– The decidedly toughest and most brutal is that the pandemic has challenged everything I have believed in the last 25 years, says investor Petter Stordalen (58) to Børsen.
One and a half years ago, the hotel empire of Norway’s perhaps most high-profile businessman was hit by the worst crisis the tourism industry has experienced. In a major interview with Børsen, the hotel king now takes the magazine by the mouth about mass layoffs, billion deficits, and pandemic insurance noise.
The billionaire also responds to ramsalt criticism of being a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, and claims that he “plunders the community”.
CONTINUES BETTER: Petter Stordalen has left behind a tough corona period. Now he talks about the most demanding challenges. Photo: Bjørn Langsem / Dagbladet
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– Happened long before the crisis
More on that soon. First and foremost, Stordalen is busy presenting its brand new neighborhood hotel at Hasle in Oslo. Despite varying degrees of success in execution (se video under), the official opening of Quality Hotel Hasle Linie was celebrated with the sabbling of champagne on Wednesday.
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– This feels very good. There are many who say: “But Petter, how can you open a new hotel during a pandemic?” It is not the case that this hotel has been specifically built and built in a quarter of an hour. This was adopted and decided long before the crisis.
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The corona pandemic struck a chord with the Nordic Choice chain’s progress and billion-dollar investments.
– We were very strong financially at the beginning of the crisis. We had left behind the tenth year with a record result. There were a number of large projects ahead of us with billions to be invested.
Here Stordalen explodes
– Will lose
Then society locked up, and the accounts turned red.
– We had a loss of 2.7 billion last year. And we will also lose money this year. The positive is that our system has proven to work in a crisis. Many journalists have focused on the numbers, but they have not understood that the most important thing to get you through a crisis is not money alone. It’s the culture and your people.
Bets billions on new shopping center giant
– But you are probably also quite dependent on a good economy in order to survive?
– This depends on the confidence of the banks. And you get trust if you have the best people, something we have. So even though we had to lay off an incredible number of employees, we managed to keep the business going.
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Lost in court
Stordalen states that the group has brought back all available crews in the chain who were laid off. Securing against the losses, on the other hand, has been a far more complicated process. Last year, it became known that Stordalen’s hotel Norefjell Ski and Spa had ended up in full conflict with the insurance company Codan over a pandemic insurance.
The case ended up in Oslo District Court, where the hotel king wanted the court to uphold that a clause on an epidemic outbreak should also cover lost costs as a result of the pandemic.
Stordalen Hotel lost in court
It ended with acquittal for Codan insurance and a crushing loss for Norefjell Ski & Spa in March. Stordalen’s hotel was also ordered to pay NOK 1.93 million in legal costs to the insurance company.
The Stordalen team decided to appeal that ruling.
Must repay
– Do you envisage winning in the next court round?
– A hundred percent. It says that we have a pandemic insurance, and then we will fight for it. It is not that we are financially dependent on winning the case. I just mean that right should be right, and thus we are willing to take that fight.
Like thousands of other Norwegian companies, Stordalen’s hotel group has received state compensation support for fixed, unavoidable costs during the pandemic.
– No money in the account
According to E24 218.5 million in compensation was paid to Strawberry Group in the period March-August 2020. In May wrote the newspaper that the hotel group had admittedly miscalculated the costs, and thus had to repay NOK 14.4 million.
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«Plunders the community»
Stordalen explains:
– The calculations for fixed, unavoidable costs can be relatively complicated. However, I have no problem with this, and have said that it is good to follow the numbers.
Stordalen’s «roughest» corona frame
It is not just the tax authorities that have had Stordalen on the radar. In an exclusive interview with Børsen in June, Red leader Bjørnar Moxnes hammered loose at the hotel owner and other billionaires which has received large sums in corona compensation from the government.
Moxnes claimed that the Stordalen group received six times more in compensation from the state in six months than what the group paid in tax in five years.
He further described the hotel magnate as “a capitalist in sheep’s clothing”, and believed that the “super-rich plunder the community”.
Refser Stordalen: – The bluff lasted a long time
Strikes back
When Børsen asks for a comment on Moxnes’ proposal, Stordalen is silent for a few seconds. Then he exhales in despair.
– Firstly, I miss the perspective on how much we have invested across the country and how many thousands of jobs we have created – in Oslo alone. It’s unbelievably sad that Moxnes did not get it.
Stordalen continues:
Think billionaires get too much
– We create jobs which in turn generate tax revenue. When the pandemic hits, and we in practice get a business ban, then it is only right and reasonable that you should get some compensation for fixed, unavoidable costs. We took a loss of NOK 2.7 billion, and were covered by about ten percent. If Moxnes had done his homework, he would have seen me take 85-90 percent of the loss myself.
– Will be a challenge
– What will be your most important job in the next six months?
– The most important thing is to get Nordic Choice back to where we were before the pandemic. Goal number one was to take back all our people. Now we have taken back everyone who wants to return.
Will choke the corona support to Stordalen
He also emphasizes:
– There will be challenges in the future as well. A great deal of skilled labor has gone to other industries. It will be demanding for the whole tourism industry. The most important thing for us will be to dare to invest in the crisis as well. We have done this before and we will do it again.
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