Luxury watch seller clocks up rising sales
SHARES in Watches of Switzerland ticked higher after the FTSE 250 group said wellheeled shoppers are splashing their lockdown savings on expensive timepieces.
Turnover almost doubled to £298m at the UK’s biggest Rolex seller in the three months to August 1, compared with the same period last year.
Within this, luxury watch sales rose 97pc to £259m and jewellery by 99pc to £20m. The number of customers fell but the buyers spent more.
According to boss Brian Duffy, wealthy customers have been spending the money they’ve saved on posh watches. He said: ‘It’s going to last forever, it’s a family heirloom. So, therefore, in these circumstances, when people have money to spend, our category is high up in their priority list.’
The company has 153 stores in the UK and US under the Watches of Switzerland, Goldsmiths, Mayors and Mappin & Webb brands.
The first quarter was always expected to surge in comparison to 2020, when trading was hampered by tight Covid restrictions. But it also managed to outdo its 2019 performance by 42pc.
A fall in tourist business is being made up from sales on its website, where it sells watches ranging from a mere £195 to £446,400. Online sales were up 16pc.
Shares rose 3.3pc, or 34p, to 1058p, putting it among the top risers on the FTSE 250.
Taking the top spot was Britain’s second-biggest defence contractor, Babcock International, after JP Morgan raised the target price on its stock from 350p to 400p. Babcock, whose shares rose 7pc, or 20.2p, to 307.5p, was hit hard two years ago by claims from a mysterious short-seller called
The Boatman Capital, which claimed it had a fraught relationship with the Ministry of Defence.
Argo Blockchain suffered for a second day – falling 5.4pc, or 7p, to 123p – as it dealt with becoming Boatman’s latest target.
The research outfit said Argo’s deal to buy land in Texas for £12.6m to develop bitcoin mining sites was a mistake. It believes the land is only worth £121,000 and as a result raises serious governance questions but Argo resolutely disputes the allegations.
Both of London’s major indexes rose, with the FTSE 100 up 0.4pc, or 28.74 points, to 7161.04, and the FTSE 250 by 0.5pc, or 118.61 points, to 23572.05.
Paddy Power-owner Flutter Entertainment was the top riser among the blue-chips after it said revenue from its betting shops, which reopened in June, was above pre-Covid levels.
Worldwide revenue doubled to £3bn in the six months to June 30 as reopenings and the Euro 2020 football drove a boom. Flutter rose 7.8pc, or 1010p, to 13950p. Elsewhere, robust company figures were muted slightly by some areas falling short of the levels hit before the pandemic.
Holiday Inn-owner Intercontinental Hotels Group lost ground despite swinging back to profit as people in the US and China started going on more trips.
It made £48m in the first half of the year compared with a £199m loss in 2020 but revenues are still 2.5pc lower than before Covid. It fell 0.6pc, or 30p, to 4705p.
Investors welcomed a trading update from housebuilder Bellway (up 1.3pc, or 42p, to 3352p) that revealed it has a record order book of more than 7,000 homes. But the number of completions in the year to July was slightly lower than before Covid.
River & Mercantile shot higher after it prepared to sell its fiduciary arm, which manages pension fund investments and has £43bn under management.
The group said it had received a number of offers from businesses keen to acquire the Solutions division and has hired advisers to guide it through any moves. It rose 6.7pc, or 14p, to 224p.