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Restructuring costs have left chocolatier Thorntons with a £5.4m bill, it revealed this morning. The exceptional items charge was revealed in the Alfreton–based company's year-end results alongside a £2.6m fall in pre-tax profit.

The company said that restructuring including onerous lease charges, impairment and outsourcing has cost it £5.4m in exceptional items.

Part of the restructuring costs were attributable to the outsourcing of the company's distribution and warehousing function, which Thorntons said would produce "significant" savings over the next six years.

Despite a drop in pre-tax profit for the year to 25 June, Thorntons recorded a 1.7 per cent increase in revenues at its year-end to £218.3m.

The market share of Thorntons' branded products grew to 7.7 per cent, up 0.3 per cent from 2010.

Earlier this year, Thornton's issued a profit warning followed by the announcement it would close 180 of its high-street stores. The company said this morning that it was "confident" that replacing some of the closed stores with franchises was the best strategic option.

Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' chief executive, said: "In the year that marks the Centenary of Thorntons, I am pleased to report record overall sales, despite the challenging retail environment. This highlights the strength of our multi-channel strategy, as well as that of the Thorntons brand, with sales of branded products rising by 2.2 per cent. Commercial sales have grown by an impressive 25.9 per cent over the full year and we are encouraged by our forward orders for Christmas 2011.

"As announced at the time of our strategic review, our goal over the next three years is to rebalance the business and to create a profitable and sustainable retail estate. While we expect to see the weakness in high street footfall and consumer spending to continue through 2012, we are confident that this strategy is right for the company."

Net debt was also reduced by £1.5m to £24.5m over the year. In June, Thorntons announced it had renewed its banking facilities with HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Barclay, as well as an overdraft of £5m.The facilities totalled £57.5m and would be in place until October 2015.