China fuels Pandora Asia sales boom

Pandora Asia-Pacific sales rose 44 per cent in the first quarter, driven by a stunning 125 per cent increase in China.

The strong regional result offset poor figures from the US, allowing the Danish-headquartered fashion jeweller to report a 9 per cent boost in global revenue.

Asia-Pacific revenue reached US$185.6 million, up by 40 per cent in local currency terms. Australian sales rose 18 per cent.

Pandora opened 91 new stores in Asia Pacific during the last 12 months, 59 of them in China, which Pandora describes as the world’s largest jewellery market. Of those, 19 opened in the latest quarter. Asia Pacific now accounts for 25 per cent of the company’s total sales, compared with 19 per cent in the first quarter of 2016..

Elsewhere in Asia, Pandora signed a distribution agreement with Pan India covering the Indian market, and the first concept store in the country opened in the Noida area of Delhi in April. A total of 50 concept stores are set to open in India over the course of the next three years.

Global results

Total global revenue was $755.3 million, with the company’s own stores rising 39 per cent and now accounting for 38 per cent of total sales. Sales in America fell 5 per cent (9 per cent in local currency) and in Europe, Middle East and Africa they rose 5 per cent (9 per cent in local currency).

EBITDA increased 7 per cent to $275 million, with gross margin down slightly from 37.1 per cent to 36.4 per cent.

Globally, Pandora has 2196 concept stores. The company continues to close third-party run points-of-sale in favour of its own store network, with 300 closed in the last quarter leaving 1481 fewer channels year-on-year.

CEO Anders Colding Friis said the company was satisfied by the quarter’s results, having delivered good sales growth, including 8 per cent like-for-like growth in Pandora-owned concept stores.

“We continue to make progress towards our ambition to become a full jewellery brand, with revenue from rings, earrings and necklaces and pendants growing combined 48 per cent for the quarter.”

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