Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant group has revealed widening financial losses and the loss of 300 staff while grappling COVID disruption.

The celebrity chef’s empire reported combined losses of £6.8m for the 12 months to August 2021 – up from £5m in the previous financial year.

Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, which operates 35 sites in the UK and 13 abroad, received more than £3m under the government’s furlough scheme to help retain UK workers during five months of lockdowns.

The 300 employees shed by the company in the period were mainly restaurant staff but also head office workers.

The business warned that further challenges lay ahead, with inflation putting pressure on consumer spending and supply chain issues pushing up commodity prices.

The accounts emerged on the day that the Bank of England forecasted the country would fall into recession during the final quarter of 2022 – mostly a consequence of the squeeze on consumer budgets from rising energy bills.

The restaurant group could suffer significantly reduced sales and diminished margins, it said, similar to the 20% drop in sales seen over the Omicron period between November and February, according to its worst-case scenario.

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Next says warm weather and demand for formal clothing helped boost sales

But it added that it could cut costs in order to avoid big losses.

The accounts also showed that the company’s best-paid director, who was not identified, was given a total pay package of £327,000 for the year.

It represented a cut from the £493,000 handed out a year earlier.

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