He really did go to Jared

The parent company of Kay, Zale and Jared brand jewelry stores had a phenomenal holiday season with profits up more than 40% on solid same store sales growth.

Signet Jewelers Limited, operator of 3,579 stores in the U.S. and the U.K., said sales for the fourth quarter end Jan. 31 increased 45.5% to nearly $2.3 billion. The strong growth was driven largely by the inclusion of sales from the Zale Corporation which was acquired in May 2014 in addition to the 4.2% same store sales increased which reflected increased productivity of the company’s existing selling space. The company also singled out the performance of its e-commerce business which nearly doubled to $149.6 million compared to $79 million the prior year.

"We had an outstanding finish to another strong year of growth for Signet. The disciplined execution of our focused strategies drove broad-based success across all of our divisions and store brands,” said Mark Light, Signet’s CEO. The sales growth translated to strong profitability with earnings per share on an adjusted basis to exclude non-recurring charges, most of which were relate to the Zale transaction, increasing more than 40% to $3.06 from $2.53.

“Our newest division, Zale, delivered a 3.7% increase in fourth quarter same store sales. We are making good progress on the integration of Zale into our organization and continue to see significant opportunities in front of us,” Light said. “Our integration efforts are expected to allow us to unlock the value of this strong, well-known national brand. We are well-positioned to meet our goal of $150 million to $175 million in cumulative 3-year synergies by the end of January 2018."