The chocolate maker Thorntons PLC has made a comeback after reporting a rise in sales in the last nine weeks up to 30 June 2012. Last September MOVEHUT reported that Thorntons was struggling after seeing a loss of £253,000.
But it seems the commercial property chain has turned things around after sales increased by 7.8 per cent since 28 April 2012. This is an increase of £1.8 million worth of sales. Their own commercial properties reported an increase in sales of 0.7 per cent, which is mainly due to 36 store closures this year so far.
But the Thorntons franchise brand was hit by a drop of £0.9 million when Clinton Cards entered administration. The company had franchises is 16 Clinton Cards commercial properties and 30 Birthday stores, which were hit by closures, thus affecting sales. But it is hoped that this will improve now that Clinton Cards has been taken over by American Greetings.
Speaking of the rise in sales, Jonathan Hart, Chief Executive of Thorntons said: “Although we are encouraged by this performance, this nine week period contributes less than 12% to our annual sales and we continue to remain cautious about the outlook for the coming year.
“We remain committed to our strategy of rebalancing our business, revitalising our brand and restoring profitability and I am pleased to see that the actions we have taken are starting to deliver improvements in a difficult trading environment.”
Do you think this is the start of an improvement for the chocolate maker? Or do you think the company will still have some troubled times ahead as people keep hold of their disposable incomes?
