Coronavirus: Hotel Chocolat scraps dividend after £20m share placing
Hotel Chocolat is the latest company to cancel its dividend in a bid to save cash during the coronavirus crisis.
The high street chain said this morning that it has scrapped the proposed interim dividend, which was due to be paid to shareholders on 15 April, after raising an extra £20m through a share placing last week.
Hotel Chocolat said it was “more prudent” to retain the cash in the business and focus on long-term growth.
High street firms are scrambling to survive the coronavirus outbreak. All non-essential retailers were ordered to close last week to stop the spread of the virus.
The company will reinstate payment of dividends “when it is appropriate to do so”.
Hotel Chocolat co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell said: “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.”