Pandora Cuts Even More Multi-Branded Retailers

Copenhagen, Denmark--Pandora has continued the trend of trimming its network of multi-branded retailers while also opening more concept stores and shop-in-shops.

The Copenhagen-based bead and jewelry company said in third quarter results released Tuesday that it started the three-month period with 1,679 multi-branded points of sale (gold-, silver-, white- and travel-level retailers) in the Americas and ended it with 1,576, which is a decrease of 103.

Pandora also said that in October it closed around 700 multi-branded stores in North America, 80 percent (or 560) of which will be in the United States, with the remaining 140 in Canada. The expected revenue impact from taking back inventory from these stores is around $22.3 million.

This means that year-to-date, Pandora has decreased the number of multi-branded retailers in the Americas by 962 doors.

The company added, meanwhile, 19 concept stores and 121 shop-in-shops in the region during the quarter, 110 of which were upgraded Jared the Galleria of Jewelry locations.

Globally, Pandora trimmed its multi-branded network by 248 stores in the third quarter, but added 90 concept stores and 160 shop-in-shops.

The company will continue to expand its store network, now expecting to add more than 325 concept stores in 2016.

Openings are slated to be distributed fairly evenly around the globe, with roughly half in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, 25 percent in the Americas and the remaining 25 percent in Asia-Pacific.

Sales-wise, Pandora reported that total revenue in the third quarter was up 18 percent compared with the prior-year period, driven largely by an increase in volume.

Growth came in all three geographical regions, with the Americas seeing a 6 percent increase as the U.S. market rose 8 percent, offsetting down sales in Latin America.

Concept store like-for-like sales growth was 4 percent overall, with sales in the Americas flat even as the U.S. saw like-for-like sales increase 3 percent.

Net profit for the company in the third quarter was $208.8 million, compared with $149.5 million a year ago.

Pandora said it is keeping its financial guidance for the full fiscal year 2016 at about $2.97 billion.

The bead company also opened a new production facility in Lamphun, Thailand last month, with commercial production expected to start at the beginning of 2017.

The development comes as part of the company’s expansion plan to potentially double production to 200 million pieces a year by the end of 2019