Hakkasan pays outgoing boss $50m golden goodbye sending it to $145m loss

Struggling restaurant and nightclub operator Hakkasan gave former boss Neil Moffitt a $50m (£39m) payout last year, despite deepening financial woes.

The payout came following a difficult year for the company which saw losses of $145m in the 12 months to June 2017, the equivalent of half its annual turnover.

It saw revenue drop by 7% to $314m, with UK revenue falling significantly by 11% suffering from struggles at fine dining restaurant HKK, which has since closed down.

Coventry-born Moffitt took charge at Hakkasan in 2013 following a merger with his own Las Vegas based nightclub operator Angel Management Group, he stepped down last May. Former Hakkasan chairman Khadem al-Qubaisi was arrested in 2016 in investigations into embezzlement of funds from IMDB of Malaysia. Hakkasan says it it was not a recipient of any embezzled funds.