Spur rocked by R129.5 million legal threat

Spur was forced to raise a R129.5 million provision amid an ongoing litigation claim, which has severely impacted the restaurant giant’s results for the 2026 financial year.

Spur released its annual financial statements for the year through June 2026 on Thursday, 20 August.

The company reported that its revenue increased by 8.5% to R4.19 billion, and that its before-tax profit would have grown by 12.8% to R453.1 million.

However, in the 2026 financial year, Spur had to raise a R129.5 million provision due to its ongoing litigation with GPS.

The GPS dispute dates back to 2019, when GPS Foods sued two companies within the Spur group over what it alleged was an oral agreement between the parties.

GPS claimed that it and Spur had made an agreement to establish a joint venture to acquire, develop, and manage a rib-processing facility.

However, GPS alleged that Spur then backed out of the deal, claiming it caused significant damage to its operations.

GPS took the matter to court and made two claims against Spur:

• A primary damages claim of between R119.9 million and R167 million for breaching the contract
• A backup delictual claim of around R95.8 million for GPS’s alleged accumulated losses to the date of the claim

Spur and GPS agreed in 2019 to refer the matter to arbitration, which commenced on 23 October 2023. 

In August 2025, the arbitrator issued a partial award in favour of GPS in relation to Claim A. Claim B was dismissed.

However, there was still some uncertainty regarding how much Spur would be required to pay GPS for Claim A.

On 7 August 2026, Spur announced that it had suffered another legal blow, as the arbitrator had awarded R74.6 million in damages in relation to Claim A in favour of GPS.

In addition, Spur has to account for interest at the prescribed rate of 10% from the date of the original summons in 2019. This brings the total provision to R129.5 million.

As such, Spur had to raise a R129.5 million provision, which has severely negatively impacted its 2026 financial year results.

Spur plans to appeal the damages claim in its entirety, and said it has been advised that it will likely succeed.

Spur’s 2026 results

Spur reported that its headline earnings decreased by 38.8% to R168.4 million, with diluted headline earnings per share 38.5% lower at 203.46 cents.

The company’s earnings decreased by 36.4% to R173.5 million, with diluted earnings per share 36.2% lower at 209.65 cents. 

However, were it not for the GPS provision, Spur’s headline earnings per share would have increased by 8.9%, while earnings per share would have increased by 11.6%.

From an operational perspective, Spur had a very good year, with its turnover up 6.9% to R12.29 billion.

This was largely driven by its Spur restaurant brand, which made R7.03 billion in turnover, up 5.8% year-on-year. The Spur brand opened a net 11 new restaurants.

The fastest-growing brand in Spur’s stable was Panarottis, which grew turnover by 16.3% to R1.21 billion. 18 new Panarottis restaurants were opened.

RocoMamas also performed well, with turnover up 7.6% to R1.05 billion and 3 new restaurants opened.

Spur’s Speciality brands, which include Hussar Grill, Casa Bella, Nikos, Doppio Zero, Piza e Vino, and Modern Tailors, saw turnover grow by 8% to R1.39 billion.

One drag on the group’s performance was John Dory’s, which continues to struggle despite a brand revamp programme launched in 2024.

John Dory’s saw turnover decline by 11.2% to R374.8 million, and closed 6 restaurants over the 12-month period.

Overall, the Spur Group opened 42 restaurants in South Africa and 10 internationally, while 15 restaurants in South Africa and 3 internationally closed permanently. 

In addition, the group sold its Nikos brand, which operated seven franchised restaurants, during the year.

Spur declared a dividend of 326 cents per share, up 9.0% from the previous year.