LONDON – Luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland saw its shares plummet by 30% after revising down its guidance for the 2024 fiscal year. The company now expects revenue of £1.53-1.55 billion ($1.94-1.97 billion), down from its previous guidance of £1.65-1.7 billion. The new guidance includes a sharp downward revision of constant currency revenue growth, from 8-11% to 2-3%, and projects an EBIT margin of 8.7-8.9%.
CEO Brian Duffy expressed disappointment with the performance during the festive period, which he attributed to consumers redirecting their spending towards other categories such as fashion, beauty, hospitality, and travel. However, he remained encouraged by the company’s market share gains in both the U.S. and U.K.
In another setback, Australia’s employment numbers unexpectedly dropped by 65,100 people in December, against an estimated increase of 17,600 people. The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.9%, its highest level in 19 months, and the labor participation rate fell to 66.8%. Despite these figures, David Taylor from Australia’s bureau of statistics stated that the labor market is still relatively tight.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s transport minister, S Iswaran, resigned after being charged with corruption by the country’s anti-graft agency. Iswaran appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to 27 charges, including obtaining gratification as a public servant and obstructing the course of justice. He is Singapore’s first cabinet minister to be charged with corruption since 1986.
Investors will turn their attention to December housing starts and building permits data to assess the state of the U.S. housing sector amid declining mortgage rates. Housing starts are expected to have dropped by 8.1% last month, while building permits are anticipated to have risen to a rate of 1.476 million units.
Lastly, after-hours trading saw notable moves in several stocks. Discover Financial Services shares dropped nearly 7% despite reporting quarterly revenue of $4.20 billion that exceeded estimates. Alcoa shares also dipped nearly 3% after the aluminum producer’s fourth-quarter results came in with a narrower-than-expected adjusted loss. H.B. Fuller shares slid about 1% as the company’s fourth-quarter earnings were slightly better than expected, but revenue fell short of estimates.
Overall, markets remained relatively stable as stock futures opened little changed, with slight dips in Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 futures.