Signet sees recovery at H Samuel

An upturn in sales at H Samuel gave owner Signet a boost today as the company insisted its UK business was not up for sale.

The jeweller reported a 1.7% rise in like-for-like sales at H Samuel and a 4.4% rise at Ernest Jones between August and October as it battled through tough trading conditions on the UK high street.

The rise in sales at H Samuel came after a significant slowdown and helped group sales across the UK and United States rise by 5.4% on a like-for-like basis to £328.3m (€490m).

Signet again said it was not interested in selling its UK operations amid interest from former boss Gerald Ratner.

Mr Ratner was recently said to be preparing a £350m (€522.9) bid for the UK arm, which he ran when it was called Ratners.

A Signet spokeswoman today said: “The UK business is not up for sale. It is an important part of the group, it is complementary to the US business, and it is performing strongly in a difficult market.”

Like-for-like sales at the UK business were up 3% in the third quarter to October 28 while the US arm saw growth of 6.5%.

The overall group rise of 5.4% in the three months was marginally ahead of the 5.3% rise for the year so far, with sales up to £1.14bn (€1.7bn).

In the UK, Ernest Jones reported a 2.7% rise in sales for the nine-month period although H Samuel was still down by 0.5% despite the third quarter improvement.

“The underlying story remains extremely positive, with the US performing and the UK seeing a welcome bounce back,” he said.

Signet added that it will start reporting its results in US dollars next year as it gets more than 70% of its business across the Atlantic.