Baker & Spice sold to Department of Coffee and Social Affairs for £2.5m: Patisserie Holdings has completed the sale of Baker & Spice to the Department of Coffee & Social Affairs for a total consideration of £2.5m. The company stated: “This follows the announcement of the Patisserie Valerie and Philpotts disposals, which were sold in separate transactions for a combined consideration of £13m. The remaining assets, which were not included in the three separate transactions, will be realised during the administrations. As previously announced, following the loss of its nominated adviser and the appointment of administrators, the company is provisionally scheduled for cancellation with effect from 7:00am on 25 February 2019. In the circumstances no objection will be made to such cancellation and it is expected that this will proceed at the appointed time. Note, the three separate disposals involved the sale of assets held across a number of entities within the Patisserie Valerie group, as detailed below: Patisserie Valerie sale – assets held in: Patisserie Holdings plc; Patisserie Valerie Holdings Limited; Patisserie Acquisition Limited; Stonebeach Limited; and, Flour Power City Limited; Philpotts sale – assets held in Philpotts Limited; Baker & Spice sale – assets held in Stonebeach Limited and Spice Bakery Limited.”

JAB Holdings plans Pret A Manger IPO: The Times has reported that the privately owned German company that holds a majority stake in Pret a Manger is planning two initial public offerings. The newspaper reported: “JAB Holding, which was founded in 1828 and is controlled by the Reimann family, owns companies including the Jacobs Douwe Egberts coffee brand, Jacobs and Kenco. It also controls several coffee shop chains and restaurant groups. Founded in 1986 with a single branch in London’s Victoria Street, Pret has more than 500 shops in the UK and overseas outlets in Hong Kong and France. JAB bought a majority stake in the British sandwich chain last year for £1.6 billion.” Peter Harf, chairman of JAB, said he did not know yet which brands would be listed and in which groupings. “We want to big both companies to the stock exchange separately in the next two to three years.”

 

Investors call for quick replacement to be found for Restaurant Group’s Andy Mccue: The Restaurant Group is facing calls to quickly find a successor for chief executive Andy McCue, the architect of the company’s controversial takeover of Wagamama, who has stepped down due to “extenuating personal circumstances”. The FTSE 250 company’s shares dropped more than 10% in the wake of yesterday’s announcement. “They could do a lot worse than appoint Jane Holbrook as chief executive,” said Keith Ashworth-Lord, investment director at Sanford DeLand Asset Management.