UK's Hotel Chocolat profit jumps 56% on growing brand appeal
02/03/2022 08:03
LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - British chocolatier Hotel
Chocolat HOTC.L on Wednesday reported a 56% rise in first half
profit as the appeal of its brand grew in its home market, the
United States and Japan.
For the six months to Dec. 26 the luxury chocolate maker,
retailer and wholesaler made a pretax profit of 24.1 million
pounds ($32 million), up from 15.5 million pounds a year
earlier, on revenue up 40% to 142.9 million pounds.
Hotel Chocolat sells its products online and through sites
in the UK, Japan and the United States. It also has an organic
cacao farm, hotel and visitor attraction in Saint Lucia, as well
as a chocolate factory in Cambridgeshire, eastern England.
The company said inflationary pressures were mitigated, with
profits growing faster than sales.
Trading so far in 2022 has continued to be in line with the
board's expectations.
"The multi-channel performance of the UK remains
encouraging, and the new markets continue to show promising
potential for growth and profitability," said CEO Angus
Thirlwell, who co-founded the business in 1993 and owns 27% of
the equity.
Shares in Hotel Chocolat, up 21% over the last year, closed
on Tuesday at 450 pence, valuing the business at 622 million
pounds.
($1 = 0.7532 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey
Editing by Mark Potter)
((james.davey@thomsonreuters.com))