page_title: Thorntons
section_title: 2000s – trading difficulties
hierarchical_section_title: Thorntons / History / 2000s – trading difficulties
caption_attribution_description: English: A milk chocolate cat made by Thorntons and photographed by Stratford490.
context_page_description: Thorntons is a British chocolate brand established by Joseph William Thornton and his father in 1911. The company has been owned by Italian firm Ferrero since 2015, in a sale at £112m. A net loss in its annual report of 2016 was −£30.8 million, a result prompting a drop in staff and shops nationwide. Since Cadbury became part of a wider food group, Thorntons has the largest confectionery-only parent company in Britain. It has established toffee and fudge lines but the group shifted its specialism, after post-war rationing ended into chocolate especially its wide Continental, Swiss and Belgian chocolate sets which form the bulk of sales.
  Through the 2017–18 financial year, sales and production increased; a few shops have been opened and some diversified into cafés. Reducing its need for fixed capital kept in its own shares, as is common for subsidiaries, the company reverted to a private limited company in English corporate law in November 2016 receives notices in group to its registered office in Greenford, outer West London, retaining its main office and production in an old town in Amber Valley, between Derby and Sheffield.
context_section_description: After rapid expansion the 2009 results showed turnover increasing to £214.8 million, but operating profit decreasing to £7.94 million. A perennial seasonality in sales disappointed strategists and employees – 35% of sales were in the seven-week period before Christmas and 10%: shortly before Easter Day. The scale of impact of this on manufacturing and service are more pronounced than the average in the food sector, necessitating temporary staffing.
  In January 2011, Jonathon Hart joined the business as CEO. Following a resultant strategic review in June 2011, Thorntons announced it would close between 120 and 180 of its shops.
  In June 2015 it was announced that Italian chocolate maker Ferrero would buy Thorntons for £112 million. Thorntons Ltd are 75% owned by Ferholding UK Ltd in turn controlled by Giovanni Ferrero (who holds over 50% of voting rights).
caption: Hollow and solid cats, rabbits and seasonal shapes by the company often have fine white or dark chocolate details
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