Frankie and Benny's owner taps 500 million pounds in long-term loans

(Reuters) - Restaurant Group signed new long-term loans for about 500 million pounds as the Frankie and Benny's owner said it was burning cash of about 5.5 million pounds ($7.7 million) every month during the latest COVID-19 lockdown in Britain

Shares of Restaurant Group rose about 6% in early trading to 115.1 pence

The company said the cash-burn rate was similar to levels it had forecast for the December lockdown and would last until the end of current restrictions for the hospitality sector.

The London-listed firm also plans to re-open some of its restaurants within two weeks of the lockdown being lifted for customers seeking dine-in options. It currently has about 200 sites open for delivery and takeaways during the pandemic.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out a four-stage easing of the latest lockdown last month as new variants of the virus have sent COVID-19 infections surging. There have been over
4.1 million infections reported in the country since the pandemic began. (https://tmsnrt.rs/3q6kt6l)

Restaurant Group, set to report 2020 results next week, said the new debt financing will be partly used to repay and refinance its existing loans and that it does not expect any debt covenant tests until June next year.

(This story refiles to add missing currency, correct spelling of Frankie in first paragraph)

($1 = 0.7163 pounds)

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)