Britain’s Hotel Chocolat bolsters finances to get through coronavirus crisis

LONDON (Reuters) – British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat has increased its banking facilities to help get it through the coronavirus crisis, it said on Monday.

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.

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)