Pho owners consider sale
According to The Telegraph, City sources say Pho’s private equity owners, Gresham House, are considering offloading the company.
The restaurant chain is the creation of Stephen and Juliette Wall, who opened the first Pho restaurant in Clerkenwell in 2005.
It received financial backing from private equity investor Livingbridge, then known as Isis Equity Partners, in 2012.
Last year Livingbridge sold the fund and investment management business responsible for Pho to Gresham House.
Pho currently operates 29 restaurants in total, the majority of which are in London with others located in cities including Manchester, Oxford, Liverpool, Bristol and Exeter.
According to its latest accounts, Pho’s turnover grew 12.8% to £34m for the year ending February 2019 with like-for-like sales increasing by 5.4%.
However, EBITDA fell by 10.5% in the same period from £2.2m to £2m, with the company saying good weather and England’s success in the football World Cup last year impacted its performance.
It added that the closure of two profitable restaurants for major refurbishment works had also had a negative impact on earnings
The company said it was “well placed” for further growth, with a number of sites already identified both in London and nationally.
It wrote: “Such a roll out plan is not considered a risk to the business as sites will not be opened if it is thought they would cause any unnecessary strain on the current estate.”
