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Sotheby’s Swings to 1Q Loss
May 10, 2016 3:00 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Sotheby’s reported its revenue in the first quarter slumped from
a high base last year.
Total sales nosedived 32 percent to $106.5 million, with the
company swinging to a $25.9 million loss from a profit of $5.2 million a year
earlier. Record art sales in January to March last year had led to an
“atypically profitable” quarter, Sotheby’s said.
"As we exited 2015, it was clear that the significant
market growth experienced in 2014 and the first part of 2015 had slowed
somewhat, and the impact can be felt in our results for the first
quarter," said Tad Smith, Sotheby’s president and chief executive officer.
Historically, the first and third quarters tend to be a quiet
period for art auctions, with the second and fourth quarters combined accounting
for about 80 percent of net auction sales.
The most significant indicators of the current state of the
market will come at the Geneva and New York auctions in the next two weeks,
including the Magnificent
Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in the Swiss city May 17, Smith added.
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Tags:
art, auction, auctioneers, geneva, Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Rapaport News, results, Sotheby's
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