Pandora profit down, but maintains guidance

COPENHAGEN (MarketWatch) -- Jewelry manufacturer Pandora Jewelry A/S , which has been hit hard in the past year by higher gold and silver prices and waning demand, Tuesday said its first-quarter net profit declined 34%, due mainly to the costly replacement of unsold products, but maintained its guidance for 2012.

Pandora sale still targets full-year sales of "above DKK6 billion", down from 2011 sales of DKK6.66 billion, and a margin on earnings before interest and tax, depreciation and amortization in the mid-20% range.

Net profit fell to DKK338 million, but was still comfortably above the DKK241.9 million average estimate of analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Earnings before interest and taxes fell 45% to DKK353 million, also widely overshooting the DKK285.4 million analysts' estimate. Sales fell 18% on the year to DKK1.42 billion, slightly short of analysts' expecations.

The biggest hit to profit came from the return and remelting of unsold goods from retailers around the world. Pandora Bracelet Jewelry received DKK340 million worth of discontinued products during the quarter, of which DKK162 million was replaced with retailers, it said.

Pandora Bracelets Jewelry was first listed in September 2010 at a price of DKK263 a share, but the share price fell steeply after having reached a historic high of DKK367.5 to an all-time low of DKK34.9 in September 2011. It closed Monday at DKK64.6