UK: Thorntons "cautious" despite improved Q4 sales

THORNTONS PLC
("Thorntons" or "the Company")

FOURTH QUARTER TRADING UPDATE

Thorntons PLC today reports its fourth quarter trading update for the nine weeks up to and including 30 June 2012, which is in line with management expectations. The comparative numbers for the fourth quarter in 2011 are restated on a nine week basis to allow like for like comparison as that period only had eight weeks.

Total sales for the nine weeks increased by £1.8 million to £24.7 million, an  improvement of 7.8%.

Commercial sales grew by £2.9m to £9.3 million, due to the introduction of this summer's 'Best of British' range and some differences in the timing of deliveries to our Commercial customers.

Own Store like for like sales increased by 0.7%. Overall sales in Own Stores declined
£0.7m to £13.7 million as a result of the 36 store closures during the year, in line with the Company's strategy.

Franchise sales declined to £0.9 million. Sales were adversely affected by the
administration of Clinton Cards Plc. Thorntons had franchises in 30 Birthdays stores and 16 Clinton Cards stores.

Thorntons Direct sales were broadly flat at £0.8 million.

We anticipate profit before tax, impairment and onerous lease charges for the full year to be in line with our expectations.

Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' Chief Executive, commented:

"Although we are encouraged by this performance, this nine week period contributes less than 12% to our annual sales and we continue to remain cautious about the outlook for the coming year. Trading initiatives in our Own Stores, implemented since our strategic review, combined with new product launches have led to some improvement in underlying sales. Within the Commercial channel sales have been supported by the incremental benefit of this summer's 'Best of British' range and timing of deliveries to our customers.

"We remain committed to our strategy of rebalancing our business, revitalising our brand and restoring profitability and I am pleased to see that the actions we have taken are starting to deliver improvements in a difficult trading environment."

Original source: Thorntons