Tasty announced it had secured £3.25 million as a result of a share placing on Friday, sending shares downwards during morning trading.

The casual dining restaurant operator said it is raising the funds through the issuing of 75 million new shares to both new and existing investors.

The company also announced an additional proposed open offer to raise £0.25 million through the issue of up to 6,294,262 shares to qualifying shareholders at 4p each.

Shareholders are set to vote on the conditional share issuing on 1st of May.

Tasty said the proceeds from the raise would be used to pay down debt and for ‘working capital’ purposes.

Keith Lassman, Chairman of Tasty, said “This is an important fundraise for Tasty as it will enable us to continue our strategic plans with vigour. We are delighted with the level of investor support for the Placing and we would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support.”

With regards to future outlook, the statement said addressed current trading. It said:

“…market conditions have become increasingly challenging throughout the year and the Board’s expectation is that there will be no significant improvement in 2019”.

Many UK restaurant chains have opted to close underperforming sites in the last few years amid an increasingly challenging trading climate.

Jamie’s Italian, Prezzo and Byron burger have all opted to streamline their business in light of these challenges.

Tasty operates a range of casual dining restaurants including the Dim T, Wildwood and Wildwood kitchen brands.

Shares in the company (LON:TAST) are currently down -19.33% as of 11:10AM (GMT).