PARIS – It’s been another sterling year for Pandora, which reported that sales in the fourth quarter gained 12 percent to 10.82 billion Danish kroner, or $1.56 billion, for the three months ended Dec. 31.
“Looking back at the past two years since we launched the Phoenix growth strategy, we are proud of how our strategic initiatives have come together to consistently drive strong results despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop,” said president and chief executive officer Alexander Lacik.
Sales totaled 28.13 billion Danish kroner, or $4.06 billion, for the whole of 2023, topping 2022’s record year with an 8 percent organic growth, above the 5 to 6 percent guidance bracket.
Trading was solid across all geographies in the three months ended Dec. 31. The U.S., which accounts for nearly 30 percent of the company’s business, grew by 10 percent to 3.19 billion Danish kroner in organic terms.
Growth in Europe, coming in at 5 percent, was driven by Germany where the company credits a digital-centric media model for driving a 39 percent gain. Business was more modest in France, where growth stood at 6 percent. The U.K. and Italy remained near flat.
Performance in China fell short of expectations, with sales shrinking 13 percent despite encouraging signs from the brand’s relaunch in Shanghai. The company said it would intensify efforts to regain growth in the country.
For 2024, Pandora targets “continued solid and profitable growth,” according to Lacik, with the jeweler issuing an initial guidance of. 6 to 9 percent in sales and around 25 percent in EBIT margin.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania said “the key question will be how conservative the market perceives this guidance to be, particularly on revenue growth.”
With current trading in the first quarter of 2024 announced as being in the “high single-digit levels” in like-for-like terms helped by momentum seen since mid-2023, RBC Capital Markets reads that positively.
Dadhania noted that while these results demonstrated ongoing solid execution, there was “little room for error and the market may question the lack of guided EBIT margin expansion despite expecting healthy revenue growth.”
The Danish company proposed a dividend of 18 Danish kroner per share and a new share buy-back program of 4 billion Danish kroner.
