Lazurde CEO bullish on next 3 years, says strong Q1 2022 reflects transformation strategy

CEO of Lazurde, Selim Chidiac

Lazurde Company for Jewelry reported robust growth in revenue, gross profit margins and net profit, along with reduced finance costs, in the first quarter of 2022, CEO Selim Chidiac told Argaam in a phone call.

The performance underlines the company’s effective transformation strategies, he added.

Chidiac noted that he is bullish on Lazurde’s performance over the next three years. The company finalized its three-year strategic growth plan with an ambitious vision for 2025; however, it is facing some short-term impacts due to factors beyond its control.

The company is more diversified now, with strong contribution from the wholesale, retail and e-commerce channels. In addition, it has ample opportunity to expand its retail operations and e-commerce scope, and boost profitability from the wholesale channel.

Demand and operating revenue witnessed growth in all regions and distribution channels across all brands. Lazurde is working on understanding consumer needs, in order to improve its products that fulfill the changing demand of consumers.

Chidiac noted that jewelry witnessed strong demand in the first quarter of 2022, as the company’s innovative products and new collections were “highly successful”.

Lazurde has gold loans, based on its business profile and strategy as it owns no gold. Accordingly, the company ensures no direct exposure to gold price fluctuations, the CEO said, adding that the impact of higher interest rates is controllable.

The jewelry designer maintains its successful transformation strategy with strong momentum, which aims to bolster growth, improve gross profit margins, deploy lower working capital, benefit from the key innovations offered in the last two years and tap new growth opportunities.

Lazurde came out of the COVID-19 pandemic in a much stronger position, backed by the accelerated switching to sell modern jewelry at affordable prices and higher profit margins, as well as lower working capital requirements. It also launched its e-commerce business and has strong growth potentials.

Moreover, the company plans to grow its e-commerce through enhancing the fundamentals of shoppers’ experience, introducing new technology, improving the customer relation management systems and using efficient strategies for the multi-channels.

The Saudi jeweler’s first-quarter net profit rose to SAR 13.7 million, from SAR 10.2 million in Q1 2021, Argaam reported.