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Date: Wednesday 03 Sep 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Profit fell by more than a quarter at jewellery retailer Signet during the first half of 2008 as sales of its rings and necklaces failed to match last year’s effort.

The H Samuel and Ernest Jones group saw like for like sales for the 26 weeks ended 2 August drop 3.4%, as flagged early last month, and total sales fall 0.6% to $1.59bn, knocking pre-tax profit by almost 28% to $78.7m.

Rising energy bills, higher fuel costs and rampant food price inflation have forced shoppers to rethink their spending habits and cut down on the bling.

“In the short term, the consumer environment in both the US and the UK remains very challenging,” said chief executive Terry Burman.

“As always, the results for the year will be significantly influenced by the group's performance during the important Christmas period.”

The US business, which accounts for 75% of sales, reported a 5.2% decline in like for like sales and 0.8% fall in total sales to $1.21bn.

There was little change in sales in the UK, steady at $384.7m, but they rose 2.4% at H Samuel on a like for like basis and by 2.2% at Ernest Jones.

Signet, which is moving its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange on 11 September, kept the interim dividend at 0.96 cents per share.

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