Continental job for Finkleman
Michael Finkleman, who over the past two years has run the County Hotels division of Queens Moat Houses (QMH), has been made managing director of the group's hotels in the Netherlands, France and Belgium.
The news dampens speculation, at least for the time being, that Mr Finkleman, who is well-regarded in City circles, might have been considering a management buyout of County.
County, which is gradually being sold off to reduce debts, is now run by its two operations directors, Alun Edwards and Andrew Huckerby, reporting directly to UK hotels managing director Andrew Bould.
In his new job, Mr Finkleman faces the challenge of operating 34 hotels - including 10 Holiday Inn franchises - in countries that are still slowly emerging from recession.
In the first half of this year, the three countries contributed a combined turnover of £53.7m - up just £700,000 on the same period in 1994 - while operating profits improved marginally from £4.7m to £4.9m.
Two of QMH's properties in Belgium are up for sale and, in the past, group chief executive Andrew Coppel has made it clear he does not see QMH as a long-term player on the Continent.
As a result of Mr Finkleman's appointment, Leo van der Meer, managing director of QMH's Bilderberg Group based in the Netherlands, has left the company.
