Danish charm jewelry company Pandora reported a 41 percent increase in sales to 1.74 billion Danish Krones ($333.8 million) in the first quarter. Net profit increased 90.7 percent to 515 million Danish krones ($98.8 million).
“We experienced strong underlying growth in Q1 and implemented price increases in most markets to balance the impact of rising gold and silver prices,” Mikkel Vendelin Olesen, Pandora CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “Our performance was based on a combination of good volume and product mix developments in existing and new stores across markets…. We remain focused on delivering very strong growth by increasing penetration in existing markets, upgrading existing stores as well as developing new markets.”
Pandora recently increased its prices and the reaction to the increase has been mixed, the company said, depending on timing of the price increase, the current consumer environment and the strength of the brand in that market.
Performance in Americas—including the U.S., Pandora’s largest market—and Asia were in line with first quarter performance, the company said, while some European markets were more moderate, particularly Germany, which they said called their results “unsatisfactory.” The company said its market position in Australia remains strong.
“Germany we see as an opportunity market, not a mature market,” the company said in its financial statement. “Our current performance is not satisfactory and we have taken steps managerially and in terms of trade and consumer interface to drive what we believe to be considerable long-term growth.”
Pandora said its outlook for 2011 remains unchanged, expecting a revenue increase of no less than 30 percent.