Anyone holding this share, any comment? It recommended by few brokers.

not so; it's standard practice at any good public school, either by one of the senior boys or from a master if you were one of the chosen .... but as you're just a pleb (a peasant or one of the great unwashed to the uneducated), you'ld never appreciate the finer art of same, for your sheep just aren't in the same league

Deutsche Bank Hold 696.75 696.50 675.00 785.00 Reiterate

AGM Statement

At the AGM of The Restaurant Group plc ("the Group"), to be held later today, Alan Jackson, Chairman, will provide the following trading update:


Current trading

Trading for the 19 week period ended 10 May 2015 has been good, with total sales 8.5% ahead of the previous year and like-for-like sales 2.0% ahead.

In the year to date we have opened 9 new restaurants. These sites are trading well and are set to deliver strong returns.

In total we expect to open between 42 and 50 new restaurants this year (2014: 40), approximately two thirds of which will open in the second half. The quality and visibility of our new site pipeline over the next three years remains excellent.


Balance sheet and financial position

The Group's balance sheet remains strong and continues to benefit from good cash generation from our operations.

Subject to approval at the AGM, the final dividend in respect of the year ended 28 December 2014 of 9.3p per share will be paid on 8 July 2015 to shareholders on the register on 19 June 2015. This will make the full year dividend in respect of 2014 a total of 15.4p per share which represents a 10% increase on the 2013 dividend.


Outlook

The Group is trading in-line with expectations and we are on track to report a good first half performance. With an improving film release schedule and slightly easier comparatives in the last four months of the year, we anticipate momentum continuing to build well in the second half of the year.

curious ...... sp has clunked for no obvious reason
unless someone knows something we do not, this level could be a decent buying opportunity into (what i consider) to be a damn good company in the right sector

.

Half Yearly Report

Strong trading performance across all brands with good growth in turnover, profit and margins:

- Total revenue increased 8% to £334m (2014: £308m)
- Like-for-like sales increased by 2.5%
- Operating profit margins increased by 10bps
- EBITDA increased by 8% to £57.4m (2014: £53.2m)
- Profit before tax increased by 10% to £36.9m (2014: £33.7m)
- EPS rose 12% to 14.3p (2014: 12.8p)
- Operating cash flow of £60.0m (2014: £55.9m)

· Interim dividend increased by 11.5% to 6.8p per share (2014: 6.1p)

· Accelerating new site development:
- 12 new sites opened in the first half
- A further 9 new sites opened so far in the second half
- 43-48 new sites expected for 2015

· Year to date like-for-like sales for the 34 weeks to 23 August 2015 up 2%

· Board is confident of another year of good progress in 2015

Looks interesting, couple of gaps filled on the way up. See how it opens on Monday.

Post Close Update

The Group today provides an update on the 2015 full year trading outturn.

For the 52 weeks ended 27 December 2015, total turnover was up 7.9% on the prior year, and like-for-like sales increased by 1.5%. The Group's full year results will be announced on 9th March. These are expected to show material growth in both earnings and cash flow versus the prior year, with profits for the full year towards the middle of the current range of market expectations.

During 2015 we opened a total of 44 new restaurants. We are very pleased with how these are trading and they are set to deliver strong returns. We have good visibility on the composition of the opening programme and we anticipate opening a broadly similar number of new restaurants during 2016.

It has become apparent from much of the recent data from the retail sector and the wider economy that the trading environment for many consumer facing businesses has been tougher in recent months than it was earlier in 2015. This has caused like-for-like sales growth to trend lower and accordingly we are more cautious than previously on the outlook for 2016. A possible referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union, National Living Wage implementation and global uncertainty are all additional issues that we are conscious of going into the new year.

That said TRG has an excellent portfolio of businesses with strong market positions. The Company's move towards a more balanced portfolio is paying dividends and we have a proven track record established over many years of delivering strong financial returns and excellent cash flows, even through more difficult trading periods. Therefore, notwithstanding some of the uncertainties described above, we are confident that TRG is well positioned to deliver further profitable progress in 2016 and subsequent years.

i've followed these for years, but thank goodness i don't currently hold any

Berenberg today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Restaurant Group (The) PLC (LON:RTN) and cut its price target to 750p (from 800p).

JP Morgan Cazenove today downgrades its investment rating on Restaurant Group (The) PLC (LON:RTN) to neutral (from overweight) and cut its price target to 710p (from 815p).

Peel Hunt today upgrades its investment rating on Restaurant Group (The) PLC (LON:RTN) to hold (from sell) and left its price target at 580p.

at the current level (517) this may be a worth a punt
the hammering the share took after its quite good results is probably overdone, though don't forget that we are still in potential bear-market territory

StockMarketWire.com
Restaurant Group has hiked its FY pretax profit by 11.2% to GBP86.8m, with revenues up 7.9% to GBP685m and FY dividend up 13% to 17.4p a share. This was a record financial performance.

CEO Danny Breithaupt commented:
"TRG (The Restaurant Group) has made good progress in 2015 and, despite difficult trading conditions, delivered double digit growth in profits and earnings per share.

"Our strategy of improving the balance of the portfolio is starting to take shape. During the year we opened 44 new restaurants and pubs, taking us past 500 sites for the first time, an important milestone for the business. Our new sites are set to deliver strong returns.

"In common with most consumer businesses we will again have some challenges to face in 2016. However, I am confident that the underlying strengths of our business will enable us to successfully navigate our way through this more challenging external environment."

so why has the share been hammered 17%?

looking at L2, there are no buyers and loads of sellers ..... peculiar

===============

it's so silly that i have taken a small punt at 445.2 which looks good risk/reward

Blimey - I had these in my diary to buy yesterday - for no other reason than memory, I didn't!

Peel Hunt Hold 454.35 580.00 459.00 Retains

Numis Buy 454.50 725.00 725.00 Reiterates

got out at a tiny fraction about b/e as sp does not look to want to recover
wouldn't be surprised to see some hefty bear covering later in the day, but don't want to take the chance

Singer note today:
"The FY15 outcome is in-line with previously reduced expectations. So in summary PBT rose by 11.2% to £86.8m, with LFL growth of 1.5%. This fed through to 12.8% EPS growth to 33.8p and EBIT margin was +30bps. The main positive surprise was on the net-debt side of things which came in at £29.2m vs our £39.6m. Divisionally we note positive commentary around Chiquito, Coast to Coast, Pub Restaurants and Concessions.
However, the top-brand, Frankie & Bennny’s had a more challenging year it seems, with increased competition cited as one of the drag features of the year. In FY15 44 new units were added to the overall group portfolio and a broadly similar number is targeted for FY16, albeit we fear there is risk on the downside here. The main talking point this morning is the weak start to FY16 with LFL’s -1.5% after 10 weeks vs a c.2.5% comp. This is below expectations and we fundamentally believe this reflects strong competitive headwinds/over supply – as outlined in our large sector note recently. We accept there may be some cannibalisation of RTN sites as a factor also.
Management put the slow start down to faltering UK consumer demand, but judging by recent updates from Greggs, Revolution Bars and Domino’s, we would argue that over supply in the casual dining sector is the key factor.
With management effectively guiding to flat LFL’s this morning and given the ST NLW headwind, we see 3-4% downside risk to current year forecasts and greater than 5% for FY17 and FY18. We move back to Sell with a reduced 12m TP of 450p – effectively 13.5x FY16 earnings."

a scary 5-year chart ..... in particular, look at what happened immediately following the last 2 sets of figures ..... i had a lucky escape earlier :-)