Chocolate firm Thorntons has announced a 60.4% rise in full year profits as UK sales rose 9.7% to £99.4 million.

Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' chief executive, commented: "We are pleased with these results which indicate continued strong recovery in our profitability and are testament to the strategy we put in place just over three years ago. The challenging environment and subdued consumer sentiment make our progress all the more notable. Our growth plans are not reliant on an economic upturn and we will further evolve our strategy as we move towards becoming an international FMCG business with a strong UK multi-channel retail presence. Since the year-end we have successfully refinanced the business to support this growth and transformation.

"As we continue to grow our FMCG business, the timing of orders will increasingly cause fluctuations in our quarterly reported sales figures without necessarily affecting overall annual performance, as the past year has shown. We anticipate further growth in our UK Commercial channel during the first half of the current financial year. However, we expect this to be at a more modest level as a result of strong prior year comparatives, the continually changing marketplace and a marked reduction in the first quarter. Overall, we are confident that we can improve EBIT margin further and maintain positive profit growth for the full year, in line with market expectations driven by strong annual sales growth in our UK Commercial channel."