"Tiffany has clearly not been immune from global economic turmoil in recent months,” conceded the Chief Executive of the New York jeweler, commenting on a statement that confirmed the group had seen lower sales in the final quarter of 2008 across the board.

The second largest jeweler in the world registered a decline of 20% of sales at $841.2 million, scarcely better when considering the effect of exchange rates (-19%) and even worse sales were recorded at comparable stores (-23%) against a backdrop of -29% across the Americas.

For the year the group had a turnover of $2.86 billion, a decrease of 3% on 2007.
In this context, and whilst the profit margin has been eroded, Tiffany has recorded that net profit fell by 76% in the fourth quarter to $31.1 millions, or 25 cents a share.
Excluding costs linked to reorganisation and other exceptions, profit per share reached 85 cents (above the 79 cents estimated by analysts). This performance has reassured the financial community: in New York these gains have been dubbed the most important in the last three months.

Furthermore, the group has stated that 600 employees have accepted early retirement, part of a plan to reduce the number of staff by 10% and save an additional $60 million in 2009.