Thorntons reports 0.7% revenue decline

UK chocolate manufacturer Thorntons has reported a decline of 0.7% on overall sales year on year at £127.4 million (€145m). This comes despite sales of the company’s branded products, excluding private label products, across all channels increased by 5.5%.

Mike Davies, Thornton’s chief executive, says, “Although the sales volume recorded from our shops suffered a slight decline, our improved profit performance for the first six months was assisted by our decision to avoid heavy discounting of prices in our retail outlets.”

He adds, “We are in the process of adding several products to our offering and have just launched the new Easter range in our stores. Going forward we will continue to focus on reducing our dependency on Christmas by investing in products that drive sales in the traditionally quieter summer months. We therefore expect to be able to continue to improve our performance in the second half, which is historically loss-making.” Profit before tax increased by 24.6% to £9.1 million (€10.3m) in the first half of the financial year.