Signet shares down on woes in US

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Shares in UK jewellery retailer Signet have fallen 17% after it warned that it would miss full-year profit targets because of weakening US sales.

Although Signet gave no figures, analysts said its annual profits could be as much as £22m ($45m) lower than current market hopes of up to £194m.

Signet gave the warning after it said US like-for-like sales so far in November were down 7% from last year.

Its US operation accounts for 75% of the company's turnover.

'Weakening sentiment'

Signet, which is best known in the UK for its Ernest Jones chain, said its UK sales were also under pressure this month, but gave no figures.

It made the comments to reporters after it released its third-quarter results for the three months until the end of September.

Signet's group-wide like-for-like sales increased by 3.2% during this period, from the same time in 2006, while its profits were down 1.8% to £54m.

"The comments on a sharp deceleration in US trading, and a weakening in the UK, are key to shaping sentiment," said Investec Securities analyst David Jeary.

"This is unsurprisingly hitting the shares hard."

Signet was the subject of takeover attention last year from former boss Gerald Ratner and private equity groups, but the bids came to nothing in the end.

Shares in the firm finished Tuesday trading down 17% to 64 pence.

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