UK chocolate group Thorntons booked a drop in third quarter sales as a “strong” Easter failed to offset slow trading in February and March and a performance at Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day that “fell below expectations”.
The company has been managing the decline of its retail arm by closing under performing stores and shifting its focus to third party sales. However, the commercial unit saw an 8% fall in sales in the period.
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Nevertheless, Thorntons insisted that its year-to-date performance was on-track. Commercial sales rose 8.6% in the first nine months.
CEO Jonathan Hart said the group expected to hit market expectations for the full year. Consensus expectations are for pre-exceptional PBT of GBP7.3m.
