Chocolate maker Hotel Chocolat to cut discounts this holiday season
01/12/2022 07:50
Dec 1 (Reuters) - Hotel Chocolat HOTC.L said on
Thursday it would cut back on discounts this holiday season as
the British luxury chocolate maker swung to an annual loss on
one-off charges due to U.S. store closures and the restructuring
of a Japanese joint venture.
"Our decisions to focus on full-price sales and quality over
quantity, coupled with a resurgence of physical store
performance means that we anticipate December will be busier
than ever," it said in a statement.
The chocolatier said a majority of its Christmas gift range
is priced between 2.5 pounds and 8.5 pounds.
Hotel Chocolat posted a statutory loss of 9.4 million pounds
($11.4 million) for the year ended June 26, compared with a
profit of 3.7 million pounds a year earlier.
Underlying pretax profit came in at 21.7 million pounds, on
revenue of 226.1 million pounds for the year.
Analysts had expected a profit of 9.6 million pounds on
revenue of 236 million pounds, according to a company-compiled
consensus.
Hotel Chocolat said it was adopting a "prudent" approach on
its outlook for the year.
($1 = 0.8275 pounds)
(Reporting by Anchal Rana and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru;
Editing by Savio D'Souza)
((Anchal.Rana@thomsonreuters.com;))