Directors at Thorntons top up as profits return

The Chairman of chocolatier Thorntons has boosted his stake in the company with the addition of 125,000 shares in a purchase made the same day the group revealed the restoration of its profits. Paul Wilkinson, who has held his current position since February of this year, bought the shares for 89p each, spending a total of £111,250 and building his stake to 1.3m shares, equal to 2% of the issued share capital. Also stocking up were Jonathan Hart, the group's Chief Executive, and Martin George, a non-Executive Director, who bought 52,155 shares at 90p each, and 20,000 at 87.50p, respectively. In Wednesday's results, the group reported a pre-tax profit of £5.2m for the year ended June 29th, compared to a pre-tax loss of £2.2m the prior year. Revenues increased 1.8% to £221.1m for the period.The group said although consumer expenditure remained under pressure, it was confident further progress can be made as it extends its three-year turnaround plan. UK Commercial sales grew by 11.2% to £88.7m, International sales increased from to £6.1m from £3.9m, while Private label sales increased from £1.3m to £6.3m.Own Store like-for-like sales fell 0.8% compared to a 3.8% decline the year before. Overall sales in Own Stores declined by 8.0% to £102.5m as a result of the 35 store closures during the year.Franchise sales dropped to £8.5m, primarily as a result of the administration of a major franchisee partner in May 2012. Thorntons Direct sales fell by 10.0% to £9.0m.Top Director BuysMwana Africa (MWA) Director name: Mr Yat Hoi NingAmount purchased: 84,983,264 @ 1.57p Value: £1,334,237Thorntons (THT) Director name: Mr Paul WilkinsonAmount purchased: 125,000 @ 89.00p Value: £111,2501pm (OPM) Director name: Mr Ronald RussellAmount purchased: 120,000 @ 41.00p Value: £49,200Thorntons (THT) Director name: Mr Jonathan HartAmount purchased: 52,155 @ 90.00p Value: £46,940Thorntons (THT) Director name: Mr Martin GeorgeAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 87.50p Value: £17,500Oxford Biomedica (OXB) Director name: Mr Tim WattsAmount purchased: 400,000 @ 2.50p Value: £10,000Top Director SellsAfren (AFR) Director name: Mr Peter BinghamAmount sold: 400,000 @ 144.00p Value: £576,000NR