Danish jewelry company Pandora is temporarily closing 18 percent of its brick-and-mortar stores internationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite growth in several of its markets, according to the company's third quarter (Q3) interim report released on Tuesday.
Approximately 486 of over 2,700 Pandora stores worldwide will be affected.
Pandora claimed the move is to secure its future as new global shutdowns come into place to fight the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are now looking into a period of new shutdowns, but we are prepared to navigate through this great uncertainty. We have the financial strength to withstand a long period of closures," says Pandora's CEO Alexander Lacik, in the comment on the report.
Pandora's revenue at Q3 was 4.07 billion Danish Kroner (640 million U.S. dollars), slightly below the 4.42 billion (690 million U.S. dollars) in the same period in 2019.
Despite the temporary retraction of its business elsewhere, the company's Chinese management has undertaken a rebuilding program, which enabled both the infrastructural and operational improvements, according to the report. These improvements have already started to pay dividends for the Danish company, especially during the Chinese Qixi Festival, which is akin to Valentine's Day, noted the report.
