Tiffany Continues Slide as Sales Decline 6%

New York--Tiffany & Co. had another difficult quarter, reporting drops in comps and net sales across all regions.

In the second quarter ended July 31, the jeweler’s comparable store sales were down 9 percent on a constant exchange rate basis in the Americas. For the first half, same-store sales also were down 9 percent.

Net sales in the region fell 8 percent on a constant exchange rate basis to $434 million in the three-month period and 8 percent in the half-year period to $837 million.

The company attributed the declines to a lack of domestic spending and poor tourist spending, particularly among Chinese consumers.

Globally, comps declined 9 percent in the second quarter and in the second half.

Worldwide, net sales declined by 6 percent in the second quarter to $932 million, averaging a 6 percent decrease (on a constant exchange rate basis) in worldwide net sales to $1.8 billion over the first half of the fiscal year.

This was a very slight improvement from the first quarter, when total worldwide sales were down 7 percent.

Net earnings were basically flat for the company in the second quarter, at $105.7 million, while the half-year period saw net earnings drop from $209.7 million in the prior-year period to $193.2 million this year.

On an earnings call Thursday morning, Tiffany Vice President of Investor Relations Mark Aaron said that the results “were better than the expected decline that we had communicated three months ago,” though, “worldwide sales were close to what we anticipated.”

Frederic Cumenal, chief executive officer, said in a company news release, “The global environment continues to reflect well-known challenges that we believe have had broad effects on spending by local customers, as well as foreign tourists, especially from China. We are managing expenses efficiently, but also maintaining our marketing spending as a percentage of sales and continuing to invest in key strategic initiatives and opportunities to further strengthen Tiffany's competitive position among global luxury brands. By delivering extraordinary products and experiences to our customers around the world, we remain focused on growing sales, operating margins and earnings, and creating greater value for stockholders.”

Cumenal was referencing a slew of initiatives Tiffany has launched this year, most recently a media campaign across print, digital and social media platforms, as well as the announcement of a creative partnership with Grace Coddington, a home collaboration with Reed Krakoff and sales of select items on Net-a-Porter.