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Blue Nile Sales Below Expectations
Aug 9, 2016 4:00 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Blue Nile missed its own quarterly revenue and earnings guidance as engagement ring sales slowed amid global economic uncertainty.
Revenue crept up 0.1 percent to $113.8 million in the second
quarter ending July 3, with U.S. engagement-ring sales falling 4.4 percent to
$62.6 million, the world’s largest online jeweler reported. The company had
forecast sales of $114 million to $117 million, implying it expected revenue
growth to be between 0.3 percent and 2.9 percent.
April and May were strong but a sales drop in June “significantly impacted the quarter,”
according to Harvey Kanter, Blue Nile’s chief executive officer and president (pictured).
“We are still assessing what happened, but the drop-off was
broad across geography and product categories, such that we can't discount
macro issues, given that June was an exceptionally volatile month for the U.S.
and the world,” Kanter said.
Overall market stability was impacted negatively due to
uncertainty ahead of the U.K.’s June 23 referendum on European Union membership
and the aftermath of the country’s decision to leave the bloc.
Profit slid 8.8 percent to $2.1 million, and diluted net
income per share declined to $0.18 from $0.20 a year ago, falling below
guidance of $0.20 to $0.23.
Sales in the six months to July 3 declined 1.5 percent to
$216.8 million, while full-year revenue guidance was maintained at $465 million
to $495 million compared with actual
sales of $480.1 million last year.
“We have some
meaningful wins but I will acknowledge upfront that these results are short of
what we expected,” Kanter added. |
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Tags:
Blue Nile, Brexit, ecommerce, engagement ring sales, engagement sales, Harvey Kanter, online retail, online sales, Rapaport News, retail
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