The Restaurant Group 'burning through £5.5m a month' during lockdown

The Restaurant Group (TRG) has revealed it is burning through £5.5m a month during lockdown and has secured refinancing to help it survive the pandemic.

The company, which owns Wagamama and Frankie & Benny’s, has agreed to new long-term loans of £500m.

It has secured a £380m term loan until 2026 and a £120m revolving credit facility until 2025. The funds will be used to repay all its existing debts, including a £50m Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan received in July 2020.

TRG said in a trading update that it expects the £5.5m a month to continue until restrictions are lifted on hospitality businesses in England, which will be no earlier than 17 May.

The company was hit hard by the pandemic and closed over 100 sites in 2020, with the loss of around 3,000 jobs.

At the end of last year it operated around 400 UK restaurants and pubs and had net debts of approximately £340m.

Around 200 of its sites are currently offering delivery and takeaway, with “very encouraging” sales. Wagamama has retained Colliers International to find delivery-only sites for the brand to enable it to reach customers beyond the reach of its restaurants.

TRG said: “With this strong operating platform in place, the group has good capability to deliver an accelerated reopening plan for dine-in trading, once the current restrictions for hospitality businesses end, with all viable sites being reopened within two weeks.”

TRG's other brands include Chiquito, Brunning & Price and Coast to Coast.