Simon Binder, founder of the Café Med chain, has been named as the new managing director of Groupe Chez Gérard as the company reported trading improvements in the second half of last year.
The entrepreneurial Binder, who for many years worked with restaurateur Robert Earl, fills the slot vacated by chief executive David Williams, who was ousted last year following the failure of the group's national roll-out and the collapse in like-for-like sales.
A recovery plan put in place by chairman Neville Abraham has seen pre-tax profit rise to £813,000 from turnover down from £18.8m to £17.4m. Like-for-like sales narrowed to a 4% decline from a 14% decline a year ago. In 2001 the company recorded a £3.1m loss.
The group owns and operates Chez Gérard and Livebait restaurants as well as individually branded Signature restaurants. Last year a programme of cost cutting was implemented in which the group was downsized to 23 restaurants and its debt was reduced from £10.8m to £3.7m.
Chairman Neville Abraham said that Chez Gérard's recovery plan, which it put in place last June, had almost stopped the decline in its restaurant performance.
But he added: "Whilst we have succeeded in implementing much of the recovery plan, the downturn in tourism and the economy generally have inevitably affected performance."
Abraham said the group's Chez Gérard restaurants had served a record number of people during the period, with like-for-like sales increasing by 1%. But like-for-like sales at its Livebait and Bertorelli's restaurants remained down, although the decline had slowed significantly.
Abraham added that, as 16 of the group's 23 restaurants were in central London, factors such as the fall in tourism, the closure of the Underground Central Line, the congestion charge and the threat of terrorist attacks continued to make business more difficult.
He said that talks were continuing with former pub company Paramount, which put in a £20.6m takeover bid for the group in October.