Tiffany Holiday-period Sales Decline On Weak Tourist Spending, Strong Dollar

Tiffany & Co. reported Tuesday global holiday-period sales fell 6% from a year ago to $961 million, hurt by weak tourist spending in a number of markets and a strong U.S. dollar. On a constant-currency basis, sales for the two-month period ending Dec. 31 fell 3%. Same-store sales, on a constant-currency basis, fell 8% in the Americas, 9% in the Asia-Pacific region and 2% in Europe, while increasing 10% in Japan. The high-end jewelry retailer said it expects earnings per share for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2016 to decline 10% from EPS of $4.20 a year ago. "We believe overall sales results were negatively affected by restrained consumer spending tied to challenging and uncertain global economic conditions and we expect 2015 earnings to come in at the low end of our previously-set range of expectations," said Chief Executive Frederic Cumenal. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has dropped 15% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has lost 7.5%.

Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.