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Hotel Chocolat Bolsters Finances To Get Through Coronavirus Crisis

By Steve Wynne-Jones
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Hotel Chocolat Bolsters Finances To Get Through Coronavirus Crisis

British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat has increased its banking facilities to help get it through the coronavirus crisis.

The firm said it had agreed a 35 million pounds ($43.5) million) revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank, replacing a 10 million pounds overdraft. The new facility follows a 22 million pounds equity placing in March.

Hotel Chocolat closed all its stores on March 23 in line with the UK lockdown. It said this had a material impact on Easter trading but was partly mitigated by online sales.

'Differentiated Products'

“Hotel Chocolat is a strong brand with differentiated products, a loyal customer base, and a vertically integrated direct-to-consumer business mode, built for agility," commented chief executive Angus Thirlwell. "It is a reflection of these attributes that we have been able to add additional banking cover to the over-subscribed equity placement in March.

"The financial headroom gives us greater resilience against ongoing disruption and enables us to move onwards with longer-term growth opportunities."

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

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