CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay has said he would consider floating his restaurant company on the stock exchange.

The move could fund the global launch of a chain of his company's Maze restaurants.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings is already preparing to open restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore and Shanghai.

Asked whether he would consider floating the company on the stock exchange, Ramsay told the 2006 issue of the Square Meal Restaurant Guide: "Yes, we'd be very stupid not to think about it."

He said: "The level of interest we got on the back of publishing our accounts last year (2004) was phenomenal, so of course I'm interested in the idea of floating."

Ramsay - who is as famous for his bad language on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen as his food - said a listing could fund a company expansion.

"I think there's real potential with the Maze deformalised eating concept, for example, to open a network of restaurants - a chain of baby Mazes - right across the world.

"And we'd need heavyweight financial backing to project us to a global brand in that way."