Reduced Spending By Chinese Tourist Dents Sale Of Tiffany's, Stocks Drop


11/28/2018



There has been a significant drop in the trend of purchasing by Chinese consumers and tourists travelling to the US and in Hong Kong, said luxury jeweller Tiffany which has resulted in the company reporting disappointing third-quarter sales figures. The disappointing resulted in the shares of the company to drop by 9.6 per cent on Wednesday.  
 
While the earnings of the luxury retailer was the according to the estimates that came out of a survey of analysts done by Refinitiv, the revenues of the company, at $1.01 billion, missed the estimated target of the analysts which was pegged at $1.05 billion.
 
In terms of the same store sale, the company’s report also missed analysts’ estimates as the company reported an increase of 3 per cent even through the estimates of the analysts of the Wall Street was a growth of 5.3 per cent. There were weak same-store sales in both Europe and Japan. While same store sale in Japan grew by only 1 per cent, the figure in Europe declined by 3 per cent for the third quarter.
 
The company however matched Wall Street estimates with respect to the reported net income which dropped to $94.9 million, or 77 cents per share, compared to $100.2 million, or 80 cents per share, in te same period about a year ago.
 
The company however kept its outlook for the entire year unchanged and estimated that it would be able to earn between about $4.65 and $4.80 per share.
 
One of the bright spots in the third quarter for the company however was the United States where it recorded a growth of 5 per cent in the same-store sales.
 
"On the sales side, we remain satisfied by Tiffany's growth — especially within the American market where sales rose by 5%," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retailer, to the media in an email. "Some of this is related to the strength of the economy, with the increased affluence and confidence of middle and higher income consumers helping to boost spending on jewelry."
 
According to Saunders, the good show in the third quarter in the U.S. market was because of Tiffany's efforts to boost and revamp its brand image and appeal for the younger consumers as the company drew up adequate marketing campaigns and launched adequately designed new products.
 
(Source:www.financialtimes.com)