LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland said on Wednesday that it experienced a "stellar end" to the year ended 1 May, with revenues surging in the final quarter.
Watches of Switzerland stated fourth-quarter group revenues had grown 48% year-on-year to £304.0m, with US revenues up 50% to £136.0m following the opening of its flagship store in Cincinnati, Ohio, while UK revenues shot up 47% to £168.0m.

For the year as a whole, group revenues were up 40% at £1.23bn, with US revenues growing 48% to £428.0m and UK revenues up 36% to £810.0m as luxury watch sales increased 36% year-on-year amid "very strong" demand for luxury watches in both the UK and the US, consistently exceeding supply. Luxury jewellery sales were up 86% on last year, reflecting "a strong market".

Watches of Switzerland expects adjusted pre-IFRS 16 underlying earnings for the year ended 1 May to be between £160.0m and £164.0m, up from £105.0m a year earlier, with an implied margin of 12.9-13.2%.

As far as the new year was concerned, the FTSE 250-listed firm guided towards full-year revenues of £1.45bn-1.5bn, while underlying earnings were expected to grow no more than 0.5% year-on-year.

Chief executive Brian Duffy said: "Looking ahead, our FY23 guidance reflects our confidence in our markets and business model. We enter FY23 with visibility of product supply for Super High Demand brands for the remainder of the 2022 calendar year and an exciting programme of new products and marketing from other brands.

"We have a strong pipeline of showroom projects, and we expect an ongoing recovery in footfall and airport traffic. Our focus will be on continuing to capitalise on the momentum we have built to deliver value for all our stakeholders."



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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