Signet Group 52 weeks sales decline by 0.7 percent

25 Feb '08

3 min read

Signet Group plc the world's largest speciality retail jeweller, announced its sales performance for the 13 and 52 weeks ended 2 February 2008.

The comparable periods for reported sales are the 14 and 53 weeks to 3 February 2007. For sales at constant exchange rates and like for like sales the comparable periods are the 13 and 52 weeks to 3 February 2007.

13 weeks to 2 February 2008:
Group like for like sales declined by 6.7% in the 13 weeks to 2 February 2008. Total sales decreased by 6.1% on a reported basis to $1,384.8 million (14 weeks to 3 February 2007: $1,475.2 million) reflecting an underlying decrease of 3.7% at constant exchange rates.

The breakdown of the sales performance was as follows:
(a) For reconciliation to reported sales see note 1.
(b) H.Samuel like for like sales were down by 1.2% and Ernest Jones by 2.2%.

52 weeks to 2 February 2008:
Group like for like sales declined by 0.7% in the 52 weeks to 2 February 2008. Total sales increased by 3.0% on a reported basis to $3,665.4 million (53 weeks to 3 February 2007: $3,559.2 million) reflecting an underlying increase of 3.2% at constant exchange rates (52 week basis - see note 1).

The average US dollar exchange rate for the period was £1/$2.00 (53 weeks to 3 February 2007: £1/$1.88).
(c) For reconciliation to reported sales see note 1.
(d) H.Samuel like for like sales were up by 1.3% and Ernest Jones by 2.9%.

Terry Burman, Group Chief Executive, commented, “In the fourth quarter, the US business faced a very difficult environment with January adversely impacted by a change in promotional activity. The UK division had a disappointing Christmas period but saw some improvement in January.

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