Hotel Chocolat leaves a sweet taste as growing profits bolster international expansion efforts
Luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat signalled its plans to ramp up international expansion today after reporting a 13 per cent rise in annual profits.
Pre-tax profit for the 12 months to the start of July rose to £12.7m, jumping from £11.2m in the same period the year before.
The rise in profits was largely driven by a growing demand for its upmarket products, according to the firm, which is now eyeing a bigger role in foreign markets.
Shares were up more than three per cent in early morning trading.
Revenue also climbed 11 per cent year on year, rising to £116.3m.
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Over the last 12 months the company launched three new international ventures, with a Scandinavian franchise, Japanese joint venture and a store in the US.
Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive, said while the fall in the pound had put pressure on raw material costs, the company had mitigated the problem “by improving productivity and leveraging increased scale".
Thirlwell added: “The encouraging performance of our UK channels means we remain confident of further growth…We are increasingly confident that international expansion presents a growth opportunity, and will be adopting a cautious ‘test, learn, grow’ approach to our new partnership in Scandinavia and our new ventures in the US and Japan, where we intend to open our first stores this winter.”