91Èȱ¬

The boss of the Apex Hotel chain has expressed concern about filling jobs after the UK leaves the European Union.

Angela Vickers said she was working to address concerns from the high proportion of EU staff employed by the Edinburgh-based company.

She also said plans were being put in place to deal with potential food and drink supply issues.

The UK government wants EU citizens living in Britain legally to be able to stay after Brexit.

An online system for EU nationals to register their details will open fully on 30 March 2019, hours after the UK's departure from the EU is scheduled to take place.

Ms Vickers said Brexit-related issues were affecting all hotel companies.

She told the 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland: "We have a high proportion of EU staff who work for us across all of our cities and we need to make sure their concerns are addressed.

"That's top of mind at the moment, particularly when we have a skills shortage in our industry.

Ms Vickers added: "Secondly, our concern is around food and drink supplies - will that continue to come into the country? A lot of our produce is sourced locally.

"We do have a lot of close-knit relationships with our suppliers, but we just have to look beyond that to the supply chain and where their raw materials are coming from.

"We're working very closely with our suppliers at the moment to make sure that we've got contingencies in place."

Ms Vickers expressed concern about filling jobs after the the UK leaves the EU, but said Apex had been working with schools and colleges to promote the industry, as well as offering more flexible working for staff.

"We have been working very hard in the last two to three years in investing in hospitality as a career, so we've got apprenticeship programmes running throughout all our hotels."

Her comments came as Apex reported a rise in annual turnover from £65m to £68.9m across its UK network of 10 four-star hotel chains in locations like London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bath.

The results, covering the 12 months to 30 April 2018, put pre-tax profit at £7.8m, at a time when the company has invested heavily in refurbishing its outlets.

Ms Vickers said: "It's a very competitive market - we're not budget and we're not five-star but that allows us to cater for a broader customer base.

"Being a smaller independent, it is very difficult being up against the badged hotels - your Marriots and your Hiltons - but we hold our own."