Groupe Chez Gerard announced it will be closing six of its 29 restaurants and moving to a smaller head office, after interim results for the 26 weeks to December 24 2001 showed pre-tax profits down 81% to just £300,000.
Like-for-like sales for the period plunged 21% at Livebait and 17% at the Signature restaurants, the company said, while even the core Chez Gerard chain saw like-for-likes down 8%.
The company's co-founder, Neville Abraham, who returned as executive chairman after the resignation of the chief executive, David Williams, earlier this month, said the group was aiming to sell two each of its Chez Gerard, Livebait and Signature outlets to end up with 11 Chez Gerards, nine Livebaits and three Signatures. A provision of £2.4m for losses on the disposal of the six restaurants had been made in the accounts, Abraham said, giving total write-offs including impairment charges on four more sites of £3.8m.
Two Birmingham sites previously lined up for development have been surrendered back to their landlord at a write-off cost to the company of £400,000, and the Brasserie St Quentin has already been sold.
The company said turnover was down by 1% for the period, even though it opened a net five new restaurants. Overall restaurant contribution was down 45% to £2.1m.
Pre-opening costs on the six new restaurants opened during the period were considerably lower than for the same period in 2000, and central overheads were reduced by 14%, but this was not enough to offset relatively poor trading "at a time of considerable capital expenditure", Abraham. All the same, he said, net cash inflow from operations in the first half was maintained at the same figure, £2.1m, as last time
Abraham said the difficult trading conditions seen in 2001 are set to continue in 2002, but he was encouraged by the staff's determination to succeed and improving like for like sales figures for February and March. "These factors, I believe, provide grounds for cautious optimism," he said.
Like-for-like sales for the period plunged 21% at Livebait and 17% at the Signature restaurants, the company said, while even the core Chez Gerard chain saw like-for-likes down 8%.
The company's co-founder, Neville Abraham, who returned as executive chairman after the resignation of the chief executive, David Williams, earlier this month, said the group was aiming to sell two each of its Chez Gerard, Livebait and Signature outlets to end up with 11 Chez Gerards, nine Livebaits and three Signatures. A provision of £2.4m for losses on the disposal of the six restaurants had been made in the accounts, Abraham said, giving total write-offs including impairment charges on four more sites of £3.8m.
Two Birmingham sites previously lined up for development have been surrendered back to their landlord at a write-off cost to the company of £400,000, and the Brasserie St Quentin has already been sold.
The company said turnover was down by 1% for the period, even though it opened a net five new restaurants. Overall restaurant contribution was down 45% to £2.1m.
Pre-opening costs on the six new restaurants opened during the period were considerably lower than for the same period in 2000, and central overheads were reduced by 14%, but this was not enough to offset relatively poor trading "at a time of considerable capital expenditure", Abraham. All the same, he said, net cash inflow from operations in the first half was maintained at the same figure, £2.1m, as last time
Abraham said the difficult trading conditions seen in 2001 are set to continue in 2002, but he was encouraged by the staff's determination to succeed and improving like for like sales figures for February and March. "These factors, I believe, provide grounds for cautious optimism," he said.
