Signet shines as profits jump 33%

ROMANTIC couples on both sides of the Atlantic buying jewellery for St Valentine's Day lifted sales at Signet, the world's largest retailer of rings and other love tokens.

Like-for-like sales at its 1,035 stores in the US and 604 in Britain, where it trades as H Samuel, Ernest Jones and Leslie Davis, rose 6.8% in the 13 weeks to 4 May. First-quarter pre-tax profits rose 33% to £23.9m from £17.9m a year earlier.

Sales in the US increased by 15% to £267.3m and in Britain by 8.8% to £87.5m. The Ernest Jones shops lifted like-for-like sales by 13.3% as purchases of luxury watches and diamonds soared.

But chief executive Terry Burman remained cautious about the US, warning that American 'economic indicators are still inconsistent and the outlook somewhat uncertain'. In Britain, Burman fears that 'growth in consumer expenditure may moderate during the course of the year'.

The shares slipped 1/4p to 113p.