Signet Posts Rise in U.S. Holiday Sales, Annual Sales Soar

(IDEX Online News) - Signet Jewelers Ltd, the world’s largest specialty retail jeweler, posted a strong Holiday Season for its US operations, reporting an 11.7 percent increase in same store sales in the nine weeks ending January 1, 2011. The holiday cheer does not include the UK division, which posted a decline in same store sales.

The company said pre-tax income for the fiscal year is expected to be of $287.5 million - $302.5 million for the group, an increase of 25-31 percent. The figures include a non-recurring Make Whole Payment of $47.5 million, arising from the prepayment of its private placement notes.

Excluding this payment, Signet expects pre-tax income to be $335 million - $350 million for the year, swelling a whopping 45-52 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Holiday same store sales for the UK division, representing about 20 percent of group sales, declines 4.2 percent and same store sales for the year declined 1.7 percent.

The U.S. division succeeded to increase annual same store sales by 8.9 percent.

The results for the group were therefore an 8.1 percent increase in same store sales for the holiday season and a 6.6 percent for fiscal 2010. CEO Terry Burman said he is "very pleased with our Holiday Season performance."

The Charmed Memories brand was the top performer in the U.S. among holiday shoppers. The average unit selling price for the U.S. division during the holiday period was $338.

IDEX Online Research will publish a full analysis of Signet's results in the coming days.