Thorntons has hailed its best overall Christmas performance for five years, as increased supplies of chocolates into the big supermarkets paid dividends.
The chocolatier said that it expects revenues from its commercial division, largely sales at the grocers, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, to overtake those in its retail shops next year.
But shares in Thorntons tumbled after its sales in stores open at least a year slipped by 1.3% over the 14 weeks to January 12 despite it being up against a weak performance when it issued a profit warning in December 2011.
Jonathan Hart, the confectionery group’s chief executive, said its commercial division had been boosted by introducing its premium Thorntons Continental range into Tesco for the first time in the second quarter. Its commercial sales jumped by 26.4% to £34.7 million and it boasted market share gains. Hart said: “We are pleased with the overall performance. These are our best second quarter sales for five years in terms of total growth.”
Overall sales rose by 5.4% to £88 million in the 14 weeks.
Emphasising the growing importance of commercial sales, Hart said: “We are moving through a transition to being a strong FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] brand, with hopefully more of a presence abroad with a retail business attached to it.”
Thorntons now has 27 fewer shops than it did a year ago, as part of its ongoing programme to leave it with an estate of as few at 180 company-owned stores. The 102-year-old retailer also saw its online sales fall by £700,000 to £4.8 million, blaming the “late deployment of the new website combined with operational issues that had a significant impact on sales”.
Thorntons’ shares today fell by 2.6p, or 5.6%, to 43p.
