RAPAPORT...  Signet Group's third-quarter sales fell 2.5 percent to $614 million and its same-store sales decreased by 1.9 percent. The jeweler's sales in the U.S. marketplace, which represent 75 percent of group sales, totaled $459.3 million, with its same-store sales down 2.4 percent. Signet's U.K. sales rose 4.4 percent in local currency, but in dollars, sales fell 4.8 percent to $154.3 million. Same-store sales in the U.K. were flat.

Terry Burman, Signet's chief executive officer (CEO), said, "The sales performance in the third quarter saw an improvement over that of the second quarter. Same-store sales were broadly consistent throughout the period in both markets."

The Christmas season sales outlook remains "very uncertain" on both sides of the Atlantic, according to the company. Third-quarter earnings will be announced on November 24, 2009.

Sales during the first through third fiscal quarters at Signet, as reported in dollars, fell 6 percent overall to $2.1 billion. U.S. sales declined 2.2 percent to $1.6 billion for the period, with same-store sales down 3.5 percent. U.K. sales dropped 18 percent to $450.4 million, with same-store sales down 3 percent. Based upon constant exchange rates between the dollar and the pound, however, this percentage change reflects an overall sales drop of only 1.6 percent and a U.K. sales increase of 0.8 percent.

LH