Paramount's bid for Chez Gérard could go ahead, says Abraham

Neville Abraham, executive chairman of Groupe Chez Gérard, said this week that he believed the bid for the company by Paramount was "serious" and would be accepted by shareholders if it was confirmed.

Paramount has made a preliminary bid of £1 a share for the restaurant company, although the fact that the shares were trading at 73p earlier this week suggests investors are sceptical about the offer.

Nevertheless, Abraham said: "I believe they're serious, otherwise I wouldn't be talking to them. It certainly seems likely that a bid of £1 per share would be accepted by shareholders - the question is whether the final bid will be £1 a share."

Abraham's comments came after the company posted a disappointing Christmas trading statement and put its Livebait restaurant in Oxford up for sale. The trading statement said that the restaurant had not met expectations despite some improvement in business. Abraham said Chez Gérard would consider selling other restaurants if they did not achieve financial targets.

"We are at a stage where it is my duty to do my best for shareholders. I need to reduce debt as quickly as possible, and if normal trading is not sufficient for debt to fall then we have to look at other options."

Abraham is hoping for clarification on Paramount's plans soon and will be providing it with more detailed information on Chez Gérard's Christmas trading shortly.

The briefer statement this week revealed that like-for-like sales across the group for the six weeks to 5 January were down by 2%, although the group's 12 Chez Gérard restaurants did better, with their like-for-like sales rising by 2%.

The group's recovery programme, including lower-priced dishes and a better service, was put into action last year following a fall in pre-tax profits of 81% in the second half of 2001.