It was a bumper Christmas for Hotel Chocolat (HOTC), contributing to what analysts at Liberum called "an incredibly strong" first-half performance from the chain. The group managed to grow sales across retail, digital and wholesale channels, while increasing its overall catchment through store openings in the UK and Ireland. The new outlets accounted for roughly a third of top-line growth.
But that’s not all. The group has firmly set its sights on taking its brand overseas, and while start-up costs in the US and Japan weighed on statutory pre-tax profit growth, if these are excluded then profits were up 11 per cent to £14.4m. The first joint venture store in Tokyo opened last November, followed shortly by a pilot scheme store in New York, with initial customer responses in both markets said to be "encouraging".
Trade/receivables increased by 28 per cent to £9.55m, but the balance sheet remains in good nick, partly a consequence of an 18 per cent rise in operating cash flow to £29.5m, which fed through to a marked increase in net cash, thereby facilitating further expansion through in-house funding.
Liberum expects pre-tax profits of £13.9m for the year ending June 2019, giving EPS of 9.6p, compared with £13m and 9p in FY2018.
| HOTEL CHOCOLAT (HOTC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 322p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 363m | |
| TOUCH: | 315-328p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 405p | LOW: 253p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.5% | PE RATIO: | 34 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 44p | NET CASH: | £21.8m | |
| Half-year to 30 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 71.7 | 12.9 | 9.0 | 0.60 |
| 2018 | 80.7 | 13.8 | 9.6 | 0.60 |
| % change | +13 | +7 | +7 | - |
| Ex-div: | 07 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 17 Apr |
