UK chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons has reported a near 10% fall in full-year profits and said sales were hit by the hot UK summer.
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The company reported a pre-tax profit of £6.4m (US$10.2m) for the year to 28 June, compared to £7.1m a year earlier.
The company said that in the first nine weeks of the new financial year, franchise sales had fallen 7.2%, while own shop like-for-like sales were down 1.9% due to the hot weather. Commercial sales rose 24.6% in the period, however, while gift delivery service sales rose 6.9%, reported AFX News.
Peter Burdon, Thorntons’ chief executive, said selling Thorntons products in supermarkets and selling ice creams and drinks in its own outlets had made the business more weather resistant.
“I don’t feel defensive about last year’s performance. Given the hottest weather for the last few decades to lose such a small percentage of our sales is a bloody good result,” Burdon was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.
