Damas International said yesterday its profits for the six months ending June 30 , 2008, went up by 133 per cent to touch Dh164.8 million, compared to Dh70.8m in the first half of 2007.
The global jewellery and watch retailer listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange in July, having raised $270m (Dh990.9m) on the completion of its initial pubic offering.
"This is our first set of results as a public company and we have seen strong growth across the business. This was driven by solid like-for like sales, increased market share and strong operational efficiencies," said Tawhid Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Damas.
The group's revenue, meanwhile, grew by 33.7 per cent to Dh2.4 billion despite high gold prices, the company said. Its revenue stood at Dh1.8bn in the corresponding period a year earlier.
"Damas concentrated on maximising the sales on the core jewellery business which consists of gold jewellery, diamond jewellery, pearl jewellery and watches.
"We managed to reduce the bullion sales considerably – from Dh209.7bn in first half of 2007, to Dh33.4bn in the same period this year," the company said in a statement.
Gross profits meanwhile, went up by 71.4 per cent to Dh456.7m in the first six months of the year, while gross margins increased to 19.1 per cent.
With continued geographical expansion, Damas said it opened a total of 42 new stores to bring its total to 467 as of June 2008.
Of this, there are 11 new stores in the UAE, 14 stores in the GCC (excluding the UAE) and 17 stores outside the GCC.Furthermore, the company said it plans to use up to 40 per cent of IPO funds for expansion and acquisitions.
Plans are afoot to open more than 80 stores by the end of this year to bring the total to 131 stores opened this year and to 569 Damas stores around the world.
It also plans a 50 per cent output capacity increase at a gold factory it owns with Emaar Industries and Investments by the end of 2009.
"Market conditions in our core markets remain good and we are confident that we will be able to deliver a strong performance for the remainder of this year and into 2009," said Abdullah.
"Damas is well placed to look at opportunities and make selective acquisitions to accelerate its expansion while concentrating on maximising shareholder value," added P K Dutta, Chief Financial Offer of Damas.
In addition to its own brands and products, which account for the majority of sales, Damas also represents international brands such as Tiffany and Company, Paspaley, Parmigiani and Links of London in the UAE, besides owning international brands such as Stefan Hafner and La Nouvelle Bague among others.