When The Restaurant Group unleashed its £559 million acquisition of Wagamama on unsuspecting shareholders just under a year ago, they responded with a sharp intake of breath. Their’s, after all, was a company operating at the centre of a casual dining sector in a trading crisis and here they were being asked to stump up £315 million through a rights issue and to stomach a cut in the final dividend. The takeover of the noodle chain was clearly a risk and to many of them the price looked very toppy.
Fast-forward a year and trading at Wagamama is storming ahead. Buying the outlets has given The Restaurant Group options, notably in the United States, and some much-needed resilience. Its share price, however, and arguably parts