Hotel Chocolat reports 11% revenue rise in H1

Hotel Chocolat has reported a 11% rise in revenue in its interim results for the 26 weeks ended 27 December 2020.

Revenue increased to £101.9m while profit before tax rose by 3% to £15.5m over the period.

The chocolate retailer saw a particularly strong sales growth over the holiday season due to strong brand recognition across markets in the UK, US and Japan.

Over the period, sales in the UK increased by 12% thanks to a focus on multichannel flexibility, with online growth compensating for the reduction in physical retail sales resulting from closures during lockdown.

The company also announced the creation of more than 130 jobs and revealed 93% of its packaging was now recyclable.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and CEO of Hotel Chocolat, said: “The Hotel Chocolat brand stayed strong during a difficult period for all of us. 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.”

He added: “Databases of active customers grew substantially in all three markets, underpinning our confidence of growth in the years to come. 

“In the UK, our multichannel model truly came of age, and excitingly, both Japan and the USA firmly stepped up from the ‘test and learn’ phase into ‘grow and scale’. Total brand sales, through direct-to-consumer and partner channels combined, increased 16% year-on-year.”