Hotel Chocolat Group today signalled strong growth both online and offline in its latest financial year, with digital sales up by a fifth.
In a full-year trading update the company, a Top250 retailer in IRUK Top500 research, said that revenue of £92.6m in the year to June 26 was 12% up on the previous year, with digital retail sales 20% up on last time. Father’s Day performed “particularly well”, with a well-received ‘better than socks’ campaign.
This is Hotel Chocolat’s first trading update to the stockmarket since listing in May 2016, and the brand confirmed that investment to increase the capacity of its factory, near Cambridge, was on schedule. Ahead of listing the company said it was likely to launch its new website this summer. Today it said that investment in digital was progressing well.
Co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell said: “Hotel Chocolat has had a good start as a listed company, with pleasing growth slightly above expectations. We remain confident in our strategy.
“Our plans to invest further in our British chocolate manufacturing operations, in new stores and in our digital offering are all progressing well.”
The business, founded by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris in 1993, has traded under the Hotel Chocolat brand since 2003. Currently it trades through 85 shops, including three in Copenhagen, and it has around 500,000 active online customers through www.hotelchocolat.com. It plans to open four more stores later this year.
