Signet CEO says excluding Russian diamonds will prove fruitful

Signet owns more than 2,800 stores globally including Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared, Diamonds Direct, Rocksbox, Peoples Jewellers, Ernest Jones, and Sterling Jewelers. The company recently reported a fourth-quarter sales slump of five per cent year-on-year.

Despite the decline, CEO Virginia Drosos says the decision to boycott Russian diamonds is expected to lead to an improvement in jewellery sales.

“We’ve already been working with our partners to create a new way of segregating diamonds,” she said.

“I believe that for the industry here, this will ultimately become a competitive advantage because this is just the beginning of what I believe will be a decade-long move of consumers wanting to understand the origin of their diamonds.”

The company recently set an ambitious goal of up to $US10 billion ($AU15.1 billion) in annual revenue within five years, primarily through a resurgence of bridal jewellery performance.

Signet reported total sales of $US7.8 billion ($AU11.7 billion) at the end of fiscal year 2023.

“We’re very confident in the data that we have that indicated in advance of it happening that engagements would go through a trough period. That trough actually happened this fall,” Drosos said.

“We expect to see engagements begin to pick up in the fourth quarter, and then very strong growth next year and in 2025. We’ll still see some sustained oversized increases in 2026. Then back to normal trends in 2027.”

She added: “In terms of revenue, that’s over a half-billion dollar opportunity for us.”

According to a report from Rapaport News, Signet brands currently hold a 30 per cent share of the US bridal market.

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