10 December 2024
Tortilla Mexican Grill
plc
("Tortilla", the "Group" or
the "Company")
Trading
update
Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC, the
largest and most successful fast-casual Mexican restaurant group in
the UK and Europe, provides a Trading Update for the financial year
ending 29 December 2024 to date ("FY24" or the
"Period").
Highlights[1]
UK
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The revenue for the UK
business[2] is forecast to exceed previous
guidance with a range of £64.0-£64.3m now expected. This
follows the continuation of the strong sales recovery for the UK
business which has further accelerated following the successful
execution of the "Vital 5" strategic plan at the beginning of April
2024.
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The UK LFL in-store sales[3] performance continues the strong recovery, from a
decline of (4.2%) in Q1 and (2.7%) in Q2 to a position of growth in
Q3 of +0.6% followed by a strong Q4 of at least +4%.
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Encouragingly for Tortilla, the CGA
Coffer benchmark in those same periods got progressively worse -
from +2.2% in Q1 to +0.6% for Q3.
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FRANCE
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The management team for France is now
fully recruited and the central kitchen in Lille is almost fully
built and will be operational from January 2025.
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We have chosen to delay the
conversion to rebrand the restaurants whilst we have been working
through a brand and interior design refresh initiative, which will
aid not only France but also ultimately the UK. Whilst the
phasing of the delivery of our French strategy will impact our
French profitability in 2025, with a new much improved brand
proposition we feel more confident of achieving our longer-term
goals in this market.
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GROUP
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Group FY24 trading is in line with
management expectations.
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Adjusted net debt[4] at FY24 period end is expected to be
£7.3m.
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CEO
statement
We
are delighted to report that we have gained further momentum in the
UK, with a strong Q4 sales performance. We have had an
incredibly busy eight months, working on numerous initiatives which
form part of our Vital 5 strategy: we have overhauled our food
offer, recruited a new Food Director, successfully landed our first
limited time offers in many years, purchased new equipment enabling
us to sell better quesadillas all day, launched a new loyalty
system, implemented self-ordering kiosks across 11 additional
restaurants and transformed the internal culture to focus on career
development. We will also further expand our partnership with SSP
with openings of Tortilla units in both Stansted airport and
Liverpool Street train station in the coming
weeks.
We
completed the acquisition of our largest European competitor, Fresh
Burritos, in July 2024. Since acquisition, we have
successfully built the central team to run this business and have
nearly completed our building works in our central kitchen in Lille
to get this facility operational from January 2025. Our
decision to revise the timing of the store rebranding, whilst
causing a short-term profit impact in FY 25, is, we believe, the
right long-time decision to ensure the success of the acquisition.
We have confidence in the long-term project underway in France,
which should also provide a base for further expansion in Europe in
due course.
We
are pleased with our achievements this year and I want to thank all
the team for all their hard work, enthusiasm and drive which has
helped us deliver some significant goals. I look forward to
working with the team to deliver further positive achievements in
FY25, building on our Vital 5 strategy
initiatives.
This announcement contains inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under
Article 17 of MAR.
ENQUIRIES
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Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC
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Via Hudson
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Emma Woods, Non-Executive
Chair
Andy Naylor, CEO
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Maria Denny, CFO
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Panmure Liberum Limited (Nominated Adviser, Sole
Broker)
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Tel: 020 3100 2222
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Andrew Godber
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Edward Thomas
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Nikhil Varghese
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Houston (Public Relations)
Kate Hoare
Kelsey Traynor
Ben Robinson
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Tel: 0204 529 0549
Tortilla@houston.co.uk
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About Tortilla Mexican Grill plc
Founded in 2007 by a San Francisco
duo, Tortilla is the Europe's largest fast-casual Mexican
restaurant brand. With 79 UK locations (of which 11 are franchise
stores), 29 in France (of which 16 are franchise stores) and 9
franchise stores in the Middle East, Tortilla serves 7 million+
meals annually, offering authentic California-style burritos, tacos
and salads.
Through the acquisition of Chilango
in the UK in 2022 and Fresh Burritos in France in 2024, as well as
franchise partnerships with SSP Group plc, Compass UK & Ireland
and Eathos, the brand continues to expand globally.
Tortilla breaks the mold of typical
takeaways, combining quick service with quality ingredients to
serve affordable, made-to-order meals in under 90 seconds, in cosy
environments fitting for lunch or dinner and a beer with friends.
The menu is fully customisable - there are thousands of flavour
combinations to try - with produce that's fresh, never frozen, 70%
plant-based and vegan-friendly, higher welfare meats and free from
artificial flavours or preservatives.
Emphasising sustainability, Tortilla
only uses recycled and recyclable packaging, 100% renewable
electricity and sends zero waste to landfill.
Headquartered in London, Tortilla
employs over 1,300 people.
More details at tortillagroup.co.uk