// Signet Jewelers records sales drop
// The Ernest Jones parent company blamed the decline on a “difficult operating environment”
Ernest Jones and H Samuel parent company Signet Jewelers has reported a sales decline during the golden quarter thanks to the “difficult operating environment”.
Signet’s international same-store sales decreased 3.1 per cent during the nine weeks to January 4.
Online sale grew 15.8 per cent while in-store sales dropped by six per cent on a like-for-like basis.
READ MORE: Ernest Jones owner poaches Jessops CEO Neil Old as UK managing director
Meanwhile, stores in North America saw a two per cent rise during the same period and online sales jumped 13.3 per cent
Total store sales grew 1.6 per cent year-on-year and online sales grew 13.5 per cent to $252.3 million (£193 million).
On a like-for-like basis, total sales dipped 0.2 per cent during the period.
“We delivered holiday same store sales growth ahead of our guidance as we continued to implement year two of our Path to Brilliance transformation,” Signet Jewelers’ Virginia C. Drosos said.
“I would like to sincerely thank our 30,000 team members, whose dedication and customer focus enabled our strong execution this holiday season and positive revision to our Fiscal 2020 guidance.”
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