Thorntons continues to transform as it records sales growth of 5% during fourth quarter
High street confectionery chain Thorntons has revealed a sales increase of over 5 per cent to £26.8m for its fourth quarter as business transformation continues.
The chain revealed ‘strong growth’ within its commercial division, which it is currently growing to become its largest division as it looks to ‘rebalance’ the business and grow its retail stores to between 180-200.
UK sales were found to grow by 11.8 per cent to £9.2m for the fourth quarter, while it international sales have more than doubled to reach £0.9m, and although Own Store sales increased by 0.5 per cent, overall sales Own Store sales declined by 3.8 per cent to £13.9m following the closure of 34 stores during the year.
Jonathan Hart, CEO of Thorntons, described the figures as “encouraging” and added that as this was the company’s “smallest sales quarter” demonstrated positive impact for the brand’s strategy.
"Our UK Commercial sales growth and market share remain strong and our Own Stores have now delivered positive like-for-like growth across the whole of the second half of this year. We are on track with our store closure programme and have refurbished seven stores to our new format in the period under review,” he continued.
"The trading environment continues to be challenging. The actions we have taken are delivering positive results reflected by the progressive recovery in our profitability over the past 18 months."
Direct sales also fell by £0.1m to £0.8m during the fourth quarter, which ended 29 June.