British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat is close to pressing the button on further overseas expansion after three years of trials in the Danish market, it said this week.
The firm, which makes and sells upmarket chocolate, currently trades from 110 stores - 107 in its home market and three test stores in Copenhagen.
"We know that the brand has strong attractions for international markets," Angus Thirlwell, Hotel Chocolat's co-founder and CEO, told Reuters.
The Danish market had proved an ideal test bed, he said.
"In Denmark there's a real reverence for good food, there's a strong local competitive set of chocolate makers and labour rates are higher than they are in the UK," he said.
"Our plan is that, we've learnt a raft of things, and now we're going to apply them to a major market or major markets to become a global brand."
Thirlwell said details would be announced "in the coming months", adding that the firm's investment plans were unaffected by Britain's imminent exit from the European Union.
Statistics
Hotel Chocolat reported revenue for the year to July 1 of £116 million, up 12%, bucking a tough economic backdrop for UK consumers.
The firm said it would meet analysts' forecasts for 2017-18 pretax profit of £12.7 million, up from £11.2 million in 2016-17. Its shares rose as much as 3.2%.
"Whilst there has been considerable recent media coverage of retail generally, we are encouraged by the performance of both our new and existing locations," said Thirlwell.
Hotel Chocolat opened 15 stores in the year and added 200,000 online customers.
Trading since the 2017-18 financial year-end had continued to be in line with management's expectations, despite Britain's prolonged heatwave which has deterred core chocolate sales.
"We don't just hide in the shade until the summer's over. We can be out there competing for business with our cocoa beer and Ice Cream of the Gods," said the CEO.
"This trading update is very strong in the context of the retail sector and there is no doubt that the strength of the brand, its balance sheet and cash flow profile all point to what is a sustainable growth model," said analysts at Liberum, who have a "buy" stance on the stock.
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