Thorntons tastes sweeter fortunes

CHOCOLATE retailer and manufacturer Thorntons finally saw profits move in the right direction last year, despite the distractions of two takeover approaches and the ending of nearly 100 years of family management.

After several years of underperformance, the group saw its pre-tax total push ahead by 9.6% to £7m in the year to 26 June, although this is still short of the peak reached five years ago.

New, higher-margin products helped sales increase by 6.9% to £178.7m, with a like-for-like increase of 2.6%.

Thorntons supplies retailers such as Marks & Spencer with own-label products, and while the new regime there has brought a 'slight tightening' of terms, Thorntons chief executive Peter Burdon is confident of further growth in sales to the stores group.

Another storming performance from Whittard of Chelsea saw the tea and coffee retailer push profits ahead by 44% to £3.32m in the year to end of May.

The dividend total is raised by 75%, to 3.5p a share.