Autocross Blogs - Chrls Iicey

Net sales were up 14 percent in the Americas to $523.5 million, up 14 percent in Asia-Pacific to $318 million and up 29 percent in Europe to $311.8 million. Gross margin contracted to 58.7 percent of sales from 59.4 percent a year ago, principally because of increased wholesale trade in rough diamonds at little or no cheap Tiffany Sets.Mark Aron, vice president of investor relations, said on the company conference call that sales in the New York flagship rose 22 percent, and 19 percent in the New York territory, in the quarter. Although the flagship's volume was down 15 percent for the year, and its share of worldwide sales fell to 9 percent last year from 10 percent in 2008, sales per square foot finished at $5,500.Aron told WWD the company remains firm in its belief that the U.S. market could support 150 stores, versus the current count of 79 among its 220 total, and that its typical footprint moving forward will be about 3,700 square feet. We tested a 2,500-square-foot model that didn't have engagement jewelry, but we quickly learned that a Tiffany without engagement jewelry wasn't acceptable to our customers, he said.In the new year, the company plans 17 new stores six in the Americas, eight in Asia-Pacific and three in Europe with five of the six North American stores in the U.S. Sales are expected to rise 11 percent.For the full year, net income expanded 20.4 percent to $264.8 million, or $2.11 a diluted share, from $220 million, or $1.74, in 2008. Net sales contracted 4.9 percent to $2.71 billion from $2.85 billion while comps were down 7 percent and off 8 percent at constant exchange rates. Comps were off 14 percent in the Americas, including a 15 percent drop in the U.S., and, adjusted for currency fluctuation, down 3 percent in Asia-Pacific, principally because of an 11 percent drop in Japan, and up 16 percent in Europe.

John Dettori, director of Dining Services for Lackmann Culinary Services at Tiffany & Co. in New York and New Jersey, admits he is a "talker." It is this skill, he says, that has made him adept at cheap Tiffany Watches service throughout his more than two decades in foodservice. His work managing three Tiffany & Co. dining centers, (one in New York City and two in New Jersey) earned him the honor of being named Lackmann Culinary Services' Manager of the Year in November 2009"John has done some amazing things within our cafeteria operation, bringing it to the next level over this past year with promotional and theme days," says Ron Pedersen, district manager for Lackmann Culinary Services. "Our guests are excited when visiting oui* café operations because they know they will always be served by a friendly team member. During the past year our café operations were showing a loss, but with menu improvements, staff training and guest relations the account has seen major improvements in the year-to-date financiáis and it's all because of John's vast knowledge of the foodservice industry."Renovation revolution: Dettori says of all his accomplishments with Tiffany's, one he is most proud of is the gut renovation he managed when he took over the account five years ago."When I first came to Tiffany's, I went into the New York City location and we gutted it," Dettori says. " We went tiffany concrete floors and steel beams and built it from the floor up. I've opened a lot of cafeterias, but that one was literally from the ground up. I never had the experience of helping decide 'are we going to tile this, are we going to paint that?' When I got there, I worked with the area coordinator and we came up with the layout of the floor. Originally they wanted an open grill, but they wanted only a certain number of staff so I told them an open grill wouldn't be possible. So we didn't go with an open grill. I like to give service, but I like to give service more when customers will actually receive it. Since the renovation, that location went from selling about $500 a day to about $1,000 per day, which has since declined to about $800 per day because of recent layoffs."

The renovation in the city also prompted calls for environmentally friendly disposables, to which the company responded by rolling out a compostable disposables program that launched last month."The Going Green program really started five years ago when we opened the Manhattan cafeteria and people were saying, if you're opening this beautiful facility, we should make some 'green' changes," Dettori says. "They ended up pushing all the right buttons and finally Tiffany's came in and made a tremendous investment in these disposables. The regular plastic forks are about $20 per case. The corn resin forks are like $45 per case, and we go through a lot of them because we use almost 100% disposables in the city. In New Jersey, I'm Tiffany Bangles for sale for half disposables and half china, but for whatever reason people like the disposable containers. We had unbelievable feedback leading up to the program's first day. There were people running up to me saying they were so happy we finally made the switch."Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those which are anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in exchange rates, economic and weather factors affecting consumer spending, the ability to successfully introduce and market new products, the availability of correction alternatives to prescription eyeglasses, the ability to successfully launch initiatives to increase sales and reduce costs, the ability to effectively integrate recently acquired businesses, as well as other political, economic and technological factors and other risks referred to in Luxottica Group's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, under U.S. securities regulation, Luxottica Group does not assume any obligation to update them.