Life is sweeter for Thorntons as first-half profits see rise of 25 per cent

The company hopes products such as its recently launched Praline Melts, as well as an expanded ice cream range to cater for the traditionally quieter summer months, will reduce its dependence on Christmas.

Chief executive Mike Davies said: "I am pleased to be able to report a significantly improved profit performance for the first six months, assisted by our decision to avoid heavy discounting of prices in our retail outlets."

Davies added: "We are in the process of adding several products to our offering and have just launched the new Easter range in our stores.

"We will continue to focus on reducing our dependency on Christmas by investing in products that drive sales in the traditionally quieter summer months.

"We expect to be able to continue to improve our performance in the second half, which is historically loss-making."

Pre-tax profits rose to 9.1 million in the 28 weeks to 9 January as the group chose to protect margins by avoiding heavy price cuts in the run-up to Christmas.

Overall sales fell by 0.7 per cent during the period as a result, although sales of Thorntons-branded products increased by 5.5 per cent.

Davies welcomed the "significantly improved" profits performance as the group cleared all of its Christmas stock and added that Thorntons was well-placed for a potentially difficult retail climate during 2010.

Although like-for-like sales at its 378 stores fell 4.4 per cent in the second quarter because of its decision not to cut prices, the group grew online sales by 11.5 per cent as corporate business showed signs of recovery.

Thorntons' commercial sales to retailers also advanced by 6.5 per cent during the period, despite the loss of business from failed high street icon Woolworths.

However, trading was dented by the administration of the Birthdays greeting card chain in May last year, which was a customer and franchise partner of the group.

Thorntons lost 94 stores as a result of the administration, with franchise sales down 17 per cent to 8.2m as a result.

The firm has managed to reopen 70 stores so far – taking its total number of franchises to 222 – with plans for a further 26 openings by the end of June.

Shares in Thorntons closed up nearly 7 per cent last night at 109p following the stronger-than- expected figures, which prompted Investec analyst Natalia Marisova to upgrade full-year profit forecasts for 2010 and 2011.

The house broker said: "Thorntons' interims highlighted business resilience and robust margin performance in what remain uncertain times."