Once a star in the restaurant trade, Pizza Express has seen turnover fall 18% in the six months to December 2002. It blamed growing competition in the market as well as a slump in tourist numbers since September 11 2001.
Luke Johnson left the company in 1999 to run Signature Restaurants, which owns three of London's top restaurants--The Ivy; Le Caprice and J Sheekey--as well as the Belgo chain.
In November 2002, an offer for Pizza Express from Hugh Osmond was rebuffed by the board. And now he has offered a similar fate at brewing and hotels group Six Continents, where the company said a meeting had proved inconclusive, with Osmond unable to name his price.
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