The general retail environment in the UK remained challenging throughout the quarter and our like for like sales performance was broadly in line with the high street as a whole. While costs were tightly controlled, pressure on gross margin adversely affected operating results.
In the US, like for like sales were up by over 7 percent after adjusting for the change in timing of Mother's Day. The division again increased its share of the $59 billion jewellery market.”
Signet operated 1,814 speciality retail jewellery stores at 28 January 2006; these included1,221 stores in the US, where the Group trades as "Kay Jewelers," "Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry" and under a number of regional names.
At the same date Signet also operated 598 stores in the UK, where the Group trades as “H.Samuel”, “Ernest Jones” and “Leslie Davis”.
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