Aramark bigwigs get the guided tour of Avoca

The dance between the Pratt family, who own Avoca Handweavers, and Aramark, the listed US food service giant that is in the frame to buy it, goes on.

A delegation from the multinational, including executives from the US and senior members of the local Aramark management team, was escorted on a tour of Avoca’s various restaurants and shops last week.

Simon Pratt, Avoca managing director and son of the company’s founder, accompanied the group as it viewed and dined in some of the facilities, including its operations at Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, Citywest and Monkstown in Dublin.

Aramark declined to comment, but it’s probably hard to talk when your mouth is stuffed full of all those yummy Avoca salads.

Let’s hope the visitors also got some of those fancy scarves to help block out the Irish weather.

Pratt, as you would expect, says the family is “inundated” with buyout approaches, but no decision has been made. Business is also “buoyant” this year, he says.

So how much might Avoca be worth?

Pratt declined to identify the family’s corporate advisers, but whoever they are, they should be able to get them a decent chunk of change.

The company’s most recent balance sheet, for the year to the end of January 2014, showed shareholders’ funds of €26.8 million. That’s an almost meaningless paper figure, however.

It owned properties worth €31.6 million two years ago, so add at least another 10 per cent to bring that up to date. It owes about €13.5 million in longer-term loans, so let’s say there’s at least €20 million of equity in the properties.

The business will probably throw off profits between €1.5 million and €2 million this year, so the Pratts should look for a big multiple on that to reflect the strength of the brand and the possibilities it would offer to a big buyer such as Aramark. All told, it could fetch close to €50 million, which would leave most of the Pratt siblings walking away with about €10 million each.