TGI Fridays expects casual dining competition to drop 30 per cent after widespread closures
The owner of TGI Fridays’ UK restaurants said it expects the casual dining chain to perform strongly when lockdown restrictions are lifted as competition has dropped by up to 30 per cent due to widespread sector closures.
Electra Private Equity said the business is “well positioned to emerge strongly from lockdown” into a market with competition reduced by an estimated 20 per cent to 30 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The announcement follows the publication of the government’s roadmap for exiting lockdown, with restaurants expected to reopen fully from mid-May.
The restaurant chain performed strongly throughout 2020 and ended the year with its cash position “virtually unchanged” from March, Electra said in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting this morning.
“Each of the Electra Private Equity PLC portfolio companies is trading in line with expectations, consistent with the trends we reported at our final results announcement on 9 December 2020,” Neil Johnson, Electra’s chairman, said.
“Despite continued uncertainty on timing of the relaxation of trading restrictions, and the impact of that particularly on TGI Fridays, we remain on track with plans to deliver our strategic objective of portfolio realisation in 2021.
“In the most challenging circumstances each of our management teams and their employees have worked tirelessly to put their business in a strong position for future growth and, on behalf of our shareholders I thank them for their continuing excellent efforts.”
In 2018 Electra announced that it would wind up the company in order to return cash to shareholders.