Alan Jackson, Chairman provided a trading update at the AGM of The Restaurant Group plc held on 14 May:
Current trading
Trading for the 19 week period ended 10 May 2015 has been good, with total sales 8.5% ahead of the previous year and like-for-like sales 2.0% ahead.
In the year to date, the group has opened 9 new restaurants. These sites are trading well and are set to deliver strong returns.
In total they expect to open between 42 and 50 new restaurants this year (2014: 40), approximately two thirds of which will open in the second half. The quality and visibility of the new site pipeline over the next three years remains excellent.
Balance sheet and financial position
The Group’s balance sheet remains strong and continues to benefit from good cash generation from operations.
Subject to approval at the AGM, the final dividend in respect of the year ended 28 December 2014 of 9.3p per share will be paid on 8 July 2015 to shareholders on the register on 19 June 2015. This will make the full year dividend in respect of 2014 a total of 15.4p per share which represents a 10% increase on the 2013 dividend.
Outlook
The Group is trading in-line with expectations and is on track to report a good first half performance. With an improving film release schedule and slightly easier comparatives in the last four months of the year, it anticipates momentum continuing to build well in the second half of the year.
Douglas Jack of Numis commented:
“The Restaurant Group (Buy, TP: 860p) Solid trading”
“LFL sales rose 2.0% (almost all volume) over the 19 weeks to 10 May, ahead of the restaurant Peach Tracker (+1.2%). We believe restaurants in airports and those co-located with cinemas outperformed, and London underperformed, partly due to inbound tourism slowing. We are holding our forecasts; prospects should build as the year progresses.”
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