Hotel Chocolat upgrades full year trading expectations following strong Easter

In a trading update for the eight week period to April 25, 2021, the specialist retailer said that sales over the period were up 19% than 2019 comparatives, and revenues were 60% up year-on-year for Mother’s Day and Easter. 

The retailer said this sales growth had been achieved predominantly through its digital channels and subscription services due to stores being closed for much of the period. 

This “further demonstrates the strength of the company’s omni-channel sales model”, it said, before adding that since stores had reopened in England on April 12, “sales across all the company’s channels have been encouraging”. 

As a result the retailer said it had agreed to repay £3.1m it received from the government in furlough money at the height of the pandemic.

Co-founder and chief executive of Hotel Chocolat Angus Thirlwell said: “In the past year, we have added over one million customers to our database, an increase of 47% Our strong Easter is entirely thanks to them.

“It feels great to have our physical locations back open again and we have a strong pipeline of exciting new products to launch over the summer, including our Rabot Estate Coffee brand, Strawberries & Cream iced chocolate drinks for our Velvetiser system, and Neapolitan chocolate macarons for al-fresco dining.

“I’m pleased we are able to look forward to further growth and significant investment this year with strong job creation, particularly in our UK chocolate making and supply teams as we turn on extra capacity for our creamy tasting vegan Nutmilk chocolate, our globally popular chocolate macarons, and our Velvetiser flakes for drinking chocolate.

“I would like to commend our team on the commitment, dynamism and creativity they have all shown during the pandemic. They have not only adapted the business to the challenges we faced but have strengthened the brand and accelerated our business model and future growth prospects.”