Audit hold-up delays Hotel Chocolat results
Apple bans Fortnite from its app store

No need to fear the Hotel Chocolat results delay

Another delay from the auditors means Hotel Chocolat (CHOC) investors are going to have to wait until 5 October to assess the group’s financial performance for the year to 27 June 2021. In the meantime they can visit one of the group’s many stores which is already bedecked in Halloween decorations. It’s not a great reflection on the finance team or auditors that customers can buy festive treats in store before investors can read about the financial performance of last winter, but the company insists that the delay is merely a hold up with the auditors and there is nothing to worry about with the results themselves.

Indeed, Hotel Chocolat continues to defy the odds. A direct-to-consumer chocolate retailer which relies on heavy foot traffic in shopping districts should have had a difficult few years, but the company reported strong growth in the first half of its 2021 financial year and its second half numbers should be flattered by last year’s covid-comparisons when revenue fell 14 per cent.

Hotel Chocolat has managed the switch to online retail well and continues to make more than half of its UK revenue from its own retail channels. The company has also recently taken full ownership of its rainforest spa business Rabot and shored up its balance sheet with a £40m fundraising.

Apple ups the ante in Fortnite battle

US tech giant Apple (US: AAPL) has banned Fortnite from its store indefinitely meaning those buying new iPhones will be unable to download the game and those who already have the game on their smartphones will not be able to implement any updates.

It’s a blow for both companies. Epic Games – owner of Fortnite – will miss out on the custom of the roughly 7.5m people who buy a new iPhone every year, while Apple has made itself an enemy of the 6-12m people globally who play Fortnite every day.

It’s the latest chapter in a long-running battle which Epic Games initiated after being appalled at the 30 per cent fee Apple takes on app purchases made in its store. In September a US court ruled in Epic’s favour by saying that Apple could not ban app makers from directing customers to third party payment providers, thus allowing them to sidestep Apple’s lofty commission. But the court also ruled in Apple’s favour by saying that the company was not acting as a monopoly. Both parties are in the process of appealing the rulings. The battle is far from over.

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