Minor Adding Australian Chain

Bangkok Post:

Minor International Plc, the country’s largest food service operator, plans to invest 10 billion baht to expand business locally and abroad over the next 5 years. The plans include the acquisition of an Australian coffee chain. According to chief financial officer Pratana Manomaiphiboon, the company expects to spend at least 4.5 billion baht this year alone on expansion. About 700 million baht would be used to acquire 50% of The Coffee Club Holding, the operator of Coffee Club, one of the largest coffee chains in Australia.

About 3.3 billion baht would be used for the continuing development of its 3 hotel projects in Bangkok and one each in Phuket, Samui and Krabi. The remaining 500 million baht would be used to open between 70 and 120 new food outlets including The Pizza Company and Swensen’s and to renovate existing stores.

The company also plans to take over between 2 and 4 other food and hotel businesses at an investment cost of about one billion baht each, while also acquiring more brands for its retail business.

In line with the expansion, Minor International estimates earnings growth of around 15-20% per year through the next 5 years. The healthy growth would help the company finance expansion through internal cashflow, said Mrs Pratana.

Minor also has entered a 10-year information technology (IT) outsourcing and application management services agreement with IBM.