The Restaurant Group, Lavendon and Computacenter

“The FTSE100 opened in negative territory continuing yesterday's theme with investors looking  warily to US Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen's Jackson Hole speech today,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould. 

“Frankie & Benny's beleaguered owner The Restaurant Group is taking a knife to its 500-plus outlets with 33 underperforming sites earmarked for closure or sale. The group’s share price has plummeted over the past two years and its latest half year results show a pre-tax loss following a £59.1m hit on the prospective site closures. Investors, though, were encouraged by the group maintaining its full-year guidance and by admitting that many problems at Frankie & Benny's had been self-inflicted by removing many popular dishes from menus and above market increases in prices.  The Restaurant Group topped the FTSE250 Index in early trading, up by over 4%.

“Lavendon was an early riser following a strong first half. Its revenues were up by 13% with the UK, Middle East and France being the primary drivers. The group is a market leader in the rental of powered access equipment and margins are set to improve in the second half as the cost of investments it has made are fully absorbed within the business. Lavendon headed the FTSE All-Share Index with its shares up by more than 8% in early trading.

“Computacenter's pre-tax profits tumbled in the first half although the performance was marginally ahead of management forecasts. A disappointing result in the UK was offset by a stronger than expected performance across the rest of the group, particularly in France. The group has a growing pipeline for digital workplace projects which it is looking to close in the second half as customers look to take advantage of new operating systems.”

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