Thorntons PLC Trading Statement (0575D)
April 24 2013 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMTHT
RNS Number : 0575D
Thorntons PLC
24 April 2013
THORNTONS PLC
("Thorntons" or "the Company")
THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE &
INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Thorntons PLC today reports its third quarter trading update for
the 14 weeks up to and including 20 April 2013.
Key points
-- Total sales for the period which includes Valentine's Day,
Mother's Day and Easter increased by 4.0% to GBP60.6 million
compared to the same period last year.
-- Thorntons branded UK Commercial sales grew by 10.0% to
GBP27.4 million with good growth across all three seasons.
Thorntons' share of the Total Boxed Chocolate market increased from
11.7% to 12.2% in the last 52 weeks and its share of the Inlaid
Boxed Chocolate market increased from 32.9% to 35.6%*. Sales of
Easter specialities grew by 23.5% and Easter market share grew to
4.7% from 4.0% last year**.
-- Own Stores like for like sales grew by 0.2% with growth
during each of the three key seasons. Total sales were down 4.1% to
GBP26.0 million as a further 9 stores were closed in the quarter,
in line with the strategy, resulting in 24 fewer stores than a year
ago.
-- Franchise sales declined by GBP0.6 million to GBP2.2 million
as expected, mainly reflecting the placing into administration of
our major franchisee in May 2012.
-- Thorntons Direct sales decreased by 4.6% to GBP2.2 million
with the Consumer Direct business delivering growth at Easter as
improvements from the new website began to feed through.
-- Private label sales increased to GBP1.7 million.
-- International sales grew by 30.8% to GBP1.1 million.
* Nielsen: Total Boxed Chocolates & Inlaid Boxed Chocolates
52 weeks to week ending 30(th) March 2013
** Nielsen: Easter Specialities 14 weeks to week ending 6(th)
April 2013
Jonathan Hart, Thorntons' Chief Executive, commented: "We are
pleased to report a satisfactory period of trading across the third
quarter of our financial year. This period includes the important
trading seasons of Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter where
we saw an encouraging sales performance in our main channels.
Growing market share further demonstrates the strength of the
Thorntons brand and offer. In addition as a result of actions taken
over the past two years gross margins were slightly ahead of our
expectations. Although we continue to be cautious about the impact
of current economic conditions, the Board is now confident that
pre-exceptional profit before tax for the full year to June 29 2013
will be substantially ahead of the current market expectation with
the potential for further improvement in the final quarter."
For further enquiries please contact:
Cardew Group T: 020 7930 0777
Nadja Vetter / Georgina Hall
Sales growth %
Q1 Q2 Q3 Year to
Date
14 weeks 14 weeks 14 weeks
to to to
06-10-12 12-01-13 20-04-13
------------------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Total Business -1.0% +5.0% +4.0% +3.2%
------------------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Total Commercial +9.8% +34.6% +15.9% +21.6%
------------------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Retail LFL -1.7% -1.3% +0.2% -1.0%
------------------ ----------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Sales growth %
Q1 Q2 Q3 Year to
Date
14 weeks 14 weeks 14 weeks
to to to
06-10-12 12-01-13 20-04-13
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Own Stores -7.0% -9.0% -4.1% -7.1%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Franchise Stores -23.8% -26.6% -20.9% -24.1%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Thorntons Direct -8.5% -13.3% -4.6% -10.4%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Total Retail -8.6% -10.7% -5.6% -8.8%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
UK Commercial +1.9% +25.2% +10.0% +14.0%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
International +42.4% +72.5% +30.8% +50.3%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Private Label +222.3% +698.7% +416.1% +420.7%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Total Commercial +9.8% +34.6% +15.9% +21.6%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Total Company -1.0% +5.0% +4.0% +3.2%
----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------
Sales GBPm
Q1 Q2 Q3 Year to
Date
14 weeks 14 weeks 14 weeks
to to to
06-10-12 12-01-13 20-04-13
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Own Stores 21.7 40.9 26.0 88.6
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Franchise Stores 2.0 3.0 2.2 7.2
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Thorntons Direct 1.1 4.8 2.2 8.1
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Total Retail 24.8 48.7 30.4 103.9
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
UK Commercial 17.8 34.4 27.4 79.6
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
International 2.0 2.1 1.1 5.2
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Private Label 1.4 2.5 1.7 5.6
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- -------------
Total Commercial 21.2 39.0 30.2 90.4
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Total Company 46.0 87.7 60.6 194.3
----------------- ---------- ----------- ----------- ---------
Portfolio Stores as New stores Resites Closures Stores as
at 12-01-13 at 20-04-13
------------ ------------- ----------- -------- --------- -------------
Own stores 317 1 -9 309
------------ ------------- ----------- -------- --------- -------------
Franchise
stores 189 2 2 -6 187
------------ ------------- ----------- -------- --------- -------------
Total 506 2 3 -15 496
------------ ------------- ----------- -------- --------- -------------
ENDS
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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