The Gordon Ramsay Group of restaurants is aiming to return to profit next year after several years of losses as a turnround starts to pay off.

The group, which includes 29 restaurants sharing six Michelin stars, struggled after the 2008 financial crisis, which chief executive Stuart Gillies admits “almost killed us”. Accountants were drawing up plans to put the company into administration, but it underwent a strategic review following the appointment of Mr Gillies in 2011, and its losses have fallen steadily since.

Pre-tax losses fell from £6.4 million in 2012 to £1.7 million in 2013 and £1.5 million in 2014. Accounts published on Tuesday showed losses fell again to £1 million in the 12 months to September 2015. Mr Gillies remained confident that the company would be in profit by next year.

Gordon Ramsay Group said it was planning to open its first UK restaurants outside London, with potential sites in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham as it sought to exploit “enormous opportunities for expansion both in the UK and around the world”.

Sales grew 12.6 per cent to £50.3 million in 2015 after the group opened restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 41 per cent to £5.1 million.

The restaurant group reported a near 90 per cent fall in pre-tax profits in 2009 and Gordon Ramsay and Chris Hutcheson, his father-in-law, injected £5 million of their own money into the business to avoid administration.

The company “debranded” its restaurants as part of its turnround plan, removing Mr Ramsay’s name from the eateries “so that the teams running the restaurants could put up blinkers and focus on the DNA of each individual operation,” added Mr Gillies.

“It was a sensitive conversation when we asked Gordon to take his name off [some restaurants, but it was a move he completely agreed with. It meant we were focused on delivering quality food that would be judged solely on its merit, and not because of a wave of reputation that went with it,” said Mr Gillies.

The chief executive said the “spend per head” was much higher before the financial crisis.

“But after 2008, expense accounts changed and it became ugly to spend that amount of money on a meal. We sharpened the focus, so it wasn’t about Gordon but about the market trends and needs,” he said.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016