By Jon Robinson
Almost 140 jobs were created by the company behind the Hilton hotel in Manchester’s iconic Beetham Tower as it continued to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, newly-filed documents have revealed.
The firm’s average headcount surged from 142 to 280 in the year to April 30, 2024.
During its prior financial year, the company’s average number of employees fell from 231.
In the year to April 2020, the total had stood at 299 while 304 were employed in the year April 2019.
Newly-filed accounts for Blue Manchester Limited also show its turnover increased from £13.1m to £17.7m but that its pre-tax losses widened from £1.2m to £4m.
In the last year before the pandemic struck, the 12 months to April 2019, the company’s turnover totalled £20.5m and it posted a pre-tax profit of £686,626.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The full financial year results for the prior year were somewhat affected by the impact of Covid-19 but it can be sen that the current year turnover and results are moving towards pre-Covid levels as the hotel starts to ramp up operations to pre-Covid levels.
“The directors are expecting the hotel’s performance to continue improving to and beyond the pre-Covid-19 level.
“The directors are also working with the hotel operator to improve performance and meet expectations.”
The hotel is housed in the 47-storey Beetham Tower in Manchester city centre.
The building was completed in 2006 and is owned by Yiannakis ‘John’ Christodoulou, a Monaco-based billionaire.
Christodoulou owns the Yianis Group which holds residential, hotel, retail and leisure properties across the UK and Europe.
Beetham Tower was the tallest building in the UK outside London until 2018 when it was surpassed by the Deansgate Square development.
The Hilton Manchester Deansgate occupies space up to level 22. The rest of the building is occupied by apartments and the Cloud 23 bar.
Mr Christodoulou took over the ownership of the hotel after Beetham Hotels Manchester Ltd went into administration in February 2011.
