Hotel Chocolat increased its first half revenue by 11% to £101.9 million after the retailer saw strong multichannel growth in the UK, USA and Japan.
In the six months to 27 December, pre-tax profit edged up 3% to £15.5 million. Meanwhile, underlying EBITDA rose by 2% year-on-year to £24.9 million.
UK sales climbed by 12% in the period as online growth more than offset reduced store sales due to the Covid-19 lockdown and Tier 4 restrictions. In addition, the company increased its number of UK active customers by 38%.
Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive, of Hotel Chocolat, said: “We recorded superb results in the UK, US and Japan despite Covid-19 restrictions affecting all our physical locations. We achieved sales growth during those periods when all UK physical locations were closed, demonstrating the brand’s appeal to our loyal customers, and our flexible business model.
“Databases of active customers grew substantially in all three markets, underpinning our confidence of growth in the years to come. In the UK, our multichannel model truly came of age, and excitingly, both Japan and the USA firmly stepped up from the ‘test and learn’ phase into ‘grow and scale’.”
Giving an update on more current trading, Hotel Chocolat said sales have continued to be in line with expectations.
Thirlwall added: “We look forward to building the Hotel Chocolat brand further as we move closer to our goal of becoming the leading global direct-to-consumer premium chocolate brand.”
