/ 11 February 2004

Steers to change name

Steers Holdings will change its name to Famous Brands Limited in March, the South African quick-service and fast-food company announced on Wednesday.

The company’s abbreviated name will be FamBrands and it will remain listed in the leisure and hotels sector of the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa. It is anticipated that the name change will be effected by the end of March.

Group financial director Paris Papageorgiou says: “The rationale for the name change stems from the evolution of the group over recent years, culminating in the acquisition of Pleasure Foods (Pty) Ltd in December 2003. From the original Steers brand, Steers Holdings has developed into an integrated yet widely diversified business.

“With transformation of the group, the demand grew to differentiate the corporate name from the brand, hence management elected to adopt a name which more accurately reflects the full diversity of the holding company’s brand portfolio, namely Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs Pizza, FishAways, Whistle Stop, House of Coffees, Brazilian and Pouyoukas Foods,” he said.

The name change and corporate rebranding exercise is one element of a comprehensive strategy implemented by the management to successfully integrate the Wimpy and Whistle Stop businesses into the existing infrastructure.

Steers’s name change is pending shareholders approval and the registrar of companies.

The company will release its year-end results in May this year. — I-Net Bridge