Hotel Chocolat posts strong uptick in sales
Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat has revealed a 37% increase in revenue for the 2022 financial year.
In its preliminary results for the year, the chocolate maker posted a revenue of £226.1m, an increase from £164.6m in 2021.
Despite making an statutory loss after tax of £9.4m, down from a profit of £3.7m last year, the confectionary retailer saw a rise in underlying profit to £21.7m, up from £9.6m.
Hotel Chocolat said its statutory reported loss contains a number of items arising from decisions to prioritise the best prospects for financial returns. This included decisions to to exit a number of smaller product categories, pulling out of direct-to-consumer operations in the USA, and impairment of loans to the now insolvent Japan Joint Venture.
The group said it is committed to retain its long-term ambitions for international growth but will focus in the near term on low capital-expenditure and lower risk approaches.
The chocolatier also announced the departure of two board members, chairman Andrew Gerrie and CFO Matt Pritchard, in 2023.
Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and CEO of Hotel Chocolat, said: “It goes without saying that the current environment is challenging on multiple fronts. Over the last few months we have taken decisive steps to reduce risk and to fully pull all our self-help Ievers in both our manufacturing and retailing businesses.”
“As we head into our busiest part of the year, I am confident that the strategic direction we have put in place will improve the prospects of the business for significant years to come”, he added.