Perks per Share

Unlisted bonds

Hotel Chocolat

Chocolate Bonds

Repaid
What bondholders got Interest paid in chocolate Retail bond

Hotel Chocolat makes chocolate and sells it through its shops, online and by subscription. Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris founded it in 1993.

RepaidHotel Chocolat repaid all £6.5 million of outstanding Chocolate Bonds in June 2018.

What bondholders got

Bond issuer: The Chocolate Tasting Club plc.

Hotel Chocolat raised the Chocolate Bonds from its customers in 2010 and 2014 to pay for investment. Bondholders received their interest in boxes of chocolates; one bond paid in Hotel Chocolat gift cards instead. The 2018 report described the chocolate interest as monthly. The chocolate bonds promised a set number of boxes, not a cash payment. When issued, the bonds’ stated interest ranged from 6.7% to 7.3%.

Getting the money back

Both bonds were unsecured. A holder who wanted their money back gave notice by January and was repaid in July.

The parent company

Hotel Chocolat Group joined AIM in May 2016, while the bonds were still outstanding. Mars bought the group in January 2024, and its shares stopped trading on AIM on 26 January.

History

  1. Bonds repaid in full

    The 2018 annual report records repayment of all £6.5 million of outstanding Chocolate Bonds in June. The chief executive thanked the bondholders for helping fund cocoa, manufacturing and jobs, and said the business could now repay them in full.

  2. Customers were asked about investing

    In a 2012 interview with Treasury Today, co-founder Peter Harris said Hotel Chocolat had asked Tasting Club members about investing two years before the bond launched. The company checked their interest again a year later. After the issue, it invited smaller investors to upgrade their bonds for a full year’s supply of chocolate.