The businessman whose wife left him for shamed former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has had better news: getting to split a near £1m dividend, MailOnline has discovered.
Newly single Oliver Tress, founder director of posh lifestyle retailer Oliver Bonas, shared the sum of £990,000 with just one other fellow director during the year to December 31, accounts show.
The pay day is eye-watering despite Oliver Bonas’s homeware and fashion sales, who furloughed staff using money from the Treasury’s Job Retention Scheme in the Covid-19 crisis.
Oliver Tress with Gina Coladangelo, who left him for shamed former Health Secretary Matt Hancock
He is 54 years old and has been married to Gina Coladangelo, for around 12 years.
Their relationship fell apart after Ms. Coladangelo (44), and Mr Hancock, her boss at the Health Ministry, who was also married, were revealed to have had a tryst.
CCTV images of Ms Coladangelo, 43, and Mr Hancock in a lover’s clinch were widely publicized in June leading to Hancock’s resignation.
She reportedly fled the £4.5 family home she shares with Mr Tress after the affair was exposed, and is understood to now be in an ongoing relationship with Mr Hancock, who in turn walked out on his wife and young children.
It’s not clear how Mr Tress and his co-director Timothy Hollidge split the £990,000 dividend between them, but the mega payout eclipsed the firm’s £708,039 post tax profit for the year, the documents show.
Last month’s accounts of Oliver Bonas Limited, as well as its subsidiary companies revealed the dividend bonanza.
CCTV images of Ms. Coladangelo with Mr Hancock, 43 years old, in a lover’s clinch were widely publicized in June leading to Hancock’s resignation.
2019: Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo She reportedly fled the £4.5 family home she shares with Mr Tress after the affair was exposed
Mr Tress wrote in the 2020 gender gap report: “Like other businesses, this pandemic resulted in the closure of many stores over significant amounts of time.
‘Furloughing off and on 88 percent of Team OB.
“This was because we were using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and 88% of our team members were furloughed at one point.
Oliver Bonas reports that 1,119 employees were employed last year, including directors.
This means that around 984 Oliver Bonas workers were furloughed.
The generous payout of Mr Tress to Mr Hollidge could be a concern about the suitability for Oliver Bonas to use the furlough program.
Posh lifestyle retailer Oliver Bonas, products pictured, furloughed staff with money from the Treasury’s Job Retention Scheme during the Covid-19 crisis
To pay wages for people who cannot work, or their bosses can’t pay them, the government launched the Job Retention Scheme in March 2013.
It initially paid 80 per cent of a furloughed employee’s wages, up to £2,500 a month.
The Government’s contribution to wage increases was reduced from 60% to 60% in August and September by the Ministry of Finance, while bosses were paid 20%.
Last month was the last month.
Oliver Bonas owns 77 UK shops and one Ireland store. The company also offers its products online, in the UK as well as the US.
The company is well-known for trendy and fashionable homeware products as well as its clothing.
In 1993, Mr Tress opened the first location.
Ministers say about 11 million jobs were subsidised at some point during the furlough scheme, costing a mammoth £70 billion.
Oliver Bonas could be reached for comments.