Hotel Chocolat boosted by first half sales and profit uplift
Hotel Chocolat saw its first half pre-tax profit rise by 15% to £12.9 million after a successful Christmas trading period.
In the six months to 31 December, revenue climbed by 15% to £71.7 million while underlying EBITDA increased by 15% to £15.8 million.
The company saw strong sales across its retail, digital and corporate channels. The online growth was achieved through Hotel Chocolat’s own website as well as through new third-party retailers including Amazon and Ocado.
During the period, Hotel Chocolat opened ten new stores which contributed 5% to group sales growth. The openings included the company’s first ever retail park location, a new flagship store at the Oxford Westgate shopping centre, and an outlet store at Clarks Village.
Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive of Hotel Chocolat, said: “This has been another period of strong progress for Hotel Chocolat with growth in both sales and profits. The critical Christmas period was again successful, helped by further improvements in availability, our best ever seasonal range and the extension of our one-stop gift solutions range. We have exciting plans in place for the key spring seasons of Mother’s Day and Easter, and have recently launched a new cacao beauty range and a weekly subscription called Mbox.”
Hotel Chocolat said trading since the end of the period, including Valentine’s Day, has continued to be in line with expectations.
Thirlwell added: “We continue to make good progress against our three key strategic objectives of opening more stores, improving our digital capability and increasing our production capacity.”
