London’s iconic Ritz hotel made a £27m loss last year after its sale by billionaire Barclay twins to Qatari investor
London’s iconic Ritz hotel made a £27million loss last year after its sale by the billionaire Barclay twins to a Qatari investor.
The five-star hotel shut its doors for the first time in its 114-year history last year due to Covid.
New accounts show its closure for more than five months meant turnover fell 74 per cent to £13.3million, down from £50.3million in 2019.
A bad sign: The five-star hotel shut its doors for the first time in its 114-year history last year due to Covid
It made a £27.3million pre-tax loss – compared with a £2.4million profit the previous year. Qatari tycoon Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri is thought to have paid around £700million in March 2020 for the hotel.
The Barclay brothers – who had bought the Ritz for £75million in 1995 – had argued over the sale, with Sir Frederick threatening to sue unless a buyer paid £1billion. Sir David died in January, aged 86.
The Ritz took £3.49million from the furlough scheme and deferred £806,000 of VAT payments ‘to aid cashflow’.
A spokesman said revenues since The Ritz reopened in the summer are now ‘healthy and robust’.