Gordon Ramsay Holdings International lost £8m in 2009

Gordon Ramsay Holdings International made losses of more than £8m in 2009 as the celebrity chef's company wrote off nearly £6m of investment at its US restaurant operations.

The company, which includes all of the Michelin-starred chef's restaurant openings since September 2007, made a loss of £8.32m in the 12 months to 31 August 2009, nearly double the £4.32m it lost in the previous year.

The company blamed one-off costs of £5.81m, up from £849,510 in 2008, which it incurred as it wrote off unrecoverable loans at its US operations in New York, Los Angeles and Florida, which it no longer owns but now runs on a consultancy basis. The group's operating loss was reduced by £1m to £2.45m in 2008.

Meanwhile Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH), which includes the company's established restaurants at Royal Hospital Road and Claridge's as well as Maze and Maze Grill, posted a profit of £515,373 in 2009 as turnover increased 44.4% to £10.1m.

Both Gordon Ramsay Holdings International and GRH underwent an external business review in 2008, which has resulted in the company reducing head office costs and disposing of its central production kitchen and putting two of its pubs, the Devonshire and the Warrington, up for sale.

Chris Hutcheson, chief executive of GRH and Gordon Ramsay International, said that following the business restructure, the group was optimistic about the future. "While we expect economic conditions to remain challenging, structural changes that were made early in 2009 within the group leave us well positioned for the future," he said.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings International recently completed on a new restaurant site at the One New Change development in the City of London. The group plans to roll out a new casual-dining concept similar to its Plane Food operation at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The company is also set to open the Savoy Grill at London's iconic Savoy hotel in October.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings International made £4m plus loss in 2008 >>

Gordon Ramsay to close central production kitchen >>

Gordon Ramsay Holdings closes Devonshire pub >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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