Thorntons feels the heat as Easter chocolate sales melt

The 100-year-old company said the hot weather put customers off buying chocolate with like-for-like sales plunging 23 per cent over the crucial Easter week.

Thorntons said it now expects underlying pre-tax profits to be between £3m and £4.5m for the year to June 25, compared to £6.1m the previous year.

City analysts previously expected earnings for this financial year to be around £6m and in February Thorntons forecast profit would be around the previous year’s level.

The warning follows an increase in supermarket promotions and discounts for chocolate Easter eggs with offers of three for £5 and buy-one-get-one free.

In addition, cocoa and sugar prices have continued to soar, piling pressure on smaller stores which are less able to absorb the costs.

Thorntons’ disappointing Easter trading period follows a similarly weather-hit Christmas season, when Arctic conditions wiped £3.5m from its sales and pre-tax profits were down by 8.5 per cent.

April was one of the hottest and driest on record.

The average temperature recorded in central England – 11.9C (53F) – was the highest for April since records began 353 years ago.

Jonathan Hart, Thorntons’ chief executive, who is conducting a review of the business which will conclude in the next three months, said the company made its ice cream available in more stores than last year over the Easter period.

But he added: “These significant additional sales were insufficient to offset the impact of the weather on those of our core chocolate items.”

The company said sales at its company-owned stores were down 13.9 per cent to £31.4m in the 16 weeks to April 30, a 12.6 per cent like-for-like decline.

But the company did see sales in its commercial channel – that is selling through supermarkets – increase 25.1 per cent in the face of strong competition.

Elsewhere, the company said total sales for the year to date were up 2.9 per cent and it increased its market share on Easter seasonal lines.

The company, which trades from 369 owned stores and 226 franchise outlets, said group sales fell 0.7 per cent to £64.2m in the 16 weeks to April 30, a period which includes its fiscal third quarter.

“The past quarter has been extremely challenging particularly in our own stores and for franchisees and we foresee the prospect of this weakness in high street footfall and spending continuing,” said Mr Hart.

Shares in Thorntons, which have lost 20 per cent of their value over the last six months, closed down 13 per cent last night, a fall of 10.25p to 70p.