RNS Number:2852Q
Thorntons PLC
22 January 2002





                                                                 22 January 2002



                              SALES TRADING STATEMENT

                            28 WEEKS ENDED 12 JANUARY 2002

Thorntons PLC, the speciality retailer and manufacturer of high quality
chocolate, toffee and other confectionery, is today reporting sales figures for
the 28 weeks ended 12 January 2002.

•         Total company sales increased by 3.0% to £102.4m in the 28 weeks

•         Own shop sales rose by 2.1% to £83.7m but were generated from less
          locations. Since last year we have continued to reduce from 412 shops 
          to 394 as we improve our shop portfolio.

•         Like-for-like improvement over the whole 28 weeks was +4.1% with a
          strong Christmas performance (7 weeks to 29th December) of +8.0%.

•         Franchise sales growth continues to benefit from new outlets with
          turnover up by 30.9% to £7.0m and locations up from 148 to 181.

•         Commercial sales fell to £9.2m from £10.8m reflecting lower sales of
          non-Thorntons branded product, withdrawal from some lower margin 
          business and a transfer of lower volume customers to the Mail Order
          channel. This contributed to:

•         E-commerce and Mail Order continuing to grow strongly by 100.1% to
          £2.5m.

Peter Burdon, Chief Executive, commented: '"I am extremely pleased to be able to
report further evidence that progress is being made, in particular we are
profitably growing sales in our own store network without seasonal overhang. The
Christmas performance was strong and it demanded great teamwork and organisation
to be able to deliver these results."

Thorntons plc will be announcing their Interim Results on Tuesday February 26th,
2002

For further information, please contact:
Peter Burdon - Chief Executive, Thorntons PLC          01773 540550
Martin Allen - Finance Director, Thorntons PLC         01773 540550
Catherine Miles - Buchanan Communications              020 7466 5000

1      Interim sales analysis

                                            First Half Sales      First Half Sales       Full year sales

                                                     2001/02               2000/01               2000/01

                                                          £m                    £m            (53 weeks)

                                                                                                      £m
       Own shop sales                                   83.7                  82.0                 133.1
       Franchise                                         7.0                   5.4                   9.3
       Commercial                                        9.2                  10.8                  15.3
       E-commerce/mail order                             2.5                   1.2                   2.2

       TOTAL                                           102.4                  99.4                 159.9


2      Comparison of 2001/2002 sales with the previous year


                                             28 weeks ending       28 weeks ending             Full year

                                             12 January 2002        6 January 2001               2000/01

       Own shop sales                                   2.1%                  4.1%                  3.2%
       Franchise                                       30.9%                 41.3%                 34.8%
       Commercial                                    (14.9)%                  1.2%                (3.6)%
       E-commerce/mail order                          100.1%                 19.8%                 20.9%

       TOTAL                                            3.0%                  5.4%                  4.2%


       Own shops like-for-like:                         4.1%                  0.4%                (0.5)%


3      Changes in the retail estate can be summarised as follows


       Opening number                                    400                   410                   410

       New shops                                           2                     8                     8
       Resites                                             1                     0                     -
       Closures + Transfers                              (9)                   (6)                  (18)
       Closing number                                    394                   412                   400

       Franchise shops trading                           181                   148                   163





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