‘Ice cream of the gods’ sees Hotel Chocolat break £100m
Sales at Hotel Chocolat have pushed through the £100 million barrier for the first time, helped by customer demand for the retailer’s “ice cream of the gods”.
Since 2016 the upmarket chocolatier has introduced £2.95-a-cone cocoa-infused ice cream to 37 stores, and boss Angus Thirlwell said shoppers have responded well to it.
He also flagged that in-store cafes and a new website for online sales have contributed to “another good year, with encouraging growth”.
The firm, which has 98 shops, saw revenue increase 12% to £104 million in the year to June 25, which was slightly ahead of market expectations.
Thirlwell said: “When you break the £100 million mark, it tells you that you have a lot of support out there.”
Trading since the year end has been in line with forecasts and the company is testing adding cafes to existing stores.
The City welcomed the update and the shares today increased by 6.1p to 342p. It floated at 148p in May 2016.
Wayne Brown, analyst at house broker Liberum, said: “The group has multiple levers for future growth.”