Signet Jewelers Misses Expectations on Sales Shift

Signet Jewelers Ltd. swung to a profit in its third quarter, through results missed expectations as the company's lower-priced Kay brand drove sales.

Bermuda-based Signet last year struck a deal to buy rival Zale Corp. for $1.46 billion, a move that resulted in one of the largest global specialty jewelry retailers. In addition to the Signet and Zale brands, Signet operates the Kay Jewelry and Jared brands, among others.

Third-quarter earnings were affected by a margin impact due to a sales mix shift from higher-priced Jared to Kay, said Chief Executive Mark Light. In addition, prices at the company's Zale brand declined 1.9%.

Total sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.3% from a year earlier, with sales at Kay stores up 7.1%, Zales up 2.3% and Jared down 2.7%.

Signet's report follows a similarly disappointing quarterly report from fellow luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. Tuesday morning. Tiffany, under pressure from a stronger dollar that is reducing U.S. tourists' spending and hurting international demand, warned profit would drop 5% to 10% this year.

For its part, Signet on Tuesday issued downbeat guidance for the fourth quarter, saying it sees adjusted earnings of $3.40 to $3.60 for the three months ending Jan. 30, compared with the $3.58 analysts have expected.

Overall for the third quarter, Signet reported a profit of $15 million, or 19 cents a share, up from a loss of $1.3 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, per-share profit rose to 33 cents from 21 cents.

Revenue increased 3.3% to $1.22 billion. Analysts projected 39 cents in earnings per share on $1.23 billion in sales, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares in the company, up 6.4% this year, were inactive premarket.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at [e-mail]

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November 24, 2015 08:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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