Yahoo Finance Tory chairman’s concierge company agrees deal with its lender
The luxury concierge business founded by Ben Elliot, the Conservative Party co-chairman, has been handed breathing space by its backers as it grapples with the fallout from the pandemic.
Quintessentially has struck a deal to amend the terms of loans by World Fuel Services, a US shareholder that replaced Barclays as its sole lender, according to a filing with Companies House.
The business was founded by Mr Elliot, nephew of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. He is one of the best-connected men in Britain, and was once dubbed “Mr Access All Areas”.
However, the company has suffered during the pandemic after lockdown restrictions hit sales hard.
Bosses are racing to file accounts for the year to April 2020, which are now five months overdue. Financial statements for 2019 were lodged this May, more than 15 months late.
Mr Elliot has become embroiled in controversy in the past few weeks following allegations that he arranged access to the Prime Minister and Chancellor for Tory party donors. It was also claimed that Mr Elliot used his Quintessentially email account when making these arrangements.
A spokesman for the firm denied that Quintessentially provided services to the Conservative Party and said Mr Elliot has used his company email address for more than two decades to avoid being forced to check multiple inboxes.
Darren Ellis, a former adviser to the company, was hired as chief executive in April. In relation to the amendment of its lending facilities, Mr Ellis said: “WFS [World Fuel Services] as the sole existing facility provider has simply revised its facility with Quintessentially to support its projected growth. In common with most private companies, we do not disclose specific and confidential details of our facilities other than what is disclosed at Companies House.”
On the filing of the 2020 accounts, he added: “The work is in progress and we expect to file soon. There are no significant issues to report.”
