Hotel Chocolat targets Yorkshire expansion as sales rise

The group, which floated on AIM in May, said sales came in ahead of expectations for the full year, helped by a Father’s Day campaign that boosted revenues.

The group is keen to expand in Yorkshire and said its new store opening programme is progressing well after it opened a new store opened in Sheffield in May.

The group’s CFO Matt Pritchard said: “We are pleased that the new Sheffield store is trading in line with our expectations. We are hoping to open more stores in Yorkshire.”

He described Yorkshire as “a key area” for Hotel Chocolat’s expansion programme.

The group already has stores in Leeds, York, Harrogate and Sheffield’s Meadowhall, a restaurant in Leeds and a cafe in York.

Hotel Chocolat said annual revenue rose 12 per cent to £92.6m, with the retailer’s online arm seeing growth of 20 per cent.

When the company listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market two months ago, it was valued at more than £200m.

Co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell said: “Hotel Chocolat has had a good start as a listed company, with pleasing growth slightly above expectations.

“We remain confident in our strategy. Our plans to invest further in our British chocolate manufacturing operations, in new stores, and in our digital offering are all progressing well.”

The group said its Father’s Day campaign, Better Than Socks, performed “particularly well” and that it plans to open another four new stores this year.

Founded in 1993, Hotel Chocolat runs 81 stores, a hotel in St Lucia and restaurants in both Leeds and London.

City analysts expect the firm to turn a pre-tax profit of £6.9m for the year.

The group said it expects to announce its maiden preliminary results in mid October.

Analyst Wayne Brown, at Liberum, said: “We believe that Hotel Chocolat possesses multiple attributes that support a high level of confidence in forecasts.

“It is a highly disruptive business and has proven defensive attributes irrespective of the economic backdrop.

“The customer base is largely UK, (it has) low ticket products and a large portion of its customers are ABC demographic and it has a high-growth online business and a very ‘sticky’ core membership in its Tasting Club.”

He said that Hotel Chocolat had delivered a strong update leading to a modest upgrade to forecasts.

“The statement is reassuring in that the new store pipeline is strong, the capital projects are on track, on time and within budget and momentum from 2016 has continued strongly into 2017,” said Mr Brown.

“We have a high degree of confidence in forecasts and as we discuss below we feel Hotel Chocolat possess the many attributes of a high quality business.”

The first Hotel Chocolat shop opened its doors in North London in 2004. The aim of entrepreneurs Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris was “to start a revolution in British chocolate”.

In addition to its UK stores, the group has opened three boutiques in Copenhagen.

“It’s been a dynamic period of change and growth, but everything we do is still guided by the three basic values that we started with, and always will be,” said Mr Thirlwell.

“We believe in originality - being fresh, creative and innovative, and always one surprising step ahead.

“We believe in authenticity - keeping it real. We grow some of the cocoa we use, create our own chocolate recipes and even make chocolate fresh from the bean for some of our ranges.

“We believe in ethics and reconnecting our love of chocolate with its roots. Cocoa farmers worldwide deserve respect and a fair deal. And that’s what we offer, from Saint Lucia to Ghana, through our Engaged Ethics programme.”

He added that the group has never played by the rules of what people think a chocolate company should be.

“For one thing, we’re one of the world’s few chocolate makers to actually grow cocoa, on our beautiful Rabot Estate plantation in Saint Lucia.”