"Famous Brands is a well-run company who we have great respect for. We've grown up in the resultant industry together. But there is nothing on the radar - no discussions or negotiations," managing director Pierre van Tonder told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE.
Mouth-watering gossip has been doing the rounds in the investment community and restaurant sector since 2010, when Famous Brands was dubbed the "king of acquisitions" after its sixth acquisition of the year in November when it added O'Hagan's Irish Pub & Grill to its stable.
CEO Kevin Hedderwick told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE that acquiring Spur would be the logical thing to do.
"It would be the biggest move as far as food goes for us. But are we talking to Spur at the moment? No," he said in November last year.
Famous Brands continued its acquisitive trail earlier this year, adding Milky Lane and Juicy Lucy to its bulging portfolio.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Spur reported an increase in revenue of 15.9% to R403.4 million for the year to June 2011 as improving consumer sentiment in South Africa resulted in a stronger second half trading performance.
But the group said trading conditions remained difficult in the foreign markets in which it operated, particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Owing to the uncertain economic environment the company decided to impair the assets of its group-owned restaurants in Wandsworth and Gateshead, which were opened in August 2010, in England.
The impact of the impairments on the group's profit is R18.5 million, and the group's profit before income tax declined by 5.0% to R116.8 million, impacted by the impairment of the two UK restaurants.
"We said a year ago, that we'd consolidate our UK operations and we'd wait for the economy to gain a bit of traction.
"That economy won't grow in the foreseeable 12-18 months. We thought it prudent to impair these assets. We will still make these two restaurants work," van Tonder told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE.
Earlier in the year, Famous Brands said its UK operations were not faring well too.
Revenue in rand terms declined by 31% to 95 million rand, while operating profit fell 23% to 11 million rand for the year ending in February.
"It's not a pretty place to trade right now, the economy is really bad. But we're doing all the right things, we're battening down the hatches and when the economy turns we'll be well-positioned," Hedderwick said.
Spur said the appointment of a full-time executive to head the group's operations in the UK was also expected to improve performance.
In terms of expansion, Spur will focus primarily on Africa where new restaurants are expected to be opened in Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, Nigeria and Mauritius. It also plans to grow its footprint with 11 Spur, two Panarottis and two John Dory's restaurants in South Africa.
In the year ahead the group said it would focus on aggressively marketing the Spur Family Card and build on the momentum created in the breakfast market through the "Spur Unreal Breakfast" promotion.
"People are definitely not flush with cash. The South African consumer is taking a bit of strain, but people go out to get relief from all of the bad news they hear, for us it's how we create fun for them that will make us trade successfully in difficult times," van Tonder said.
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