Upcoming AWS Coverage on Signet Jewelers

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / February 7, 2017 / Active Wall St. blog coverage looks at the headline from Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) as the Company announced on February 05, 2017, that Frederic Cumenal, the CEO of the Company has resigned effective immediately. The Company's Board of Directors have designated Michael J. Kowalski, the current Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Tiffany as the interim CEO. Michael will also continue as the Chairman of the Board. In the meanwhile, the Board had selected an executive search firm to identify Frederic's successor. Register with us now for your free membership and blog access at:

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One of Tiffany's competitors within the Jewelry Stores space, Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG), is expected to report earnings on March 09, 2017 before market open. The report will be for the fiscal Quarter ending January 2017. AWS will be initiating a research report on Signet Jewelers following the release of its next earnings results.

Today, AWS is promoting its blog coverage on TIF; touching on SIG. Get all of our free blog coverage and more by clicking on the links below:

http://www.activewallst.com/registration-3/?symbol=TIF

http://www.activewallst.com/registration-3/?symbol=SIG

About Michael Kowalski

Michael is a veteran of the Company and had joined Tiffany in 1983. He was appointed as the CEO in 1999 and later on became the Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors in 2003. He had announced his retirement from the position of CEO in March 31, 2015, after which he had taken on the role of the non-Executive Chairman. Michael has also served on the Board of Directors of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation during the last five years. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is one of Tiffany's principal banking partners and investment manager. Michael holds a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Profile of Frederic Cumenal and the reasons for his exit

Frederic had taken over the mantle from Michael on his retirement from the post of CEO in April 2015. At that point in time, Frederic was the President of the Company. Frederic had joined Tiffany in 2011 as Executive Vice President and was responsible for the Company's Worldwide Sales and Distribution. In 2013, he took over as the President and was appointed as a member of the Board. As President, he was given the additional responsibilities of design, merchandising, and marketing. Before Frederic joined Tiffany, he was in senior leadership positions for more than 15 years with the LVMH Group's Wine and Spirits businesses, most recently as President and CEO of Moët & Chandon, S.A. Before that Frederic was CEO of Domaine Chandon, and was Managing Director of Moët Hennessy Europe. He has extensive experience in international luxury brand management and development and strategic planning.

Frederic has been credited with the Company's long-term success, and he was instrumental in expanding the Company's global presence by opening new stores across Asia and Europe. However, the lower than anticipated holiday season sales is seen as the main reason for his departure, even though Tiffany has not officially confirmed this.

Commenting on his departure, Michael Kowalski said:

"At a time of continuing challenges in the global luxury market, Frederic has enhanced the management team and taken important steps to position Tiffany for success in the long-term. The Board is committed to our current core business strategies, but has been disappointed by recent financial results. The Board believes that accelerating execution of those strategies is necessary to compete more effectively in today's global luxury market and improve performance."

Major Churn in the Top Management

The last few months has seen a major shuffle in the top management of Tiffany. In January 2017, Francesca Amfitheatrof, Tiffany's Design Director who was responsible for the design of Tiffany's jewelry, announced her departure after three and a half years. She would be replaced by Reed Krakoff, who took over as Chief Artistic Officer as of February 01, 2017. In October 2016, Tiffany had appointed Mark Erceg to take over as Executive Vice President and CFO from Ralph Nicoletti, who left Tiffany to join Newell Brands Inc. as their Chief of Finance.

Fiscal Guidance for 2016

In January 2017, Tiffany had revealed its Holiday sales figures for two months ending December 31, 2016. It had reported net sales of $966 million which was slightly higher than the net sales for the same period in the previous year. However, the Company's worldwide comparable store sales declined 2%. Tiffany reported total sales of $483 million in America. On a constant-exchange-rate basis, total sales declined 4% and comparable store sales declined 3%. On the other hand, in Europe, Tiffany's total sales were $119 million which was 10% lower than the previous year's sales, and on a constant-exchange-rate basis, total sales were equal to the prior year and comparable store sales down by 4%.

Tiffany has made efforts to overcome the challenges by cutting costs, launching new products and increasing its marketing efforts. The latest marketing initiative saw the debut of a new television commercial starring Lady Gaga during the 2017 Super Bowl. The Company unveiled Lady Gaga as the face of its new fashion jewelry collection titled "Tiffany HardWear".

The Company reiterated that it will be able to meet the fiscal guidance for FY16 as it had reported in January 2017, including the following:

  • Diluted Earnings per Share (EPS) to decline by no more than a mid-single-digit percentage;
  • Low single-digit percentage decline in worldwide net sales compared to the previous year;
  • 3% increase in worldwide gross retail square footage with 11 store openings, 5 relocations, and 6 store closings;
  • Capital Expenditures capped at $240 million.

Stock Performance

On Monday, February 06, 2017, the stock closed the trading session at $78.49, slipping 2.46% from its previous closing price of $80.47. A total volume of 3.80 million shares have exchanged hands, which was higher than the 3-month average volume of 1.95 million shares. Tiffany's stock price advanced 9.56% in the last three months, 26.57% in the past six months, and 26.00% in the previous twelve months. Furthermore, since the start of the year, shares of the Company have gained 1.37%. The stock is trading at a PE ratio of 21.98 and has a dividend yield of 2.29%.

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SOURCE: Active Wall Street