Hotel Chocolat announces plans for Yorkshire expansion

Co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell said​ the group will open a second site in York at the McArthurGlen York Designer Outlet in the next few weeks.

The firm is also looking at other sites in the county.

"We are continuing to look at Halifax and Huddersfield, but we haven't found the right site yet," said Mr Thirlwell.

"We perform so well in Yorkshire and if readers want to suggest locations we'd be happy to look at them. We'll be growing in Yorkshire for the next decade."

He announced the expansion plans alongside half year results for the six months to December 31.

The group made a pre-tax profit of £13m on revenue of £72m and said it would pay an interim dividend of 0.6p.

Hotel Chocolat said recent trading, including the Valentine’s period, was in line with expectations.

Mr Thirlwell said the group has exciting plans in place for the key spring seasons of Mother’s Day and Easter.

"For Mother's Day, we've got some very nice gift sets combining our new cocoa beauty range with chocolates," he said.

"We'll also be selling sets of almond and cocoa body butter with a mini bottle of prosecco."

Another likely best seller will be rose and violet creams.

"We have a historic recipe that was crated in the 1800s by early British chocolate companies," said Mr Thirlwell.

"They contain essential oils of rose and violet to provide a floral taste and scent which is then enrobed in dark chocolate. We see a huge spike in sales on Mothers' Day.

"We also have pink champagne truffles. It's making us a one stop shop. You can walk in and you've got Mothers' Day sorted."

The group is also lining up a strong range for Easter.

"We love Easter. It's the best time in the calendar to be a chocolatier," said Mr Thirlwell.

"It will be headlined with our Extra Thick Eggs. Everyone else makes them as thin as possible - we make them as thick as we can."

Analyst Wayne Brown at Liberum said: "The first half results give us confidence in our full year forecasts and reflect the continued trading momentum and strategic progress that is being achieved.

"Double-digit top line growth has flowed through to profit growth, despite cost headwinds, as the group benefits from underlying efficiency improvements."