.5m) and gross profit margin was 41.8% (2014: 40.5%). Administrative expenses for the year increased 5% to £20.2m (2014: £19.2m) due to the increased number of restaurants in the estate. As a result of the above, the company achieved a 161% increase in profit before interest and tax for the period, achieving £3.2m (2014: £1.2m). Restaurant opening costs for the year increased 47.6% to £0.9m (2014: £0.6m) largely due to the higher number of openings in the year ended 22 February 2015. In our drive to serve the best burger experience, the interaction between our team and our guests plays a vital part and we therefore take steps to ensure that service levels are high. We are committed to the training and development of all team members and we continue to monitor our performance both internally and through customer feedback and mystery diner visits. Team incentives are structured to take into account customer service and other aspects of performance as well as financial performance.”