2 Apr 2020 07:00
2 April 2020
Hotel Chocolat Group plc
("Hotel Chocolat", the "Company" or the "Group")
Interim Dividend
Following the successful equity placement on 20 March the Board has decided to cancel the proposed interim dividend, which was due to be paid on 15 April 2020 to shareholders on the register on 6 March 2020.
In the Board's opinion, it is more prudent to retain the cash in the business for deployment in service of long-term growth. The Board intends to reinstate payment of dividends when it is appropriate to do so.
Angus Thirlwell, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hotel Chocolat, commented:
"We are committed to keeping the Hotel Chocolat family together during these challenging times. We also remain confident in the Company's longer-term growth plans in the UK, the USA and Japan, and want to ensure that we maximise the resources available to the Group to leverage these opportunities, as well as others which may develop when we all emerge from the current crisis. My Co-founder, Peter Harris, and I are confident that, by forgoing our own dividend payments on this occasion, the Company's long-term outlook will be even brighter."
For further information:
Hotel Chocolat Group plc | c/o Citigate | + 44 (0) 20 7638 9571 |
Angus Thirlwell, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer | ||
Peter Harris, Co-founder and Development Director | ||
Matt Pritchard, Chief Financial Officer |
Liberum Capital Limited - Nominated Advisor and Broker | + 44 (0) 20 3100 2222 |
Clayton Bush | |
James Greenwood | |
Miquela Bezuidenhoudt |
Citigate Dewe Rogerson - Financial PR | + 44 (0) 20 7638 9571 |
Angharad Couch | |
Ellen Wilton | |
Kieran Farthing |
Notes to Editors:
Hotel Chocolat is a premium British chocolatier with a strong and distinctive brand. The business was founded in 1993 by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris and has traded under the Hotel Chocolat brand since 2003. The Group sells its products online and through a network of locations in the UK and abroad. The Group has a cacao plantation and eco-hotel in Saint Lucia, offering complete cacao immersion through tree-to-bar experiences and wellness treatments. The Group also has a flagship restaurant and cacao roastery in London's Borough Market: Rabot 1745. The Group was admitted to trading on AIM in 2016.