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Pandora Sales Surge on USA

Sales for the three months ending December 31 reached DKK 9.01 billion ($1.38 billion), the company reported Wednesday. The US, the Danish retailer’s largest market, represented 28% of total revenue for the period, compared with 25% the year before. Online sales during the quarter surged 91% on an organic basis. Profit grew 6% to DKK 1.9 billion ($292.3 million).

“The US continued the very strong performance in the quarter,” the jeweler noted. The results are “temporarily supported by the stimulus packages and a potential reallocation of consumer spend away from travel and entertainment into discretionary goods.”

That growth outweighed a poor performance in China, which was negatively impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, Pandora explained. Although the company’s stores were all open, many were located in cities subject to China’s “zero-Covid policy,” which led to a 40% year-on-year drop in foot traffic. Pandora had planned to launch a repositioning of the brand in China beginning in late 2021 but has postponed that move until sometime in 2022.

“The purpose of the investment is, among others, to drive traffic to the stores, which makes little sense when street traffic is impacted by Covid-19,” it noted. However, Pandora still sees potential in China, with plans to triple its business on the mainland in the long term. It also intends to double its US operations.