Tiffany & Co., a retailer of fine jewelry, crystal and china, said 13 May 2005 that 1Q 2005 earnings increased 9% from 2004, as strong US sales helped offset weakness in Japan.
Net income increased t…
Tiffany & Co., a retailer of fine jewelry, crystal and china, said 13 May 2005 that 1Q 2005 earnings increased 9% from 2004, as strong US sales helped offset weakness in Japan. Net income increased to USD 40.1 million (EUR 31.4 million), or USD 0.27 per share, for the three months ended 30 April 2005 from USD 36.8 million, or USD 0.25 per share, a year earlier. Sales rose 12% to USD 509.9 million (EUR 399.3 million) from USD 457 million for 2004. Excluding the translation effect from a weaker US dollar, net sales rose 11% and worldwide same-store sales were up 4%. Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We are very pleased with the robust growth in our U.S. sales, which compared with a very strong quarter last year, as well as growth in many international markets. Sales in Japan remained below our expectations, but we will continue to focus our managerial, marketing and merchandising resources on that market.” Gross margin declined to 53.9% in the 1Q 2005 from 56.7% in the prior year, mainly due to changes in geographic and product sales mix, as well as higher product costs. Tiffany is targeting full-year sales growth of 8% to 10%, including annual same-store sales growth in a mid-to-high single-digit range in the USA and in a low-single-digit range in Japan. The company maintained its expectation for 2005 profit of USD 1.45 to USD 1.55 per share, however, Tiffany said that earnings could be at the lower end of that range if full-year same-store sales in Japan were to fall by a single-digit percentage. Analysts are forecasting full-year profit of USD 1.51 per share, on average.