Sales at Harry Winston drop 20% in Q2

Harry Winston Diamond Corporation closed its second quarter this year on July 31, 2012 with a 20 drop (on y-o-y basis) in its sales to $176.9 million.The company’s mining and retail division sales met with decreased sales.

The company’s overall cost of sales decreased 30 percent to $104.7 million. It saw a rise in its gross margin by 40.8 percent of sales (32.5 percent in the same period last year), but its profits slipped 52 percent to $4.8 million.

The mining division sales fell 31 percent to $61.5 million, and volume-wise it dropped 24 percent, to around 430,000 carats, reports say. The diamonds sold at an average price of $142 per carat.

The company’s retail unit sales dropped 13 percent (on y-o-y basis) to $115.4 million, while its operating profit rose 16 percent to $8 million. Gross margin rose to 49.8 percent of sales (37.9 percent in the same period last year).

Market-wise, the company’s salons in the Americas delivered 32 percent (on y-o-y basis) increase in sales to $35.8 million, while in the European market, sales dropped 40 percent to $15.6 million. Asian market sales declined 43 percent to $34 million, while there was a 47 percent increase in slaes in Japan to $30.1 million.