Sales recovery forThornton's
Thornton's has said sales revenues increased by 5.3 per cent to £186m for the 53 weeks ended 30 June, compared to £176.6m in 2006.
The company said this was due to sales growth across all businesses, with operating profit increasing to £8.8m compared to £7.3m in 2006.
Gross margin improved from 52 per cent last year to 53.7 per cent this year due to the higher sales and production levels, as well as savings in overheads.
The company suffered last year due to the heat of the 2006 summer, however has regularly reported rising sales, particularly due to increased advertising and expansion in the fourth quarter.
"At the start of the year, Thornton's had three main objectives: to revitalise the company's sales performance, to arrest the decline in profits, and to complete the reconstruction of the board," said Thornton's chairman John von Spreckelsen. "After a year of substantial and significant chance, I am pleased to report that all three objectives have been achieved and your company is making sustained progress under its new leadership."
Sales in the first quarter of 2007 declined 7.6 per cent.
From September 2006, the company took on various marketing strategies to help improve sales. It invested £1m (€1.5m) in improving stores and increased product range to appeal to more customers.
This helped own store sales to increase by 19.1 per cent during the fourth quarter on the same quarter last year, and 1.7 per cent for the full year. The company said like-for-like sales increased by 7.2 per cent for the first quarter and by 0.8 per cent for the full year.
Stiletto Vodka gets the Elbow
A combination of premium businesses have joined to create a range of luxury flavoured vodka chocolates in the US, taking advantage of the rising demand for luxury products.
Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates will be creating a range of signature chocolates using Stiletto Vodka's super-premium products, in a bid to help launch Stiletto Vodka into the luxury market.
The Stiletto company was established this year, and hopes the new chocolates will be popular with celebrities following the launch party this month.
The chocolates will be available in mint, vanilla, chocolate, codka caramel and Russian grappa flavours.
"Working with Christopher Elbow is a special experience for us," said Teresa Glidewell, co-founder of Stiletto Brands. "His creations are works of art. For him to have created a series of chocolates specifically for Stiletto is very exciting and, we hope, is an indication of Christopher's confidence in the future success of the Stiletto brand.
And finally… Gorillas take over the internet
Cadbury's new minute-and-a-half advert for its Dairy Milk brand in the UK is taking over the internet, having been watched over 500,000 times on Youtube.
The advert was first played on August 31 on Channel 4, and features a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins' The Air Tonight.
Despite not mentioning the chocolate brand, the well known 'glass and a half' slogan forms part of the £6.2m campaign to advertise the Dairy Milk.
Fans of the Cadbury gorilla advert have also set up more than 30 Facebook groups to show their appreciation for the advert.
