Prestige Holdings Limited

What it is

Prestige Holdings Limited was incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago in 1972 and operates a chain of restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago under long-term franchise agreements for the KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway and Starbucks brands, listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

Beyond its home market, the group holds the TGI Fridays franchise in both Trinidad and Jamaica, and also operates Starbucks in Guyana, making it a small but genuinely multi-territory Caribbean restaurant operator.

Who owns it

Prestige Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of Victor E. Mouttet Limited — a private holding company belonging to the Mouttet family.

The Mouttet family, through three companies, owns about 68% of PHL.

Victor E. Mouttet Ltd (VEML) is the majority shareholder of both Agostini Ltd (48.5%) and PHL (52.9%) directly.

The remaining shares trade freely on the TTSE, giving public investors a free float of roughly 32%.

Who runs it

Christian E. Mouttet serves as Chairman of the board of Prestige Holdings.

He is also Chairman and CEO of Victor E. Mouttet Limited and Chairman of Agostini’s Limited — one family, three interconnected companies at the top of Caribbean commerce.

Simon Hardy is the company’s Chief Executive Officer, running daily operations across all brands and geographies. CFO details are not disclosed in available sources.

The money, in plain words

For the year ended November 30, 2024, PHL reported revenue of TTD 1.35bn (US$200.5m, our calculation) — up 1.6% — and a profit before tax of TTD 100m, a 20% improvement on 2023.

Net profit after tax came in at TTD 66.5m (US$9.9m, our calculation), up from TTD 55.9m in 2023 — meaning PHL kept about 4.9 cents of profit from every dollar of sales, a net margin of 4.9% (our calculation), modest for a franchise operator whose biggest costs are staff, rent, and royalties paid to US brand owners.

Diluted earnings per share rose 18%, from TTD 0.896 to TTD 1.06. During the year the group generated TTD 143m (US$21.2m, our calculation) in operating cash flow, ending the year with TTD 104m in cash against TTD 58.9m in debt — net cash of about TTD 45m (US$6.7m, our calculation), a clean balance sheet.

The board approved a final dividend of TTD 0.36 per share, bringing total dividends for FY2024 to TTD 0.52 versus TTD 0.45 in 2023 — a trailing yield of roughly 3.6–3.8%, above the sector average and supported by strong cash generation.

What it is doing now

In June 2025, conglomerate Agostini’s Limited announced its intention to acquire 100% of Prestige Holdings via a share-swap offer, under which PHL shareholders would receive one AGL share for every 4.8 PHL shares held, with the offer scheduled to close on July 21.

The offer values PHL shares at TTD 13.85, a 6.9% premium over the last traded price, and the PHL board of directors recommends that shareholders accept the bid. Chairman Christian Mouttet has recused himself from all discussions related to the proposed acquisition, given that his family vehicle controls both companies.

What to watch

• Takeover outcome: If Agostini’s acquires at least 90% of PHL shares within 120 days of the offer, it may trigger a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares under Section 202 of the Companies Act. Minority shareholders face a binary choice: accept the swap or hold on.
• Foreign exchange: PHL is closely monitoring the impacts of geopolitical change on supply chains and input costs, and has flagged that foreign exchange availability in Trinidad continues to be a major challenge — a structural risk for any company paying US-dollar royalties and importing raw materials.
• Expansion: PHL plans to open a second TGI Fridays in Portmore, Jamaica, with new Starbucks cafes also under consideration in Guyana — the geographic diversification that would matter most to a post-acquisition Agostini’s group.
• Margin trajectory: Net margin is thin at 4.9% and recovering from COVID lows; any wage pressure or further minimum-wage increases in T&T — already flagged as a driver of price rises at KFC — could squeeze that line.

This is news, not investment advice.