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Tiffany beats profit estimates on soaring China demand

Tiffany & Co has beaten Wall Street expectations for its quarterly profit
Tiffany & Co has beaten Wall Street expectations for its quarterly profit

Tiffany & Co, which is being bought by French luxury giant LVMH, has beaten Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit.

The US jeweller said it had benefited from an over 70% rise in sales in China and a recovery in demand at home. 

The results bode well for the upcoming Christmas season for the company and other luxury retailers in general, which have been hit hard by the pandemic. 

They also underscore the growing importance of sales within mainland China to offset dependence on tourism, especially on Chinese tourists visiting fashion hubs like Milan and Paris. 

"We had a strong third quarter, which speaks volumes about the enduring strength of the Tiffany brand and gives us confidence as we enter the important holiday season," chief executive Alessandro Bogliolo said. 

Tiffany and LVMH ended a bitter legal battle last month and agreed to a new deal that would see the French firm buy out the US company at a slightly lower price of $15.8 billion, or at a discount of $425m. 

Tiffany said sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 30%, while sales in the Americas region declined 16% - much smaller than the 46% drop seen in the preceding quarter. 

Tiffany forecast a mid-single-digit percentage decline in holiday quarter sales, while analyst had predicted a 3% drop. It also expects a high-single-digit percentage increase in earnings for the current quarter. 

The health crisis also forced the New York-based retailer to invest in its online business and to introduce curbside pick-up at certain stores.

This helped e-commerce sales surge 92% in the quarter.

Best known for its diamond engagement rings, Tiffany could face more challenges ahead as Covid-19 cases are surging in much of the US and across the world, spurring Britain and other countries in Europe, and many American states, to go into another lockdown. 

As of October 31, most of Tiffany's 320 retail stores worldwide were fully or partially opened, in accordance with local government guidelines, it said. 

As of November 20 though, approximately 60% of Tiffany's retail stores in Europe were temporarily closed. 

Excluding certain item, Tiffany said it earned $1.11 per share, surging past the average expectation of 66 cents. 

Tiffany's net sales fell about 1% to $1.01 billion in the third quarter ended October 31, but beat expectations of $980.71m, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.