TRG sees double-digit revenue and profit growth in ‘excellent' first half
The Restaurant Group, which runs more than 400 restaurants throughout the country, has reported a double-digit rise in both revenue and profits for the half year to 30 June 2013.
The company, which is behind brands including Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito and Garfunkel's hailed an "excellent performance" across the business as total revenue for the period climbed 11.5% to £280m.
Profit before tax was up by 15% to £30m, compared with £26.1m in the same period a year ago.
The group opened seven new sites in the first half of the year, and to date it has opened another four in the second half. It anticipates 30-35 new sites for 2013 as a whole.
Meanwhile, the business said that like-for-like sales growth during the 34 weeks to 25 August has been "strong", up 4.25% on the same period a year ago.
Andrew Page, chief executive of The Restaurant Group said: "All of our brands grew like-for-like sales and profits, with the Group's margins nicely ahead of the prior year. Free cash flow was also significantly higher, being 30% ahead of the prior year and net debt reduced by more than £11m to £27m.
"We opened seven new restaurants in the first half, have opened a further four since the half year and expect to open between 30 and 35 new restaurants during 2013. Our new restaurants are trading ahead of expectations, are on track to deliver high returns and the forward pipeline of new sites to 2015 and beyond is the best we've seen for many years and the quality is first class."
TRG's biggest brand is Frankie & Benny's, which has 226 units. It expects to open between 15 and 19 new Frankie & Benny's restaurants during 2013 as a whole.
Meanwhile, it has 69 Chiquito restaurants, which TRG said had benefited from an increasing awareness and popularity of Mexican food.
Among its younger brands are Coast to Coast. TRG has six of these and said they had performed "superbly". It said it believed the brand had "significant roll out potential".
Aside from its Garfunkel's and pub restaurant businesses, TRG also operates 59 concessions for other operators, most of which are in airports.
