Become a Member
  • Track your favourite stocks
  • Create & monitor portfolios
  • Daily portfolio value
Sign Up
Quickpicks
Add shares to your
quickpicks to
display them here!

Restaurant Group Protects Dividend Despite Drop In Annual Profit

7th Mar 2018 10:20

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Restaurant Group PLC jumped on Wednesday as the company maintained its dividend despite falling profit and sales in 2017, with the company saying this reflects its confidence in the delivery of its strategic plan.

Shares were trading at 262.80 pence each on Wednesday, up 11%.

Restaurant Group operates 498 restaurants and pub restaurants in the UK, with its main brands bing Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito, Coast to Coast, and Brunning & Price.

Revenue for 2017 fell 4.4% to GBP679.3 million, with like-for-like revenue dropping 3.0%, though this was an improvement from 2016.

Restaurant Group actually swung to a pretax profit of GBP43.6 million on a statutory basis after a loss of GBP49.3 million in 2016.

However, on an adjusted basis, pretax profit fell to GBP56.7 million from GBP77.1 million. In 2016, it booked exceptional items of GBP126.5 million, compared to just GBP13.2 in 2017.

Despite the drop in profit, Restaurant Group is paying a final dividend of 10.60p per share, which means the total payout for 2017 will be flat year-on-year at 17.40p.

The company said the like-for-like sales decline was due to investment in price and proposition in its Leisure brands, which was slightly offset by strong like-for-like sales in the Pubs and Concessions businesses.

Restaurant Group added proposition enhancements in its Frankie & Benny's chain is leading to improved volume growth, while Pubs is continuing to outperform the market. The company's GBP10.0 million cost reduction programme has been delivered ahead of plan, it said, enabling re-investment in Leisure.

Trading in 2018 has been in line with expectations, with first half trading to reflect "significant" price investments made in 2017.

Chief Executive Andy McCue said: "As expected, 2017 was a transitional year for the group, with significant investments made in price and proposition within our Leisure business, which is driving improving volume momentum.

"We start 2018 with a significantly more competitive offering in our Leisure business, a strengthened pipeline of growth opportunities in both our Pubs and Concessions businesses, and a leaner, faster and more focused organisation."


Related Shares:

RTN.L
FTSE 100 Latest
Value8,809.74
Change53.53