Signet's UK jewellery sales sparkle in the third quarter

The jewellery group said UK like-for-like sales were up 3.7% in the 13 weeks to November 1.

Signet said its UK sales were driven primarily by “strategic initiatives to grow diamond sales as well as strong sales of watches”. The average transaction price in the division grew 6.3%.

Splitting out the division, H Samuel sales grew 5.2% to $76.9m (£48.9m), although the number of transactions at the retailer fell 2.9%. Like-for-like sales were up 2%.

Ernest Jones was the star performer out of the two with sales rising 11.9% to $74.1m (£47.1m). Like-for-like sales rose 5.5%.

UK online sales in the period soared 61% to $9.5m (£5.7m)

Signet chief executive Mark Light said: “Positive momentum in our UK division continued with our highest third-quarter increase in same store sales, at 3.7%, in seven years and our best operating result in four years. We believe our Sterling and UK divisions are well-prepared to deliver for the holiday season.”

Overall the group, which also operates stores in the US and Canada, said sales surged 52.7% to $1.18bn (£750m) in the third quarter. Signet put the large increase down to the addition of fine jewellery retailer Zale Corp, which bolted on an extra $331.4m (£201.6m) of sales.

The group posted a loss of $1.3m (£826,946) during the quarter, down from a profit of $33.6m (£21.4m) last year, which was largely blamed on a Zale division loss of $13.2m (£8.4m). Like-for-like sales increased 3.2%.

Online sales increased to $44.8m (£28.5m) from $22.8m (£14.5m) last year.