Franchise Brands (FRAN) Trading Update summary

Trading performance and market conditions

• Q1 performance improved since the start of the year, with several businesses showing strong results in March.

• System sales at Pirtek franchises grew year-on-year, with gradual improvement in cyclical sectors and potential for larger projects later in the year.

• Water & Waste Services faced challenging markets but maintained resilient demand for essential services and benefited from integration-driven efficiencies.

• Filta North America saw strong year-on-year system sales growth, aided by the FiltaMax initiative and higher used cooking oil prices.

• The B2C division, including ChipsAway, Ovenclean, and Barking Mad, continued to trade respectably despite franchise recruitment challenges.

Strategic initiatives and operational updates

• Progress continues on the "One Franchise Brands" strategy to enhance sales, streamline overheads, and drive operational gearing.

• Major IT projects, including a unified finance system and Vision rollout at Pirtek, are on schedule and within budget.

• Efforts are focused on cost efficiencies, maximizing group-wide sales, and diversifying into growth markets to reduce sector dependency.

Macroeconomic and external factors

• Challenging macroeconomic conditions persist in key markets, with added uncertainty from recent US trade/tariff announcements.

• The group is actively managing controllable factors to mitigate external risks.