Sales and spend rise at Gordon Ramsay Group

Gordon Ramsay Group saw like-for-like sales increase by 5.7% in 2013/14, as customers spent more in the company's restaurants around the world.

Accounts filed at Companies House for the year to 31 August 2014 showed that covers at the group's restaurants - which include the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, Petrus, and Plane Food at Heathrow T5 - were up 5.8% over the period.

Average spend per head also rose, up by 4.7% on the year before.

Despite that, turnover for the business, which during the period had 26 restaurants including 11 in London and licence agreements for restaurant around the world, fell slightly from £44.8m to £44.7m.

Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA also dropped by 20% from £5m to £4.1m, which the company said was as a result of its investment in a central support office and recruitment of senior marketing staff.

Pre-tax losses for 2014 were reduced to just over £2m, from nearly £6.4m the year before. The larger pre-tax loss in 2013 was as a result of an exceptional onerous lease provision on the York & Albany property, which saw Ramsay launch an unsuccessful High Court claim that his father-in-law fraudulently signed him up for the pub using a ghost-writing machine.

The accounts also revealed that managing director Stuart Gillies was the beneficiary of a £2.7m share-based payment.

Gillies received half of the share-based award immediately and will be able to access the rest in five years.

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