Two north-east hotels are continuing to trade normally despite owner Dark Star Scotland being placed in administration yesterday.
The two properties – the 20-bedroom White Horse Inn, at Balmedie, and the 14-bedroom Cove Bay Hotel – are among four hotels in the Glasgow-based group, which also has nine bars and restaurants in the west of Scotland. Dark Star bought the White Horse and Cove Bay Hotel last year from the McKever Group for a combined reported £3.5million.
Joint administrators Kenny Craig and Tom MacLennan, of Tenon Recovery in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively, said they planned to continue trading with a view to marketing the business for sale as a going concern.
They said Dark Star employed about 280 staff across the business and there were no immediate plans for redundancies.
The administration follows that of other companies within the McKever Group last week.
Ally McKever, founder and owner of the group, has a controlling stake of 51% in Dark Star and is one of three shareholders in the company.
He said yesterday: “This is another terribly sad day for all concerned.
“My colleagues and I are working with the administrators to secure the best outcome for both staff and creditors.”
Mr Craig said: “Dark Star has a portfolio of high-quality bars, restaurants and hotels in good locations that are well known in their local communities.
“While not immune from the recent economic downturn, the units were performing relatively well and we are confident that the business will appeal to companies already operating in the licensed trade, or to entrepreneurs keen to enter the sector. It is therefore very much business as usual while we focus on finding a buyer or buyers as soon as possible.”
Business restructuring partners James Stephen, of professional service firm BDO Stoy Hayward in Glasgow and Dermot Power, in Manchester, were appointed joint administrators at McKever on Thursday, as reported earlier.