Watches of Switzerland upgrades full-year outlook, shares surge

(Sharecast News) - Watches of Switzerland upgraded its full-year outlook on Tuesday following a better-than-expected first-half performance, sending shares in the retailer surging.
For FY22, the company now expects revenue of between £1.15bn and £1.20bn, up from previous guidance of between £1.05bn and £1.10bn. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and adjusted EBITDA margin are seen up 1% to 1.5%, versus previous guidance of flat to 0.5% higher.

The upgrade came as the group said it had achieved a "strong" performance in the first half of the year, driven by broad-based and margin-enhancing growth in the UK and the US against last year and two years ago.

Group revenue rose 44.6% versus the same period a year ago to £586.2m, with revenue in the UK up 42.3% to £418.6m. The company said the UK performance continues to be generated by "a thriving domestic clientele".

Chief executive Brian Duffy said: "The strength of our performance, both in our well-established UK business and in our growing US business, coupled with our confidence in the luxury watch and jewellery categories has led us to upgrade our guidance for the full year.

"We are well stocked for the holiday period and look forward to providing an exceptional shopping experience for our customers."

At 0820 GMT, the shares were up 10.4% at 1,252.73p.