A-Z and Ramsay settle row

An out-of-court settlement has been agreed between A-Z Restaurants and chefs Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, from whom the company had been seeking £1m in compensation.

A terse joint statement explained: "The A-Z Group, Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing have agreed to cease further litigation against each other, and Gordon Ramsay has relinquished any further commercial interest in the A-Z Group."

Ramsay and Wareing were served with a joint writ in January 1999 following their acrimonious departures from A-Z's Aubergine and L'Oranger restaurants in London during the summer of 1998, when they took most of the staff with them.