British chocolate maker Thorntons reported a 60 per cent rise in full-year pretax profit, aided by cost-cutting measures.

Profit before tax and exceptional items jumped to £7.5 million pounds in the 52 weeks ended June 28 from £4.7 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue rose marginally to £222.4 million pounds. Analysts on average expected full-year pretax profit at £7.35 million pounds, on a revenue of £222.69 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Thorntons, which sells its products in its own stores as well as through supermarkets, said like-for-like retail sales rose 1.1 percent during the full year from a 0.8 per cent decline a year ago. Adjusted operating margins improved to 4.5 per cent in the year from 3.4 per cent last year, mainly due to store closures. The Derbyshire-based company, which has been shutting down high street stores to focus on its online business, closed 39 stores during the year, bringing down the number of own stores to 260. The company did not declare a dividend for the year.

Thorntons’ shares closed at 105 pence on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the business at roughly £72.07 million pounds.