Chocolate-maker Thorntons has seen a drop in both sales and profits for the half year which it has described as “disappointing”.
The figures show that sales dropped 8.2% to £128.2 million and pre-tax profit dropped 8.8% to £6.5 million in the 28 weeks to January 10th following a profit warning in December, when it said that it continued to be “cautious” for the year.
Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' CEO, commented: "We report a mixed performance from our two divisions. Our Retail division delivered further like for like sales growth as a result of actions we have taken to improve its performance. Our FMCG division, however, suffered from difficult trading conditions in its UK Commercial sales channel. We responded quickly by controlling costs and production.
"Our retail performance and brand tracker demonstrate that the Thorntons' brand continues to strengthen, providing us with the confidence that we can improve certain commercial relationships, focussing on sustainable growth. We continue to make planned investments in people, systems, and manufacturing capability, needed to succeed in the FMCG market. We have taken the first steps in a programme to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the core business, restructuring our executive team and business functions in order to create an organisation that will win in FMCG.
"The difficult trading conditions in our UK Commercial channel have persisted into the second half. Ahead of our key spring seasons, we continue to be cautious in our expectations for the full year. We maintain strict control of costs and production and remain confident of our strategy. We are well positioned to take advantage of an improvement in consumer spending."
Thorntons currently has 247 shops, however it plans to reduce this to between 180 and 200 as it closes stores which are unprofitable.
