The Restaurant Group sales drop 2%

The Restaurant Group (TRG) saw a 2% drop in its like-for-like sales for the 52 weeks ending 30 December 2018 compared with the same period last year.

This is excluding the recently acquired Asian restaurant chain Wagamama. Including one week of trading from Wagamama, the group’s total sales increased by 1%.

The group said it delivered like-for-like sales growth since the World Cup, with its pubs business continuing to consistently trade ahead of the pub restaurant sector and its concessions business “trading strongly”. The company’s leisure business showed improved like-for-like sales momentum through 2018, but was impacted by weaker cinema admissions in December.

TRG said it opened a record 21 new pubs (inclusive of acquisitions) and a record 21 new concessions units during the year. It also expects to deliver an adjusted PBT outcome for the 2018 full year in line with current market expectations.

The acquisition of Wagamama formally completed on 24 December 2018 and the chain continued to trade well over the festive period.

Andy McCue, chief executive officer, said: “2018 has been a pivotal year for the group in which we have opened a record number of new sites in both our pubs and concessions businesses as well as acquiring an extremely high quality business in Wagamama. The enlarged business is now orientated strongly towards growth with a number of exciting opportunities ahead.

“We are focused on executing on our multi-pronged growth strategy and plans for the site conversions and cost synergies are progressing well.”