Thursday 24 January 2019 8:28 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 3:04 am

Like-for-like sales slip at The Restaurant Group despite Wagamama boost after ‘pivotal year’

Frankie & Benny’s owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) posted a dip in like-for-like sales during 2018, but said that it has been seeing positive growth since the World Cup as its pubs continued to outperform the sector.

The group also remained upbeat on its recent £500m acquisition of Wagamama, saying that the noodle chain "continued to trade well over the festive period".

In a trading update to the London Stock Exchange this morning the firm said like-for-like sales fell two per cent in 2018 compared to 2017, marking an improvement from a 2.2 per cent fall after 42 weeks but missing Shore Capital analyst expectations of a 1.5 per cent drop.

Weaker cinema admissions in December negatively impacted TRG in its final 10 weeks of the year as its multiplex restaurants suffered.

But since the end of the World Cup the firm has reported a modest growth in sales, with total sales improving one per cent year on year.

However, group boss Andy McCue struck an upbeat tone this morning, saying that 2018 had 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".

He added: "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."

The news comes several months after the restaurant chain survived a shareholder rebellion over the acquisition of Wagamama, when leading investors expressed concern over concerns around the size and the price of the deal.

Ahead of the vote shareholders such as Columbia Threadneedle Investments – a top five investor that controls a 7.7 per cent stake in The Restaurant Group – said that it would be opposing the takeover.