Tiffany has communicated the financial results for the whole of 2017 and those relating to the fourth half 17/18, which ended on January 31st. The performance was in line with the estimates of analysts and the historic US luxury jewelry brand. Last year net sales rose 4% to $4,2 billion.
These results would suggest a positive response from investors, but this was not the case. At the open on Wall Street, the stock recorded a 6,2% decrease to 96,34 dollars, before recovering by mid-morning, however losing almost 4%. The trend of the stocks pushed the quotations downwards same-store sales, i.e. those in stores that have been open for at least a year: they rose by one percentage point, against an estimated 2,8%.
For the company founded in 1837 in Manhattan, which can count on thousands of points of sale worldwide, the fourth quarter closed with revenues up 9% to 1,3 billion dollars, profits at 62 billion, mostly thanks to the holiday season shopping. Stripping them out of the non-ordinary components related to the new tax levies, earnings per share were $1,67, 3 cents above analysts' expectations.
The new CEO of Tiffany & Co., Alessandro, is satisfied despite the negative day on Wall Street bowl: “We are pleased to end the year with solid sales growth, both geographically and across product categories. Most important, however, is to generate sustainable growth in sales, margins and profits over the long term. Continuing what we recently indicated, we believe there is a need to increase investment in certain areas, such as technology, marketing communications, visual merchandising, digital and in-store presentations, which we expect will hamper pre-tax earnings growth in the short term".
