The Restaurant Group reports ‘very encouraging’ performance
Year to date like-for-like sales versus 2022 for the 17 weeks ended 30 April were up across all four of the groups divisions.
Wagamama was up 4%, pubs were up 6%, leisure was up 3% and concessions were up 31%.
The sharp rise in concessions sales is largely down to the impact of Omicron on travel last year but the group highlights that the division is up 5% on 2019.
The Restaurant Group (TRG) - which also operates Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito - also reported good progress on cost saving initiatives delivering around £5m of incremental cost savings on an annualised basis and that it was ‘tracking ahead of management expectations on its medium-term margin accretion and deleveraging plans’.
“We’ve enjoyed a really positive first four months of the year,” says TRG CEO Andy Hornby. “Wagamama and our Brunning & Price Pubs continue to trade very strongly and it is especially pleasing to see the consistent growth in “dine in” sales with customers clearly enjoying eating out despite the economic backdrop. Our Concessions business is also performing particularly strongly as air travel continues to recover.”
The figures come ahead of TRG's AGM later this month (23 May), which looks set to be a lively affair with two major shareholders set to vote against its remuneration policy.
New York-based investor Irenic Capital Management has led calls for TRG to overhaul its current pay scheme, particularly with regard to CEO Andy Hornby’s salary.
It has also suggested TRG dispose of its ‘non-core assets’ and focus its attention solely on owning and growing the Wagamama brand.
In its full year 2022 results, published earlier this year, TRG reported that sales growth across its leisure estate remained flat and was 5% behind the market.
However, it also hailed ‘robust trading’ across its Wagamama, pubs and concessions arms, which all saw 'like-for-like sales outperform their respective market benchmarks'.
The group currently plans to exit around 35 potentially loss-making locations in its leisure estate over the next two years through a combination of exercising break clauses, lease expiries, selective conversions and accelerated disposals.
