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Hotel Chocolat acquires cacao-powered beauty firm Rabot 1745 for £4

Hotel Chocolat acquires cacao-powered beauty firm Rabot 1745 for £4

Hotel Chocolat, a luxury confectionery firm, has reportedly acquired Rabot 1745, a cosmetics company that specializes in cacao-infused beauty products, for £4. According to reports, Hotel Chocolat paid just £4 to takeover complete control over Robot 1745. Interestingly, the deal cost Hotel Chocolat less than one of its most affordable selection box, which costs just £5.

The beauty business, founded in 2016 as a joint venture with businessman Andrew Gerrie, has a product line inspired by the natural beauty of the group's St Lucian cocoa plantation farm and rainforest spa. Its product line includes a variety of chocolate-themed items, such as almond chocolate lip balm, coconut, and almond three-shell scrub.

In its last year’s annual reports, Rabot announced that it lost over £400,000. However, Hotel Chocolat claims they can turn it around.

Hotel Chocolat stated that it was ideally positioned to harness the value of the Rabot inventory and to further develop the brand's intellectual property, which comprises a variety of high-quality beauty items that have won many accolades and received positive customer feedback.

According to Wayne Brown, a Liberum analyst, Hotel Chocolat's purchase of Rabot would allow it to achieve three key goals; first, it will enable it to develop its prize-winning beauty range, which is particularly famous in the UK, St Lucia, and Japan.

Second, it would also support an ongoing brand-enhancing, point of distinction against other chocolate competitors. Third, it would promote cost savings through integrated operations, which would eventually see Rabot begin to generate profit against the present modest loss.

Chief executive and co-founder Hotel Chocolat, Angus Thirlwell stated that the Hotel Chocolat had always sought to include Rabot as part of its primary business. However, the opening of a big 5,000-square-foot Hotel Chocolat shop in the Japanese city of Oita two weeks ago, with a significant devoted space dedicated to beauty goods, had acted as the catalyst.

Source credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57552277

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