Carrols Restaurant surges on shoring up liquidity, cost-cutting plans

Carrols Restaurant

08/05/2020 20:11

** Shares of U.S. Burger King franchisee  TAST.O  surge
22.8% to $4.2
    ** Brokerage Craig-Hallum upgrades rating to "buy" from
"hold" and raises PT to $5 from $3.5; SunTrust Robinson too
raises PT, to $6 from $4, while Deutsche Bank cuts by $2 to $5
    ** SunTrust Robinson says improving restaurant business
trends and strong liquidity positions the company to survive the
coronavirus crisis
    ** Co pulled its 2020 outlook and suspended acquisition and
stock buyback programs in a series of cost-cutting plans and
reinforcing liquidity measures  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASA00OHX
    ** Plans include 10% reduction in non-restaurant wages,
company-wide hiring freeze, and adjusting restaurant labor costs
to reflect revised restaurant hours and accessibility
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw6yxg6Va
    ** Temporarily closed 42 Burger King and four Popeyes
restaurants in March and is negotiating cash rent obligations 
with landlords and optimizing payment terms with key vendors and
suppliers - TAST
    ** Reevaluating all capex and delaying all projects that
have not yet commenced; sees 2020 spending between $35 mln-$40
mln
   ** Co posted Q1 loss of 38 cents/shr on a revenue of $351.5
mln of vs Refinitiv est. for loss of 35 cents on a revenue of
$361 mln 
    ** Stock down 40.3% this year

 (Reporting by Devik Jain and Amal S in Bengaluru)
 ((Devik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780;
outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2062; ;))