Umoe sells Burger King Scandinavia

Umoe Restaurants, one of the companies of investor Jens Ulltveit-Moe, is selling Burger King Scandinavia to Ring Holding, a holding company based in Austria, according to a statement from the company.

The sale will be part of the restructuring of Umoe’s portfolio, according to the announcement.

The transaction includes Burger King Scandinavia, including 128 wholly owned restaurants. Burger King operates a total of 272 restaurants in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, divided into own and franchises.

Burger King’s restaurants continue to operate as before. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

– This sale will enable Umoe Restaurants to sharpen its portfolio and focus its operations on the Norwegian market, in line with the company’s revised strategy, says Espen Hoff, CEO of Umoe Restaurants, in the press release.

The final transaction is subject to an agreement on ordinary closing terms, including an agreement with Burger King Europa.

Burger King Scandinavia will continue operations as usual, under current management, according to the announcement.

– We are proud to be part of Burger King’s development in Scandinavia, says Ralph Martens, Chairman of the Board of Ring Holding in the announcement.

– As a family-owned company, our focus is long-term, and we are very grateful for the trust Umoe gives us in leaving Burger King in our hands. Our goal is to further strengthen Burger King by operating responsibly both in terms of financial success and social responsibility, through our work to preserve nature and society.

According to the announcement, the final transaction is conditional on an agreement on ordinary closing terms, including an agreement with Burger King Europa.

Billions of dollars in 2019

The annual accounts of the Ulltveit-Moe group Umoe Group for 2019 show that the company was in a demanding situation even before the corona crisis. Profit before tax ended at minus NOK 2.2 billion, when write-downs of NOK 1.2 billion related to ethanol production in Brazil were included, as well as losses related to the sale of the Rec Silicon asa shares to Kjell Inge Røkke of NOK 298 million.

– It has been well known that we have worked with restructuring and restructuring of Umoe’s portfolio. It is also well known that there have been challenges associated with Brazil and Rec Silicon. The losses last year are a consequence of the changes we made, said CEO Jarle Roth in the Umoe group when DN discussed the annual accounts in April.

Strong corona impact

Over the years, Ulltveit-Moe has built itself up to become Scandinavia’s fast food king. The investor has so far owned more than 400 restaurants, many of which are franchises such as Burger King, Starbucks and Peppe’s Pizza.

However, this has not been very profitable. From 2008 to 2019, the total deficit in the company Umoe Restaurants has approached the billion. Then it did not help that the world was hit by a pandemic.

In April, 3,150 employees were laid off, corresponding to 75 per cent of the staff. When DN mentioned the restaurants in April, half of the turnover had been lost after the corona pandemic.

– Burger King has experienced great growth during our ownership. This transaction is proof of the success and strength that characterizes the operations of Burger King Scandinavia. This was most recently shown through Burger King’s very strong recovery after the corona closure in March and April, says Espen Hoff, CEO of Umoe Restaurants, in the press release in connection with the Burger King sale on Tuesday. (Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other form of use of all or part of the content, can only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.