Tue 19th May 2015 - Gordon Ramsay increases personal loans to company to £15.1m Gordon Ramsay increases personal loans to company to £15.1m: Gordon Ramsay increased the total value of his personal loans to his company, Kavalake, by £837,000 to £15.1m, in the most recent year to 31 August 2014. The money was used to help fund part of the development of Heddon Street Kitchen and Eleven Park Walk. Ramsay also has personal guarantees totalling £5m in respect of the group banking facility in place. The extent of the personal loans and the personal guarantees shows the extent to which Ramsay has committed his own money to keeping the company afloat in recent years. Last year, the company also increased its bank debt by drawing down £2m to finance the acquisition of the two sites Ramsay personally financed in part, bringing bank debt at the year-end to £9.2m. The company saw a 44% increase to £2.3m in income from overseas licensing agreements. The company stated: “The increase in (licensing fee) performance reflects the very strong trading performance and potential of the group’s licensed restaurants in Las Vegas and the first full year of Gordon Ramsay’s Pub and Grill operations there. The licence agreement for Bread Street Kitchen in Hong Kong was signed in March 2014 and the restaurant opened in September 2014. Licence agreements have also been signed for Pub and Grill in Atlantic City, Fish ‘n’ Chips in Las Vegas, Bread Street Kitchen in Singapore, London House in Macau with another three sites currently under negotiation.” The company added it now has two branded operations ready for a national roll-out: Street Kitchen, a modern European concept ‘expected to have wide appeal both in London and large regional towns and cities’; Maze, a premium steak and sushi concept ‘that will be located in both neighbourhood and central London locations’. The company’s accounts show turnover at Ramsay’s 26 restaurants dipped slightly to £44.7m, from £44.8m in 2013, with operating losses to £1.5m. On a like-for-like basis, sales at his London restaurants were up 5.7%, with covers increasing by 5.8% and average spend-per-head increasing by 4.7%. Adjusted Ebitda was down to £4.1m from £5m the year before after the loss of its restaurant at Claridge’s – on a like-for-like basis it was 0.5%. “In the context of the current economic environment, I am particularly encouraged by the excellent trading performance of our London and Las Vegas restaurants during the year,” the company said.