Eat’s owners Horizon Capital mull sale amid strain on high street food outlets
The owners of sandwich chain Eat are planning to sell the business as it battles with growing competition in the crowded high street food market.
Private equity firm Horizon Capital, which owns a major stake in the company, has appointed corporate advisory firm Spayne Lindsay to oversee a potential sale.
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The planned sale, which was first reported by Sky News, would be the latest in a string of sell-offs for major high street food chains.
Last year the private equity firm behind coffee chain Pret A Manger sold the business for £1.5bn to German company Jab Holdings, while in January EU antitrust regulators gave the green light to Coca-cola’s £4bn takeover of Costa Coffee.
But City PM understands Horizon has not begun the sales process yet and a deal is unlikely to take place this year. A spokesperson for Eat said the sale “is not expected soon”.
The planned sell-off comes amid growing competition in the fast food sector as high street chains battle for market share.
Last year Eat closed roughly 10 per cent of its outlets in a bid to improve efficiency as food delivery services also eat into earnings.
The most recent statements filed to companies house show the company fell to a loss of £3.7m in the year to the end of June 2017, despite a rise in like-for-like sales of almost five per cent. The firm’s latest statement is due out in the coming weeks.
Horizon Capital, which was formerly called Lyceum Capital, has held a controlling stake in the firm for almost eight years.
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The group has now trimmed its store numbers down to 95, despite Horizon’s plans to triple the chain’s size to 300 outlets.
Horizon declined to comment.