Tiffany Upgrades Earnings Forecast Following Improved Results
Online, February 12, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Tiffany & Co reported an increase of 7% in world net revenue in the two months finishing December 31, 2011. This has prompted its top brass to forecast an earnings upgrade for the year. Though sales was expected to be good getting into the festive season and the New Year, the current state of the global economy following the Euro crisis did not inspire confidence that consumer spending would remain robust.
However, Tiffany's worldwide net revenue improved 7% to $952 thousand during this festive season and that became possible due to the double-digit revenue improvement of 19% within Asia-Pacific. Japan too registered a double digit growth of 13% in revenue and though the increases in Europe as well as Americas were much smaller, they were enough to make this improved growth happen. Tiffany also said its store sales went up by 4%. The sales of wholesale finished products as well as rough diamonds too rose by 8%.
According to Michael J. Kowalski, the chairman as well as chief executive officer for Tiffany, "After notching up excellent sales figures during the first nine months of the year, the momentum could not be continued going into the festive season in both the United States and parts of Europe. It clearly showed that consumer were rather cautious in their spending when it came to fashion jewelry. But thanks to the yearend closing results, we now believe that there would be a handsome increase of between 22%-25% on the earnings per share. We are however, not factoring in the non recurring expenditure into this guidance which is $0.20 for every share."
He went on to add, "This guidance is a preliminary one based on our initial planning for 2012. We will be providing a more comprehensive one after we are through with the financial year results by March end. As of now, we are upbeat and feel that we can leverage our increasing presence in various countries in the globe to good effect. That will enable us to meet ambitious targets for the year 2012 even if the economic situation continues to stagnate."
About Tiffany
Tiffany & Co which operates mainly through subsidiaries is the holding company is in the business of operating retail and boutique outlets for jewelry. It also has other items like china, time pieces, stationery, fragrances and crystal that it displays and sells through these outlets. Tiffany & Co also designs and manufactures jewelry items.