The company said like-for-like sales in the six months to November 29 fell 4% year-on-year, but the drop slowed from a 14% fall in the sam period in 2001 over 2000.
Profit before tax, non-recurring impairment charges, re-organisation costs and exceptional items and after the closure of sic restaurants, was £400,000 for the first half, up from £300,000 a year earlier, as turnover fell to £17.4m from £18.8m.
Central costs have been cut by 38% to £1m and net debt has been reduced to £3.7m from £9.2m a year earlier, bringing gearing down to 42%. The group now has 23 restaurants trading.
Chez Gerard, which also owns the Live Bait fish restaurants and the Italian bistro chain Bertorelli, said the fall in tourism levels, transport problems and the threat of attacks on London meant trading remained difficult.
Chairman Neville Abraham said in a statement: "Although future performance will, to a degree, be dependent upon external factors, these results demonstrate that our core brand is resilient in difficult times,".
"We have, to a large extent, arrested the decline in restaurant performance and have restored the basics of our core customer proposition."
The group said it "continues to co-operate fully with Paramount", which made an indicative take-over offer of 100p a share on September 25. It said the process of due diligence continues.
Binder, who was chairman of Cafe Med in 2000 when it sold two outlets to Chez Gerard, has also worked in the Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chains. Abraham said: "I believe that the appointment of Simon Binder will help us focus quickly on the recovery of margins across the group which will further strengthen our positive cashflow. I can, therefore, envisage the continued unwinding of debt and a return to dividend payments in the foreseeable future."
Like for like sales
| 26 weeks to 29 Dec 2002 | 26 weeks to 30 Dec 2001 |
% change |
|
|
Chez Gérard | +1 | -8 |
Livebait | -6 | -21 |
Signature | -11 | -17 |
Total group | -4 | -14 |
Restaurant contribution
| 26 weeks to 29 Dec 2002 | 26 weeks to 30 Dec 2001 | ||||
| Turnover | Restaurant contribution | Net margin | Turnover | Restaurant contribution* | Net margin |
| £'000 | £'000 | % | £'000 | £'000 | % |
Chez Gerard | 9,083 | 1,572 | 17.3 | 8,579 | 1,720 | 20.1 |
Livebait | 5,215 | -93 | -1.8 | 5,264 | 203 | 0.9 |
Signature | 3,061 | 151 | 4.9 | 4,988 | 558 | 11.2 |
Total Group | 17,359 | 1,630 | 9.4 | 18,831 | 2,481 | 13.2 |
* Before impairment charges | ||||||
Groupe Chez Gerard p&l account
26 weeks to 29 Dec 2002 | 26 weeks to 30 Dec 2001 | % increase | |
£000 | £000 | ||
Turnover | 17,359 | 18,831 | -7.8% |
Cost of sales | -11,092 | -11,672 | -5.0% |
Gross profit | 6,267 | 7,159 | -12.5% |
Restaurant admin | -4,637 | -4,678 | -0.9% |
Restaurant contribution | 1,630 | 1,114 | 46.3% |
Goodwill amortisation | -57 | -62 | -8.1% |
Admin | -1,143 | -1,722 | -33.6% |
Operating profit | 524 | -1,000 | |
Exceptional items | 448 | -2,414 | |
Pre-tax profit | 813 | -3,665 | |
Basic earnings per share (p) | 5.8 | -15.2 |
