The chocolatier has reported positive interim numbers for the six month period ended 27 December, 2020.
According to the brand’s interim report, the retailer was up 11 per cent to £101.9M and profit before tax was £15.5M, which also represented an increase of three per cent from the first half of 2020. This increase in sales has been attributed to strong online growth which has offset the impacts on physical reductions in retail. According to the company, 51 per cent of the UK sales were made online during the second half of 2020.
The company also recorded that their customer base in the UK grew by 38 per cent in the six month period and in the US and Japan, their customer base grew by 170 and 900 per cent respectively.
Hotel Chocolat Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Angus Thirlwell, commented: “We certainly kept the chocolate flowing thanks to our online capabilities and multichannel expertise. We recorded superb results in the UK, USA and Japan despite Covid-19 restrictions affecting all our physical locations.
We achieved sales growth during those periods when all UK physical locations were closed, demonstrating the brand’s appeal to our loyal customers, and our flexible business model.”
