Secondary Recommendation

Thorntons - Chocolates retailer on the mend

August 2002

Investing in shares may lose you all or some of your money. Past performance is no indication of future performance. Some of the shares recommended here may be small company shares, which can be relatively illiquid and hard to trade and this makes such shares more risky than other investments.

News that Thorntons, the manufacturer and retailer of luxury chocolates, is enjoying its best trading for five years, has proved thecatalyst for a strong recovery in the shares. Since last October they have risen 35.3% from 85p to the current 115p. Followinghis appointment as chief executive in 2000, Peter Burdon, has had tograpple with the aftermath of a botched expansion by previousmanagement, which saw store numbers increase from 269 in 1996 to410 in 2000, saddling the group with a high cost base and a loss ofoperational focus. Burdon introduced a number of sensibleimprovements. First he simplified the merchandising into fourkey ranges: gift, seasonal, family and personal, while everydayp ...

To access our archive of articles and to receive current issues you need to subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber? Login

Courts - Lowly rating ignores value of overseas stakes

Informa - Prospective PE just 11.8

Thorntons -Dramatic recovery in fortunes of chocolates retailer (June 2013)

Thorntons - Chocolate firm improves market share (December 2008)

Thorntons (March 2003)

Thorntons (December 2002)

Thorntons - Chocolates retailer on the mend (October 2002)

With small companies there is an above average degree of risk compared to buying blue chips. Please be aware that we have not assessed the suitability of any of these investments for you. The newsletter simply states a personal view and diarises the editor’s investment decisions. Please speak to your stockbroker or other qualified individual to ascertain whether any of these companies mentioned would form useful additions to your own portfolios. Past performance is no indication of future success.

All material on this website is protected by copyright. You may use Information retrieved from the www.scsw.co.uk website for your own personal non-commercial use which means that you may not sell or copy this information to any third party without prior written consent. ISSN 1358-183X