Share price rises as WoS reports highest ever annual sales

The Watches of Switzerland Group has defied global economic uncertainty with its highest ever sales in the year ending April 27 2025.

Although sales reached a new peak of £1,651.5m (up from £1,537.9m the previous year), operating profit was down 5% to £114m (albeit adjusted EBIT was up 12% to £150m).

The company’s defiant company accounts led to its share price going from a settled price of roughly £415, up to a peak of £460 this morning, before going down to about £450 per share.

The specifics of the company’s performance (explained over 278 pages) make for fascinating reading. The US market represented 48% of the group’s revenue in FY25, although it’s worth noting the huge revenue injection (£110.8m) that has come about as a result of its acquisition of the exclusive distributor of Roberto Coin jewellery in the States.

Brian Duffy, the company’s CEO, was pleased with the resilience of the UK market, not least because he observes that its performance (up 6% in H2 FY25) is based largely on domestic clientele, largely as a result of the UK government’s decision to end VAT rebates for non-EU tourists. 

Indeed, on a per capita basis, the UK has outperformed the USA and Europe since 2000, with the highest per capita domestic spend on luxury watches by domestic clients.

Watches of Switzerland’s significant stake in Rolex’s Certified Pre-Owned programme (present in 46 stores across the UK and the States, as of April 2025) has also been working well for the company.

There were fewer details revealed about the success (or otherwise) of the group’s acquisition of online watch platform Hodinkee.

Looking ahead to the current financial year, Duffy was buoyant, albeit mindful of economic headwinds, tariff uncertainty. “We remain confident in the strong fundamentals of the luxury watch category and our differentiated business model in the underdeveloped U.S. market.”