Restaurant Share Discussion Threads

[philanderer] 22/4/2016 13:32

Will do hjs , firm today again on a poor market day.


Garfunkel's ‏@Garfunkels 20 seconds ago

We're supporting the #LondonMarathon on Sunday by giving a FREE lunch to all medal holders! Come help us celebrate!

[hjs] 22/4/2016 09:54

Phil

Watchout for an increase in daily volume... this will tell the vague whisper story.

[philanderer] 22/4/2016 09:18

22nd april Barclays 'equal weight'

reiterates

[philanderer] 21/4/2016 23:37

Dominic WalshVerified account ‏@walshdominic 6 hours ago

(Business reporter The Times)

Vague whispers of private equity interest in The Restaurant Group of late, though shares down today amid whiff of burnt fingers

[philanderer] 21/4/2016 23:28

Thanks hjs ,

proactiveinvestors.co.uk carried a similar story in their market report wednesday evening..

"Private equity firms are developing an appetite for troubled Frankie & Benny's owner Restaurant Group PLC, according to market rumours.

The chatter in dealing rooms was that UK group Permira could bid for the company, which also owns the Chiquito and Coast to Coast chains among others.

There was also vague talk that US private equity firms that already have restaurant interests were eyeing Restaurant Group (LON:RTN) to boost their portfolios.

Restaurant Group shares have almost halved from about 723p in November last year as the company has faced tough trading.

Last month, it said challenging markets at the end of last year had endured into early 2016 as consumer demand and confidence had softened.

It said the tough conditions were likely to continue and it would be difficult to boost like-for-like sales consistently, although total sales would benefit from new openings.

Shares in the group edged up 0.74p to 375.34p, having reached 379.2p at one point. Spokesmen for Restaurant Group and Permira declined to comment.

[hjs] 21/4/2016 22:54

There is gossip that Permira the private equity owner may be keen to buy RTN (in today's evening standard)
Some of the parts is worth a lot more than where it is today so it is possible someone is looking to buy.....

[philanderer] 20/4/2016 21:25

Chiquito Restaurant ‏@TheChiquito 1 hour ago

The Chiquito annual conference fiesta is underway! All our amigos in one room, watch out for some sombrero selfies

[philanderer] 19/4/2016 13:36

:-D

Jay Rajdev ‏@jayrajdev 5 hours ago

When you leave creative dev to the kitchen staff #garfunkels #smellthegrease

[philanderer] 19/4/2016 09:34

Well that seems to have helped :-)

[philanderer] 19/4/2016 09:19

*TRADERS: UBS REMOVES RESTAURANT GROUP FROM SMALL & MIDCAP KEY CALLS

04/19/2016 | 07:35am CEST

© Alliance News, source

[philanderer] 18/4/2016 10:37

Nope, false dawn.

Morning dlku .

[dlku] 18/4/2016 08:39

zapping up

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 17:45

Better week +10.5p :-)

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 13:05

Garfunkel's ‏@Garfunkels 52 minutes ago

How many differences can you spot in our NEW Hot Dogs? Send us your answer using #LondonLegend to WIN a meal for 2!

[imranawan] 15/4/2016 13:04

It will be interesting to see if the rise is off the back of this being very oversold, or whether the start of a bounce. Personally, I think the upcoming TU I believe at their AGM will be critical, to see if the decline in LFL's have got worse, stabilised or started to improve slightly.

Just look at PLND where LFL's have deteriorated - a different business I know, but the market is harshly treating drops in LFL's or slower growth.

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 12:56

Up on top volume ... 2.5 million traded so far today

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 12:16

ft Alphaville this morning...

Restaurant Group PLC (RTN:LSE): Last: 371.00, up 9.7 (+2.68%), High: 373.00, Low: 357.40, Volume: 2.08m
BE
Um, no. Nothing specific anyway.
PM
hmm
PM
Was just told to keep an eye, but there’s nothing specific
PM
Let’s move to fallers
BE
Hang on, since you mention it …..
BE
There was some talk around Restaurant Group being a PE target post the last profit warning but it was all very vague stuff.
PM
Well, seems the rumour has got a retread
BE
Stifel makes the valuation argument today.
BE
Recent trading: Like-for-like sales were 1.5% ahead in 2015, but there was a
1% decline in the last seven weeks of the year. This weaker trend continued
into 2016 and LFLS were down 1.5% in the first 10 weeks, although the
opening weeks of the year were stronger. Accordingly the underlying recent
trend is perhaps -2%, at best. This is attributed to weaker economic conditions
and increased competition in the sector. The business has a high level of
operational gearing and we estimate each 1% change in sales equates to
£3-4m of profit. Against this we consider there are opportunities to reduce
central costs and note that above unit overheads were £38.0m in 2015, up
£3.6m on the previous year.
New openings: We expect some modest scaling back of the new opening
programme for 2016. While the group continues to achieve high returns on
capital from its expansion programme, with payback periods of under three
years, in the light of the trading background it is natural to take a slightly more
prudent attitude. Accordingly there could be around 38 new openings this year,
compared to 44 in 2015.
As with any multi-site operator, the group has some underperforming units but
there are only a handful of loss-making sites, as evidenced by the modest
onerous lease provision of £3.7m. These sites mainly relate to historical leases
signed in the 1990s by previous management, and some legacy sites that
have been sub-let.
Finance: The group is in a healthy financial position, with net debt of £28.4m
at December 2015, compared to the group’s £140m bank facility. The financial
position remains very healthy, in our view, with net debt/EBITDA of 0.2x,
although there are significant leasehold rental payments of £74m per annum.
Our forecasts indicate an underlying free cash flow of £85m, before spending
on new units, and accordingly the free cash flow yield is a highly attractive
11.6%.
Forecasts: We revise our like-for-like sales assumption from flat to -1% for
2016 and downgrade our pre-tax profit forecast by £5m to £85m, which
assumes a 100 basis point reduction in operating margins to 12.0%.
Valuation: On our revised forecasts the rating of the shares looks low at under
11x earnings and around 6x EBITDA. There is a dividend yield of 4.8% and
the underlying free cash flow yield is over 11%. Certainly private equity
companies have paid much higher multiples in recent times.

In addition to its main leisure restaurant brands we note that the group owns a successful concessions business, an attractive pub restaurant chain of 54 units, and material freehold property assets. On page 4 we arrive at a sum-of-the-parts valuation of 492p per share. We consider the shares look undervalued on a number of criteria, although cautious investors may wish to see evidence that downgrades to earnings estimates have stabilised.

BE
PE already owns a lot of this sector, of course.
PM
492p sum of the parts?

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 10:38

Morning dlku , bite yer hand off for that :-)

[dlku] 15/4/2016 09:43

500p filly boy

[philanderer] 15/4/2016 09:42

Well there`s our persistent seller revealed ... it`s Standard Life , another 1.5 million dumped yesterday.

Good news if they`ve finished is that we should get a nice bounce

[adobbing] 14/4/2016 23:07

What relevance is a report on dining out in the USA to a company operating restaurants in the UK only?

[el chupacabra] 14/4/2016 22:51

According to the latest Consumer Price Index data from The Labor Department, it has never - ever - been more expensive to "dine out" relative to "eating at home."

[philanderer] 14/4/2016 16:41

Agree imranawan

[imranawan] 14/4/2016 13:46

Would like to see some directors putting their hands in their pockets and buying some stock!

[philanderer] 14/4/2016 13:37

And Standard Life dumping 2 million