Tiffany posts sales up 8 percent in Q1

Tiffany & Co. reported that its worldwide net sales rose 8 percent, year on year to $819.2 million for the period that ended on April 30. Worldwide sale rose 4 percent, while profit was flat at $81.5 million. Sales only improved 3 percent in the Americas at $386 million, but jumped 16 percent at a constant exchange rate in the Asia-Pacific region at $195 million and 13 percent in Japan at $142 million. Sales across Europe rose 7 percent as measured by local currency to $88 million. In another development, Tiffany is in the process of negotiating future property rights with designer Elsa Peretti, who owns here intellectual property on jewelry that the company defined as a significant amount of revenue. The two parties are in the process of negotiating those rights, but if an agreement is not reached, Peretti might terminate the licensing agreement, ending a 38 year relationship with the jeweler.