Director dealings: Restaurant Group chief executive ups stake

Andy McCue, chief executive officer of the Restaurant Group, picked up lmost 45,000 ordinary shares in the firm on Tuesday as part of the company's deferred bonus arrangements.

McCue, who took up the role of chief executive back in September 2016, acquired 44,971 ordinary shares in the firm at a cost of 28,125p each for a total of £114,203.78.

Restaurant Group, the owner of Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito, suffered another year of falling revenues as Britain's casual dining sector continued upon its recent downturn.

But the company said back in March that its strategy of lower prices at the American-Italian themed Frankie & Benny's was luring customers from its rivals.

"The restaurant market is weak, that is well understood," McCue said last month.

"In volume terms the market has been running about 3-4% lower in the last six months. Frankie & Benny's is outperforming that," he added.

Reflecting the cost of its price cuts, adjusted operating profits, which excludes the one-off costs associated to its restructuring, fell 26% to £59m in its most recent trading year, and on a statutory measure, the Restaurant Group made a £33m pre-tax profit against a £48m twelve months earlier.

As of 1650 GMT, shares had ticked up 0.63% to 255.40p.