#Hotel chocolat usa drivers#
#Hotel chocolat usa full#

‘A year of exceptional sales growth following two years of reactionary tactics to the pandemic has left clear opportunities for us to proactively streamline overheads and improve gross margins,’ explained Hotel Chocolat’s charismatic co-founder and CEO Angus Thirlwell.

#Hotel chocolat usa full#

Investment levels in the USA and Hotel Chocolat’s Japan joint venture will be materially reduced and the USA will operate as a wholly digital business once the last remaining store closes in the first half of full year 2023. The expected deficit is ‘predominantly’ due to non-cash impairment provisions as well as costs arising from discontinued activities including the closure of retail stores in America.Īs part of the review, designed to provide Hotel Chocolat with the greatest potential for further increased profitability and cash generation in future, the retailer has decided to adopt a de-risked approach to international growth. While the British chocolatier expects underlying pre-tax profits for 2022 will be in line with the £22 million called for by consensus, following an internal review it is now guiding to a statutory loss. Management also stressed that second half growth remained ‘very robust’ at 32% despite Hotel Chocolat lapping stronger comparatives in the fourth quarter following the end of UK retail lockdowns in April 2021. Hotel Chocolat reported a strong year ended 26 June 2022, with total sales up 37% to a forecast-beating £226 million, an impressive 70% ahead of the revenue achieved in pre-pandemic 2019. There was also surprise at the news investment levels in the USA and Japan, vast potential overseas markets for the Hotel Chocolat brand, are to be ‘materially reduced’ in response to ‘the change in the global macroeconomic environment’.

#Hotel chocolat usa drivers#

Shares in the AIM-listed company crashed nearly 50% to an all-time low 120p as investors reacted to news of assets write-downs following an internal review, while the cost of closing its US retail stores added to the balance sheet burden.īracing itself for a tougher consumer backdrop, the British chocolatier said a focus on profitable drivers will mean lower sales growth in the short term and lower profits in the year to June 2023. Posh chocolates brand Hotel Chocolat ( HOTC:AIM) saw more than £150 million wiped off its market value in a savage sell-off after the company warned that it will lurch into losses for the year to 30 June 2022.

Chocolatier warns of statutory loss following strategic review