3 October 2018 – trading update
A pre-close trading update has been released covering the six months ended 30 September. Profits for the period are expected to be in line with expectations. The jewellery retail business has continued to perform well and delivered double-digit sales growth. There were also good performances from the pawnbroking, other financial services and precious metal buying segments. The four stores opened in the last financial year and the five stores opened in the first half of this year are overall trading ahead of expectations. As anticipated, revenue from the foreign exchange segment was hit by a reduction in foreign travel due to the exceptionally good weather in the UK. Interim result are due to be released on 28 November and there may be limited news between now and then. However, the shares are cheap looking at fundamentals and in the near term we see fair value being at least 200p per share. On that basis the shares are a BUY.