UK Pizza Hut seeks to boost cash after Budget tax hikes

The owner of Pizza Hut’s UK business is mulling over the sale of some of its restaurants as it scrambles to raise funds to absorb tax hikes announced in last month’s Budget.

Heart With Smart (HWS), which operates Pizza Hut’s 140 dine-in restaurants in the UK, wants to raise £10m to invest in touch-screen ordering machines and remote table ordering to reduce its reliance on low-wage staff, who will become more expensive to employ after the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions.

The extra cash could come from existing HWS investors or the sale of part of the business.

HWS employs around 3,000 people. It licenses the Pizza Hut name from Yum! Brands.

A deal to raise the extra funding is expected within the next few months, Sky News reported.

Innovation: Heart With Smart, which operates Pizza Hut’s 140 dine-in restaurants in the UK, wants to raise £10m to invest in touch-screen ordering machines and remote table ordering

Some of Britain’s biggest employers have warned that the Chancellor’s tax hikes could lead to job losses.

The Mail on Sunday revealed that the UK top-ten firms, which between them provide more than 1m jobs, will owe the Treasury over £1billion in extra tax.