The UK-headquartered Hotel Chocolat Group has delivered fourth quarter growth results for 2018, with revenue increasing 15% during the period.

According to its latest trading update, the business opened 15 new stores during the six months ended December, with a total of 117 stores operating in its domestic market.

The company has featured in a two-part documentary over the past month for Channel 5 that went behind the scenes of its operations in St Lucia, where as well as its cocoa production facilities, the company has been developing a chocolate experience for visitors to the island.

Viewers of the documentary saw product taste-testing trials, as well as a company experiment with a mobile chocolate  van operating across key locations across England. The company is considering rolling out the project across the UK, should initial positive results prove successful.

On its trading results, the company added that since December is said to be in line with management’s expectations. and the Board expects to announce the Group’s results for the six months ended 31 December 2018 on 26 February 2019.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “This was another strong Christmas for Hotel Chocolat. Our new store openings contributed 5% of the growth in the period, with the balance coming from existing stores, digital and wholesale channels.  Our wholesale partnerships were notable successes with strong growth, balancing lower margins with lighter capital investment.

“The Velvetiser in-home hot chocolate system quickly garnered rave reviews from press and customers and we
sold over three times our initial forecast. Our new Chocolat Cream Liqueur, as featured in our documentary film
last week, was also a hit. We invested in the growth of our new VIPMe loyalty scheme, acquiring over 400,000
members during the period, of which over 85% were in-store buyers, not previously on our database.

“Initial customer response to our new location in New York and joint venture store in Tokyo has been very encouraging, demonstrating the global appeal of the Hotel Chocolat brand and its ability to travel overseas.”