Sales at Tiffany slipped in the second quarter, as purchases by foreign tourists decreased in the Americas and Asia Pacific.
Revenue fell 3% to $1.05 billion year on year in the three months ending July 31, while comparable-store sales — at branches open for at least a year — slipped 4%, the jeweler said Wednesday the 28th of August. Profit dropped 6% to $136.3 million.
Foreign tourists spent less in the US and Asia, even as local purchasing in China strengthened. Revenue for the Americas slid 4% year on year to $455 million, and in Asia Pacific fell 1% to $298 million as softness in the Hong Kong market outweighed strong growth in China, Tiffany noted. Sales in Japan remained flat at $155 million.
“As with the first quarter, we are encouraged in the second quarter by sales growth attributed to our local customer base globally, which was again led by double-digit growth in mainland China,” Tiffany CEO Alessandro Bogliolo said.
Bogliolo also noted sales were affected by continued business disruptions in the Hong Kong market as ongoing political demonstrations plague the municipality’s luxury sector. Additionally, currency-exchange losses due to the devaluation of the yuan against the dollar amid the US-China tariff dispute weighed on revenue.
