Thorntons sales melt in Easter heat
Thorntons, the Alfreton-based confectioner, has reported a dip in sales during the traditionally-busy Easter period. The company blamed its sloping third quarter results on the hot weather which it said impacted its own stores, franchise and Thorntons Direct channels.
It said revenues dropped by 0.7 per cent to £64.2m for the 16 weeks to 30 April 2011.
For the year to date total sales increased by 2.9 per cent helped by a 25.1 per cent rise to £27.7m in commercial sales. The company said more than 98 per cent of these sales were Thorntons branded products. However, own store sales declined by 13.9 per cent to £31.4m with a like for like sales decline of 12.6 per cent.
Franchise sales decreased by 21.4 per cent to £2.7m over the period. Thorntons Direct sales decreased by 7.9 per cent to £2.4m.
The Easter trading period equates to nearly a third Thorntons’ third quarter own stores sales, the company said. The weather in the Easter week contributed to a like-for-like sales decline of 22.8 per cent in comparison to the same week in 2010.
The Thorntons board said it is expecting profit before tax and additional impairment charges for the year to 25 June 2011 to range between £3m and £4.5m – down from £6.1m in 2010.
Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' chief executive, said: "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.
"We have taken a number of actions including adjusting our trading strategy and aggressively managing our overhead costs, as well as ensuring that our production is geared to likely demand. Additionally we took steps to ensure that our ice cream was available in more stores than last year ahead of the Easter trading period.
"However, these significant additional sales were insufficient to offset the impact of the weather on those of our core chocolate items. The process of my strategic review is well under way and I look forward to presenting my conclusions in due course."
