Pandora Reports Disappointing In-Store Q3 Sales

Danish jewelry maker, Pandora, saw its shares slip by 4.8 percent in early hour trading after reporting weak sales growth at its physical stores in Q3.

The company noted that sales at its physical store locations improved by just 5 percent in Q3, while market analysts had expected a growth of 14 percent.

Still, Pandora has raised its full-year outlook citing strong sales in the U.S. — the company’s largest retail market, with government stimulus and improving vaccination rates against COVID-19, driving consumer spend on various goods and services.

In 2021, the company expects organic sales to grow by 18 percent to 20 percent, up from 16 percent to 18 percent, and it expects its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to be in the 24 percent to 24.5 percent range, up from the company’s previous forecast of 23 percent to 24 percent. However, these forecasts are still below analysts’ expectations for a 24.6 percent growth, Reuters reported.

“COVID-19 and the unusually high level of U.S. growth continue to create increased uncertainty around the guidance,” the company said.

Overall, the company reported Q3 sales coming in at $734.92 million, which was higher than the $726.5 billion in sales analysts had expected.

“Revenue growth and the EBIT margin were lifted by continued strong U.S. performance and a sequential improvement in Europe as COVID-19 restrictions were eased,” Pandora added.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on November 1, 2021.