Tiffany boss cheers improved August sales for the jewellery firm

Tiffany & Co has cheered August sales growth, with its chief executive pointing to “encouraging trends” for the jewellery retailer which was hurt in the first half by the Covid-19 crisis.

The US firm, which is being bought by luxury goods giant LVMH, had to shut shops for lockdowns.

In England ‘non-essential’ retailers, such as accessories and clothing companies, closed in March and could only reopen from June 15.

Numerous Tiffany stores have since reopened and the company, known for its diamond engagement rings, said it experienced good growth in its online business in the six months to July 31.

Worldwide net sales for the second quarter were 29% below the second quarter of the prior year, after having been down 45% in the three months to April 30 this year.

Tiffany’s chief executive Alessandro Bogliolo said: “We were excited to see that the encouraging trends we cited for the first quarter, namely, increased sales in Mainland China and global e-commerce, accelerated during the second quarter and propelled our return to quarterly profitability.”

Bogliolo added: “Importantly, our global sales trends have strengthened in August, with preliminary month-to-date worldwide sales through August 25th being slightly positive as compared to the same month-to-date period in the prior year.”

Bogliolo said the second quarter results and August trends to date, “in light of these challenging times, confirm the power and resilience of this venerable brand”.

Louis Vuitton owner LVMH in November 2019 agreed to buy Tiffany in a $16.2 billion deal.