“The Restaurant Group might be forever linked with the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme because of that photo of The Chancellor enjoying a Wagamama’s but now the business is hoping investors will “Buy In”,” comments Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.
“The £175m it hopes to raise would be the sixth biggest secondary raising of the year so far in the UK and the business promises it is “well positioned to deliver long-term shareholder value.”
There’s no denying the last year has been debilitating for much of the hospitality sector. For a business already bruised by the glut of casual dining enterprises and slap in the middle of a restructuring, it could have been terminal.
“But the route ahead looks less knotted up. Reopening is just weeks away. Rental payments on half of its leasehold sites are now operating on a turnover structure. And cash has already been spent making sites Covid secure. The biggest questions about the group’s future potential can only be answered once consumers are free to return.”
