The Daily Telegraph reports that Guy Hands has injected £22.5m into Hand Picked Hotels, his wife’s boutique hotel chain, as the couple work to reduce the company’s borrowings. Hands bought new shares during its last financial year to November 2012.
The funds raised by the share purchase were used against bank debt, and are understood to be part of the process of deleveraging the business.
The company, which is run by Julia Hands, owns 16 hotels around the UK as well as one on Jersey. It won the AA’s hotel group of the year for the second time for 2012-13.
Financial results to the end of November 2012 show that bank debt had been reduced to £80 million (£(7.65 million previous year). However, operating profit of £8.28 million fell to £6.9 million before tax, the re3sult of depreciation and interest charges. Sales were £59.9 million.
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