Franco Manca and Real Greek owner agrees to be bought in £93m deal

The company behind Franco Manca and The Real Greek is set to be snapped up in a £93 million takeover deal.

Fulham Shore’s independent board members plan to unanimously recommend that shareholders back the bid, and the deal has already got backing from investors holding 48% of the company’s shares.

The deal will see Japan’s Toridoll, a £1.5 billion giant with 5,500 stores around the world, take over the fast-growing food company.

Toridoll already runs the Marugame Udon, Shoryu and Wok to Walk chains in the UK and is teaming up with Capdesia, the private equity company behind Wasabi Sushi & Bento, for the Fulham Shore deal.

The deal will see shareholders paid 14.15p for each Fulham Shore share. Those same shares were trading at 10.5p on Tuesday before the takeover was announced.

Toridoll said that there is “significant opportunity for Fulham Shore to expand its presence in the UK, internationally and through retail channels (where Franco Manca’s nascent offering of cook-at-home pizzas is demonstrating encouraging progress).”

It comes as the business said that its revenue reached record levels last year. However since the pandemic the type of restaurant that performs well has changed.

The new normal is now that the best performances are at transport hubs and tourist locations, while sites closer to offices have not returned to their pre-pandemic selves.

The business now runs 27 Real Greeks and 70 Franco Mancas, it said.

It added: “The outlook for costs, be they utilities, raw ingredients or labour continue to present challenges for all operators within the sector and we are not immune. As with other operators, finding staff remains challenging.

“Thanks to both our brands’ affordable, value-for-money proposition, the group is well placed to offset these increased costs through increased menu pricing which, when they occur, will be implemented to cover costs rather than increase margins.

“As customer numbers and demand continues to recover, the group currently plans to open around six new UK restaurants across both brands in the financial year ending March 2024 and will review this opening programme in October 2023 at the half year.”