Jamie Oliver boss sells his Restaurant Group shares

John Jackson, chief executive of the Jamie Oliver Group, has sold off his shares in The Restaurant Group, the Frankie & Benny's and Garfunkel's restaurant chain.

Jackson, a non-executive director of The Restaurant Group since 1996, sold 300,000 shares at 161.8p each to net £0.485m.

The sale came just a couple of days after the company said its margins and profits were currently in line with management expectations but conceded that the business faces challenging conditions for some time.

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The group said for the first 18 weeks of 2009 like-for-like sales were 3% below last year.

"The UK economic backdrop remains difficult and consumer confidence is not being helped by rising unemployment levels. However, for the vast majority of people who remain in work, lower interest rates and lower fuel and other costs are a positive," the group said in a company statement.

As well as being boss of Jamie Oliver Holdings, a company which operates three restaurants trading under the name "Jamie's Italian", Jackson is a non-executive director of nightclub operator Luminar.

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