2020 has not provided a friendly backdrop for luxury businesses this year. The UK economy contracted by 19.8 per cent in the second quarter alone. But, ostensibly, people still want to buy expensive timepieces. Watches of Switzerland (WOSG) has bumped up its guidance for 2021, after sales bounced by a fifth in the first 10 weeks of the second quarter. The company now expects revenue to land within the range of £880m to £910m, compared to a previous range of £840m to £860m.
The market had, understandably, been concerned about the impact of travel restrictions on trading, with a third of the group’s top-line coming from airport and tourism sales in the second quarter last year. But UK domestic sales made up for the fall, leading revenue in the region up by 13 per cent.
True, the group was impacted by lower footfall in its London stores. But it has still pushed ahead with the planned expansion of its Knightsbridge showroom, where a new 'Rolex Room' opened in mid-September.
Meanwhile across the pond, sales performed even better, up by just over a third. But management expects that the positive trend in the second quarter will be tempered by further coronavirus disruption in the third.
