Restaurant Group at the end of last week managed to raise £57 million through a share issue to ensure sufficient liquidity to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis raging through the UK hospitality industry.
It was a significant vote of confidence from the London Stock Exchange and existing shareholders in Restaurant Group that at this point in time the additional funds could be raised.
The confidence was at least in part resultant of a pragmatic management team setting market expectations that did not over promise, time will see if they can be delivered.
A spokesperson for Restaurant Group alongside news of the share issue success said: “The placing is expected to provide sufficient liquidity for the Company to deal with this challenging environment and enable it to continue to operate, where possible, through this extraordinary period whilst ensuring that it is well positioned for the eventual normalisation.”
The statement went on further to say Restaurant Group is currently planning that all of its restaurants will remain closed until the end of June. They also expect that social distancing to be in force after the lockdown is lifted and need to adapt to that.
The company said will be extremely disciplined in a phased roll out of restaurants re-opening between July and December, 80% of its 600 venues.
Restaurant Group furloughed circa 20,000 of its staff team and has substantially cut operating costs to around £3m a month.
The sentiments of Restaurant Group are similar to New York restaurateur Danny Meyer, who was similarly rewarded by hedge funds recently for his pragmatic view of the New York and wider US restaurant market.
