Revenue grew by 14.7 per cent to £91.7 million at Hotel Chocolat in the six months to 29th December with pre-tax profits up by 7 per cent to reach £14.9 million for the period. The business had opened nine new stores in the UK, as well as two additional stores in the USA, plus three in Japan via its JV partner there. It had also grown its VIP membership base to 1.1 million active members.
CEO Angus Thirlwell commented; “This was another strong period for Hotel Chocolat. Our new store openings contributed three percentage points of the growth in this period, with the remaining balance coming from existing locations, digital and wholesale channels. While our new markets in the US and Japan are still in the early stages of development, consumer response to the brand is encouraging, sales are growing, and we believe we have a deliverable plan to achieve attractive returns. Our strong growth came from a wider variety of sales channels that in previous years, which led to some initial challenges in our supply chain. We are now making good progress with investments and upgrades in our supply chain which will fully address these inefficiencies and increase our international and multichannel supply capability, ensuring we continue to deliver profitable growth.”
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