Tortilla Mexican Grill shares dive amid revenue warning
- Tortilla predicts adjusted earnings earlier than nasties of £4.5-£4.6m this yr
- The agency’s forecast turnover of £69.8m is ‘barely behind’ analyst forecasts
- Bosses blamed the tempered gross sales outlook on weaker shopper confidence
Shares in Tortilla Mexican Grill slumped on Wednesday after the restaurant group declared a revenue warning.
Britain’s largest Mexican fast-casual eating chain predicts making adjusted earnings earlier than nasties of £4.5million to £4.6million this yr, towards £5million as beforehand anticipated.
Tortilla additionally expects turnover to extend by 13.8 per cent to £65.7million in 2023, ‘barely behind’ analyst forecasts of £69.8million, pushed by new website openings and optimistic like-for-like progress within the UK.
Price drop: Tortilla Mexican Grill shares slumped on Wednesday following a revenue warning
Bosses blamed the tempered income steering on weaker shopper confidence for hitting gross sales throughout the eating-out sector, particularly in current months.
Sales have been additional impacted by decrease footfall at retailers on excessive streets and in ‘smaller tertiary cities and cities’ the place the corporate has much less model consciousness.
It expects cost-of-living issues affecting the hospitality business to proceed into 2024, notably exterior London.
Following the buying and selling replace, Tortilla Mexican Grill shares plummeted 9.8 per cent, or 5.4p, to 49.6p by the mid-afternoon, that means their worth has declined by 42 per cent because the yr began.
Yet regardless of the subdued outlook, the agency revealed that its United Arab Emirates-based enterprise achieved a report yr.
Tortilla additionally stated its franchised tie-ups with catering large Compass Group and Upper Crust proprietor SSP Group had carried out ‘outstandingly nicely.’
The firm plans to open one other 4 institutions with SSP subsequent yr and has a big pipeline of eating places in ‘high-footfall metropolis centre and purchasing centre areas.’
Richard Morris, chief government of Tortilla, stated: ‘As a administration workforce, we’re taking proactive actions to adapt to the altering market surroundings.
‘We know that in buoyant eating-out markets the place the Tortilla model is well-known, we outperform. We have a powerful portfolio of latest websites in high-quality areas in addition to extra franchise progress alternatives.’
Tortilla was based in 2007 by California-born Brandon Stephens after he turned annoyed on the absence of Mexican eating places within the UK capital.
The AIM-listed agency now has 87 institutions throughout the British Isles and Middle East, together with 18 franchised retailers, and served over 6.5 million meals final yr.
When saying plans to have an preliminary public providing two years in the past, the group declared it needed to launch 45 new websites over the next 5 years.
