Saudi jeweler L’azurde returns to profit as Egypt sales surge

DUBAI: Saudi jeweler L’azurde has returned to profitability as it cut costs and benefited from a rebound in sales, especially in Egypt.
It reported a profit of SR10.2 million ($2.7 million) in the first quarter of 2021 compared to a loss of SR1.6 million. Group operating revenues for the first quarter of 2021 gained about 21.4 percent from a year earlier to SR138.9 million,.
Saudi retail revenues increased by 2.4 percent compared to the same quarter of last year due to the easing of COVID-19-related precautionary measures, it said.
That helped to partially offset the decline in sales in airports. In Saudi Arabia, wholesale revenues were 8.6 percent higher than a year earlier.
However it was Egypt that was the stand out performer for the group over the quarter.
“In Egypt, retail revenues impressively increased by 62.1 percent mainly attributable to the growth of revenues in same shops, the successful launch of Miss L’, the new fast growing Lazurde e-commerce platforms and the opening of six new outlets in the last twelve months,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.
It said that a number of strategic initiatives undertaken by the company, including the optimization of its gold working capital, had started to yield results.
Group finance costs in the first quarter of 2021 fell about 22 percent to SR9.5 million from a year earlier.