Thorntons tries to end reliance on Christmas chocolate sales

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Ice cream will be the focus of the chocolatier's push. Mike Davies, Thorntons chief executive, said: "Going forward we will continue to focus on reducing our dependency on Christmas by investing in products that drive sales in the traditionally quieter summer months."

He forecast an improved performance in the second-half, which is historically loss-making.

The 99-year-old firm, which trades from about 600 stores, said it made a pretax profit of £9.1 million for the 28 weeks to 9 January, up from £7.3 million in the previous period.

Sales fell 0.7 per cent to £127.4 million but gross profit margins rose 1.6 percentage points to 50.8 per cent. With net debt cut to £14.6 million the interim dividend was raised 62.5 per cent to 1.95p a share.