HM Revenue and Customs applied to the High Court for winding-up petitions for three of the TV chef’s London restaurants and a fourth at Heathrow airport – two of which were subsequently thrown out.
Ramsay, 43, who did not attend a hearing on the matter, was handed a two-week reprieve to pay debts on his Plane Food airport restaurant while he waited for a cheque to clear and 63 days on his Maze restaurant in Mayfair.
The judge earlier dismissed two of the petitions, against The Narrow in Limehouse and The Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, because the debts had already been paid.
A statement from Ramsay’s management said: “In the summer, Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) announced a restructuring of the businesses’ finances following short-term cash-flow problems.
“The company announced it was repaying debts but it would be a process that would take several months. In the High Court... the judge accepted this was the position and dismissed two of the petitions on the basis the debts had been cleared.”
It added: “She also gave GRH further time to settle the other two debts. In one case a cheque is waiting to clear and in the other we are in the process of settling the account over the next few weeks.”
It has been a turbulent business year for Ramsay. In July it was announced profits from Ramsay’s UK restaurants plunged by nearly 90%.
Ramsay’s company accounts showed his restaurant empire came close to the brink as revenues collapsed while debt and tax bills mounted up.
The precarious situation at the time forced Ramsay and his father-in-law and business partner Chris Hutcheson to inject a further £5 million into the business.
Ramsay’s business problems have been blamed on ambitious expansion as well as the closure of key London restaurants like the Savoy as pre-tax profits tumbled from £3.05m in 2007 to £383,325.
In October Ramsay was forced to cancel his chef scholarship scheme, launched in 2001, due to a lack of funding and earlier in the year he sold his Ferrari to help get his restaurant empire back on track.
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