PROFITS at Gordon Ramsay's UK restaurants plunged nearly 90 per cent in a `turbulent' year in which the celebrity chef was forced to pump his own money into the business.

Ramsay's latest company accounts show that the restaurant empire came close to the brink as revenues collapsed while debt and tax bills mounted up.

The precarious situation caused the TV chef and his father-in-law and business partner, Chris Hutcheson, to inject the business with £5m.

Ramsay's business problems were blamed on ambitious expansion, as well as the closure of key London restaurants including the Savoy, as pre-tax profits tumbled from £3.05m in 2007 to £383,325.

A statement from the firm said that, after restructuring, it had `successfully undergone change for the better' and was now `well placed to grow its operation with a more stable capital base and a more manageable overall structure'.