NO SIGNBOARD: Introduces Little Sheep hot pot franchise, buys remaining 20% of beer biz

No Signboard Holdings, best-known for its chain of seafood restaurants in Singapore, has entered into a franchise agreement to develop and operate Little Sheep restaurant concept in Singapore.

Little Sheep is a well-known hot pot restaurant in China. 

Established since 1999 with origins from Inner Mongolia, Little Sheep has over 280 outlets across China and markets including the USA, Canada and Japan. Of these, 270 are franchised. Photo: Company
Under the agreement, No Signboard will operate the franchise for 10 years, starting from 18 June 2018.

No Signboard targets to launch one restaurant per year in Singapore within the first five years.

Mr Sam Lim, Executive Chairman and CEO of No Signboard, said, "Little Sheep is known for its delicious soup base that is made from 36 spices and Mongolian lamb delicacies.

"Singapore remains a key, proven and familiar market for our Group with the right demographics to expand our restaurant business portfolio. Given the popularity of hot pot restaurants among Singaporean consumers over the last couple of years, we are confident that this venture would be a great success.”

With 30 years of track record in the F&B industry, No Signboard, in April 2017, diversified its business by starting The Ma2 (Mama) Shop.

This is a cluster of vending machines that sells ready-to-eat meals and medical supplies in seven locations including Tampines and Holland Drive.

Established since 2014, Draft Demark is distributed across around 300 outlets in Singapore comprising mainly pubs, coffee shops and clubs. Meanwhile, No Signboard's fully-owned subsidiary – Tao Brewery -- has entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement with Mr Samuel Chen Shangming to acquire the remaining 20% stake in Danish Breweries for S$400,000. Mr Chen is an executive under the Group’s Beer Business. The Acquisition, to be funded by the Group’s IPO proceeds (S$23.9 million gross), will be spread out across 10 monthly instalments of S$40,000. Danish Breweries owns its signature Draft Denmark brand as well as manufactures and distributes Draft Denmark lagers in Singapore.  "There are about 1,200 coffee shops in Singapore, definitely more than the number of pubs and clubs establishments in Singapore. Therefore, we have also taken the strategic view to focus on increasing our market share and presence in distributing our Draft Denmark beers to more coffeeshops. Our Group remains committed and cautiously optimistic of turning around our beer business in the coming quarters.” -- Sam Lim (photo),  Executive Chairman & CEO,  No Signboard Holdings Draft Denmark sells approximately 80,000 barrels, or 2.4 million litres, of lager annually in Singapore. Prior to No Signboard’s IPO listing on the Catalist board of SGX in Nov 2017, the Group acquired 80% of Danish Breweries in June 2017 for S$1.78 million. The initial acquisition boosted No Signboard’s revenue by around S$3.1 million for FY2017 in a span of 4 months and contributed about 14.5% of its FY2017 revenue. Revenue from its beer business grew 23.1% from S$1.3 million in 1Q2018 to S$1.6 million in 2Q2018. The Group has set aside S$10.0 million of the IPO proceeds to expand the beer business. Mr Sam Lim, Executive Chairman and CEO of No Signboard, said the acquisition of the remaining 20% stake was to "fully capitalise on the potential of the beer business." The company is seeking to reduce the operational costs of the beer business, especially the marketing and distribution expenses, and expects it to boost earnings.