Thorntons End of Year Report

We are the UKs largest independent chocolate brand and our delicious chocolate has been thrilling our customers for 100 years and we now turnover 210+ million a year. Our products can be found a multi-channel network which includes 371 shops and cafes and 229 franchises.

We have already made a huge increase in revenue from last year we had taken to the date of January 8th 2010 127m and now this year we have revenue of 135m already a massive increase compared to last years. after going through our predicted cash forecasts we have seen that we are looking at another increase of 10 for the next coming year due to our new advertising campaigns and the new revamped look of the brand. A lot of this will be due to our target audience of between the ages of 18 - 29 years old, we hope that we will create a massive brand loyalty situation so that when they go to choose confectionary Thorntons will be there immediate first choice.

Looking also at our finical figures we have made an increase of pure profit before tax of 8.3m which is a rise of 11.7% compared to last year giving out an interim dividend per share of 2.37p, because of this our shares have actually risen in the last year as well because people are starting to Thorntons as an up and coming brand they want to be a part of again and the prices of share have risen a huge 20%. We as a company totally put this down to our new marketing strategies which we have taken on board, we have changed the look of the brand and taken it from a dated old luxury chocolate brand to a new funky, cheeky fresh everyday chocolate and we hope to carry on with the look and the success we are having because of our new campaigns and keep driving forward.

Our commercial sales have increased 35.9% to 54.2m over the period. More than 98% of this was our own branded product, this growth was achieved through distribution gains in new stored and through increased sales densities driven by successful seasonal line. The Easter seasonal period is viewed as a great growth opportunity for us to take complete grasp of this year and to move onto in 2013 as well. Ware introducing new seasonal models and promoting new lines and initial orders from customers are extremely encouraging for us as a company.

International sales have progressed throughout the period with new orders from Poland and the Far East. Continuing growth was also delivered in Ireland and the Middle East. This is all promising stuff because of our aims for the next coming year to start to introduce Thorntons chocolate to the global market.

Financial Positioning

Net debt at the end of the period was 14m including 4.6m of financial leases. the results for the 28 week period to the current date all form part of the bank covenant ratio tests, all which have been comfortably met. The financial positing has vastly improved in comparison to last years position. yet again we thanks our new marketing techniques for this as it has provided us with the growth in sales and has enable us to hit targets and make a massive increase in profit for the year

Targets

Over the last year a huge number of 320 stores out of 371 hit and did over target which is incredible. Peak times for us were Christmas and Easter where some shops did double what was originally expected of them, this is because of the focus and effort the marketing team put into promoting these events and getting it known on a huge scale, everywhere you looked there were Thorntons adverts. We have now had our new targets in for the fourth coming year and we are incredibly excited to see how we do in comparison to our last years numbers.

In a short conclusion we have had a great year, one of the best we have had in history with numbers and figures going through the roof, we have hit targets and made massive profits. Our shares have increased in price and also become a lot more sought after. this is great as finally we are going where we want to go, we think this is because of our new campaigns compared to our past campaigns of taking a back seat but with our new revamped look great things have been happening and great things are set to happen in the next coming year.

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS RESPONSIBILITY

The Directors confirm that, to the best of their knowledge, this condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the EU, and that the interim management report herein includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7 and DTR 4.2.8.

The Directors of Thorntons PLC are listed in the Thorntons PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2010. Since the year end the only change in directors is the resignation of Mike Davies and the subsequent appointment of Jonathan Hart.

A list of current directors is maintained on the Thorntons PLC web site: www.thorntons.co.uk.