Groupe Flo seeks flotation
Groupe Flo, which runs nine Café Flo restaurants in London, goes ahead next week with its flotation on the Paris Stock Exchange to fund future growth.
Chairman Jean-Paul Bucher has earmarked the buoyant UK restaurant sector as a prime area for growth, and hopes to expand the chain to 30, concentrating in London, in the long term.
The group's global offer of 874,980 shares represents 23.5% of the total capital. The Bucher family will retain its 58.4% stake, with 70% of voting rights. Institutes will take 85% of the issue.
An anticipated share price of between Ffr165 (£16.50) and Ffr185 (£18.50) will give the group a market capitalisation between Ffr615m (£61.5m) and Ffr689m (£68.9m). In 1997, it turned in pre-tax profits of about £3.36m on sales of £132.4m.
The company, which claims to serve 30,000 customers a day worldwide in 185 restaurants, also runs a delicatessen (Flo Prestige) in France and Japan and special events caterer, Raynier & Marchetti, in France.
