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RAPAPORT... Pandora reported that revenue rose 36.8 percent year on year to $541 million (DKK 3.547 billion) in the first quarter that ended on March 31. The retailer observed a positive impact of 14.5 percentage points due to favorable currency fluctuations in the Americas and Asia Pacific. The sales volume rose 5.6 percent and the average sales price per unit jumped 29 percent to $26 (DKK 169). In addition, 50 percent of sales growth was derived from Pandora products that had just be introduced to the market within the past 12 months. Nonetheless, profit for the quarter plunged 45.6 percent to $58 million (DKK 383 million) due to a tax expense of $55 million (DKK 364 million) and higher financing costs, the company stated. Revenue as measured by local currencies rose 12.8 percent across the Americas, 28.5 percent across Europe and 34.9 percent in the Asia Pacific region. On a same-store basis in select markets, sales increased 8.9 percent in the U.S., 20.6 percent in the U.K., 3.8 percent in Germany and 24.6 percent in Australia. Pandora increased its fiscal-year guidance to reflect sales of more than $2.3 billion (DKK 15 billion), a gain of $152 million (DKK 1 billion) that includes a gain of about 10 percent from various currencies. Pandora also anticipates adding 325 concept stores this year, or 25 more than it previously planned. Anders Colding Friis, the CEO of Pandora, said, “Once again, we are off to a strong start of the year, with all geographic regions, as well as all product categories generating double-digit growth rates. Revenue growth was driven by strong same-store sales in many markets as well as the continued expansion of our concept store network. Furthermore, the profitability in the company continues to be very healthy, which is also evident from the strong cash flow generation in the quarter.”
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