More businesses stay afloat in '95
By Andrew Sangster
The hospitality industry has bounced back from recession and fewer companies are now being forced out of business than at any other time in the 1990s, accountancy practice Touche Ross reveals.
The number of receiverships in the hotel and catering industry dropped by 29% during 1995 compared with 1994, according to Touche Ross figures.
The statistics, which measure administrative receivership and administration order appointments as published in the London Gazette and Edinburgh Gazette, show a drop from 151 to 107 receiverships, year on year.
Ralph Preece, partner in charge of corporate recovery London at Touche Ross, told Caterer that the hotel industry was currently going through the best time for five years. "We have very few hotels on our books. Those that we have had have been sold as going concerns," he added.
The worst year for hospitality businesses was 1992, with 321 receiverships. Until 1995, the best year was 1990 when 144 receivers were called in.
The number of receiverships in 1996 was likely to remain low, predicted Mr Preece. "The economic environment we have currently appears stable. I don't foresee significant fluctuations," he said.
Of the 107 hospitality businesses that saw receivers take over in 1995, 51 were residential accommodation (largely hotels), 35 were licensed premises (largely pubs), 12 were restaurants, and nine were other catering businesses.
The most notable UK hotel company failure last year was Periquito Hotels, which owned five hotels. Despite two years of negotiation, the banks pulled the plug on the group in September.
The Jivraj family were involved in two hotel company failures last year. First to go under was Buckingham International, which failed in April. Although Nurdin and Nick Jivraj handed over executive control of the company in September 1993, they had retained a sizeable stake until then.
The other collapse involved Calfayre, the company that owned and ran the Holiday Inn Kensington, London. This business was directly controlled by the Jivraj family and was put into receivership in July with debts of more than £20m.
