Watches of Switzerland Group has ended its 2022 financial year with global sales rising 40% to £1,238 million.
The UK accounted for two thirds of sales at £810 million, up 34% year on year, and the United States the other third with revenue of £428 million, a rise of 44%.
Growth accelerated to 48% YoY in the final quarter of the financial year, which ended May 1.
Brian Duffy, CEO for WoSG, recognises that demand for unicorn watches from the big three brands is driving momentum for the entire luxury watch industry, and is focusing on investing in stores, backroom systems like CRM software, marketing and ecommerce as a way of securing the best allocations.
“The luxury watch and jewellery markets are dynamic and our Group investment-led model continues to gain positive momentum. Consumer desire for “Super High Demand” brands (Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet) continues to exceed supply and other luxury watch brands are enjoying exceptionally strong demand and sales,” he says.
WoSG share price has been volatile in recent months, losing almost half its value from a 52-week high of 1,600p to a low of 825p and recovering to today’s price of 980p.
The recent recovery in the share price will be welcomed by WoSG employees, who were all gifted 50 shares, currently worth around £500, earlier this year. The company also launched employee share save schemes in the UK and US to further reward and incentivise colleagues.
Luxury watch brands are expanding their network of monobrand stores, and WoSG has reacted by becoming a franchisee running boutiques on their behalf. This helps secure better oversight and allocations of watches because brands prioritise their own stores first, franchise stores second and multibrands third.
Mr Duffy says the group has visibility of product supply for Super High Demand brands for the remainder of the 2022 calendar year and an exciting programme of new products and marketing from other brands.
Profits are expected to have risen by around two-thirds to just over £160 million for the group when the financial results are audited. Net debt fell from £44 million to £14 million over the financial year, despite a number of acquisitions in the United States.
In forward guidance for the current financial year (May 2022 to April 2023), WoSG’s report predicts revenue rising to £1.45 to £1.5 billion.
