Thorntons sales fall again
British chocolatier Thorntons has said sales over the Christmas period had been below its expectations and its profitability would be hit by heavy discounting, in a retail environment it called “extremely tough”.
Thorntons notes that sales in its own stores declined in the 14 weeks to 7 January by 6.8% to £44.9 million. Sales at its franchise arm fell 17.5% to £4.1 million. Total sales of its products increased marginally by 0.6%.
The company has appointed Michael Killick, previously CFO at clothing group Peacocks, will join the company as its new finance director, to replace Mark Robson when he steps down in February.
“We expect continued weakness in consumer sentiment throughout 2012. This reaffirms our strategy to rebalance the business, create a smaller retail estate, revitalise our brand and most importantly restore profitability over the next three years,” explains the company’s trading report.
Its shares fell after its board said profits would fall short of expectations, having previously announced plans to shut a third of its stores. “There has also been a high level of promotional activity across the market,” Thorntons says. “Looking ahead, we have a strong spring range and our commercial sales orders for Easter are in line with our expectations.”
