Hotel Chocolat interim profit and revenue up 15%, recent trading in line

Hotel Chocolat reported a jump in interim profit and revenue on Wednesday thanks to strong sales across retail, digital and corporate channels and following a "successful" Christmas period.

In the 26 weeks to the end of December 2017, pre-tax profit at the AIM-listed chocolatier rose 15% to £12.9m on revenue of £71.7m, also up 15% from the previous year. Net cash at the period end was £18.3m, up from £16.2m in the first half of the year, while earnings per share increased to 9p from 7.8p.

Hotel Chocolat said it benefited from improved seasonal ranges and some encouraging early results for its new digital wholesale partners.

During the period, the group opened 10 new stores, contributing 5% to group sales growth. Meanwhile, digital revenues, which include website and subscription club and new digital wholesale partners, were up 13%.

Co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell 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. We are confident of further progress during the year."

The company said recent trading, including the Valentine's day period, has been in line with the board's expectations and it continues to make good progress against its three key strategic objectives of opening more stores, improving its digital capability and increasing its production capacity.

At 1000 GMT, the shares were down 2.8% to 313.51p.