☰

Empresas y finanzas

Tiffany forecasts 2014 profit below estimates


    (Reuters) - Tiffany & Co on Friday gave a profit forecast that was below estimates despite its projection that net worldwide sales would rise by a high-single digit percentage this year.

    The company, known for its blue boxes and Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan, forecast a profit of $4.05 to $4.15 per share this fiscal year. Wall Street analysts projected $4.28 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    The New York-based jewelry chain reported a 6 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year for the fourth quarter ended January 31. The company reported growth in all regions, including the United States, where it has struggled to find the right mix of expensive jewelry and more affordable silver items that generate one-quarter of sales.

    Comparable store sales rose 4 percent in Asia, excluding Japan, led by gains in China, where Tiffany has been focusing much of its expansion. In Europe, sales rose 2 percent while in Japan comparable sales rose 8 percent, excluding a sharp drop in the value of yen.

    Overall sales rose 5.1 percent to $1.3 billion.

    The upscale New York-based jeweler reported a loss of $103.6 million, or 81 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, due primarily to losing an arbitrations ruling against Swatch Group . A year earlier, it recorded a profit of $179.6 million, or $1.40 a share.

    Excluding the arbitration loss, Tiffany earned $1.47 per share in the quarter, 5 cents below Wall Street expectations.

    Shares fell 3.6 percent to $88 in light premarket trading.

    (Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)