Hotel Chocolat new stores raise the bar with 14 per cent revenue increase

A British confectioner has seen a multi-million pound rise in revenue following the opening of new stores in the UK and overseas.

Hotel Chocolat today announced its interim financial results, reporting that its revenue grew 14 per cent in the second half of 2019, going from £80.7m to £91.7m.

This follows the opening of nine new UK locations during the period, along with an international rollout in the US and Japan.

Earnings per share for the chocolatier also increased, going up 20 per cent to 11.5 pence.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and CEO of Hotel Chocolat, commented: “This was another strong period for Hotel Chocolat.

“Our new store openings contributed three percentage points of the growth in the period, with the remaining balance coming from existing locations, digital and wholesale channels.

“While our new markets in the US and Japan are still in the early stages of development, consumer response to the brand is encouraging, sales are growing, and we believe we have a deliverable plan to achieve attractive returns.

“The Velvetiser in-home hot chocolate system achieved strong growth, with our installed Velvetiser owner base showing great loyalty and enthusiasm for our widening library of flavours, with Tasmanian Mint, Habanero Chilli, and Maple & Pecan hot chocolates becoming instant hits.

“Our VIP loyalty scheme continued to grow strongly and contributed to double digit EBITDA growth from our physical UK locations.

“Our strong growth came from a wider variety of sales channels than in previous years, which led to some initial challenges in our supply chain.

“We are now making good progress with investments and upgrades in our supply chain which will fully address these inefficiencies and increase our international and multi-channel supply capability, ensuring we continue to deliver profitable growth.”

He also commented that the success of the new branches had inspired more potential new stores for the company.

“The performance of the new locations is encouraging and there is a future pipeline of similar potential locations.

“In delivering these results in a context of continued macro-economic uncertainty, the business has demonstrated creativity, resilience and adaptability.”

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