Owner of Pret A Manger plans stock market flotation & may sell stake in business
THE owner of Pret A Manger plans a stock market flotation — and could consider selling a stake in the business first.
Luxembourg-based firm Jab Holding bought the sandwich chain for £1.5billion in 2018.
But the pandemic saw it post a £343million loss in 2020 as its key customers — office workers and commuters — were kept at home.
It then launched cut-priced food and coffee subscription services to lure them back when they returned to the office, which helped sales jump by a fifth in 2023.
Pret opened its first shop in London in 1986 and the chain employs 12,500 staff in more than 700 locations across 21 countries.
JAB, which also owns Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Keurig Dr Pepper, has ambitions in the insurance and asset management industry and wants to reduce its reliance on the consumer sector.
It suggested it could consider selling a stake in Pret ahead of a potential listing.
JAB said: “As we move closer to a potential IPO, we may evaluate bringing on a pre-IPO investor.”
It is the first time the group has publicly confirmed IPO plans for Pret.
Ahead of the potential listing, it appointed former
Restaurant Brands International chief executive José Cil as chair of Pret last month.
Pret’s chief executive since 2019 is Pano Christou, who started as an assistant manager in a central London outlet at 22.
The minicab driver’s son, 45, grew up in Tooting, South London, and now earns more than £400,000 a year.
BANK MIS-APP
THOUSANDS of customers were unable to log in to NatWest’s mobile app yesterday.
More than 3,000 outages were reported through services-monitoring site Downdetector.
The bank blamed the problem on an update it made the day before and said it was “working to fix it as quickly as possible”.
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THE average UK house price fell by around £1,150 or 0.4 per cent last month, stats from Halifax show.
But property values have increased by more than £7,000 on average over the past year.
Prices climbed 2.5 per cent in the 12 months to May, but that was a fall from April’s annual increase of 3.2 per cent.