- Swiss stocks fell more than 57% in the last year
Switzerland’s Watches Group has acquired Italian jewelery firm Roberto Coin for $130m, or around £104m.
Swiss Watches told investors on Thursday that $10 million of the purchase price was being deferred for a year and “depending on the future profitability of the acquired business.”
The London-listed watchmaker said it secured the deal in a bid to expand further into the lucrative luxury jewelery market.
Agreement: the Watches of Switzerland group acquires the Italian jewelry firm Roberto Coin for 130 million dollars
Watches of Switzerland has been working with Roberto Coin as a partner for over a decade.
Roberto Coin will continue to operate as an independent company within the Watches of Switzerland group.
The founding Coin family will retain a seat on the company’s board of directors. Peter Webster, who co-founded and led the brand for nearly three decades, will retain his role as president.
The deal was funded by a new $115 million loan, increasing the group’s leverage to 0.8 times net debt, which will leave the company at the midpoint of its full-year leverage guidance. the group said.
Switzerland Watch Stocks They rose 0.87 per cent or 2.83 pence to 327.83 pence on Thursday morning, having fallen more than 57 per cent in the last year.
Roberto Coin, an associate company of Roberto Coin SPA of Italy, has exclusive and perpetual rights to import and distribute the Italian firm’s jewelry in the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America.
For the year ending December 31, 2022, Roberto Coin’s annual revenue was $146.2 million, while its pre-tax profit was $30.1 million.
Brian Duffy, CEO of Watches of Switzerland, said: “We have partnered with Roberto Coin for over a decade in the US, selling their elegant jewelery in several of our mayors’ showrooms. It is a hugely popular brand. and growing, occupying a strong position in the market, backed by product quality, design creativity and imagination.
‘We believe there is a huge opportunity to leverage our proven retail expertise in luxury brand jewellery.
‘The luxury brand jewelery category has consistently outperformed the wider jewelery sector, and we see further strategic and operational opportunities for the business within the wider Group. “We are committed to our new wholesale partners and excited to work with them and help them grow with Roberto Coin.”
He added: “Today’s attractive strategic and financial acquisition is indicative of our ambition and the momentum we are generating in this exciting category.”
“It will allow us to take one of the fastest-growing jewelry brands in the US and use our operational and retail expertise to accelerate growth and further elevate Roberto Coin’s proposition in North and Central America.”