The Restaurant Group announces new debt finance as its burns through £5.5m a month in lockdown
It says its expect the ate of cash burn to stay at this level until the end of the current restrictions for hospitality businesses, which are due to end no earlier than 17 May.
The group has signed commitments in relation to £500m of new debt facilities, which comprise a £380m term loan facility and a £120m super senior revolving credit facility.
The new facilities provide the restaurant group, which also owns the Coast to Coast, Garfunkle's, Brunning & Price and Chiquito brand, with enhanced liquidity and refinancing. They will be used to pay and refinance in full all of TRG’s existing debt facilities, which are due to reach maturity by July 2022.
TRG says the move will simplify its financing arrangements by being consolidated into one finance group at the TRG level, which will provide a more efficient funding structure to support its strategic initiatives.
The group expects a cash burn rate of around £5.5m per four-week period to continue at this level until lockdown restrictions are relaxed to allow indoor dining from 17 May at the earliest.
Net debt at the year-end (27 December 2020), is expected to be approximately £340m.
Around 200 TRG sites are currently trading for delivery and takeaway, with the group describing the performance at those sites in the current financial year as “very encouraging”. It is reporting average standalone takeaway sales in Wagamama and Leisure at approximately two-and-a-half and five times pre-Covid-19 levels respectively, during the lockdown.
