March 2008

Chinni is new Fortunoff chairman, CEO

Industry veteran Charlie Chinni takes the reigns at Fortunoff as the company’s new chairman and chief executive officer. He replaces Arnie Orlick who left the company last week as retailer was acquired out of bankruptcy by NRDC Equity Partners of Purchase, N.Y., owner of Lord & Taylor.

In early 2007, Chinni stepped down from his post at JCPenney as executive vp, home and leisure, women’s accessories and family footwear after steering his departments through the company’s turnaround process.

Former CEO NRDC CEO Richard Baker late last week said he expects Fortunoff to increase in bulk from four full-line stores to 50 nationwide, with Fortunoff’s 16 regional outdoor furniture stores ballooning out to more than 300 units.

NRDC also plans to create Fortunoff home and jewelry shops in the firm’s 47 Lord & Taylor supplies. NRDC said it expects the $439 million Fortunoff nameplate to double-faced in size over the coming five years.

NRDC Equity Partners $110 million conduct one’s self for Fortunoff included a $30 very great number grant to cover the company’s customer obligations.

NRDC is a joint venture between Robert Baker and Richard Baker, principals of National Realty & Development Corp., and William Mack and Lee Neibert, Partners of Apollo Real Estate Advisors. NRDC focuses on acquisitions in the retail, leisure, habitation, and commercial real estate sectors.

Gold for Jewelry is Down in Most Countries

A total of 82.9 million ounces of gold was used in the manufacture of fabricated products in 2007, according to an annual report on the precious metal. This was up 8.3 percent from 76.6 million ounces in 2006. Most of this metal is used in the making of jewelry.

Gold jewelry serves two purposes, according to CPM Group’s 2008 Gold Yearbook, released Monday:

In the industrialized world most gold jewelry is purchased as a discretionary, luxury item, with the jewelry being sold at a high mark-up relative to the value of the jewelry’s gold content. Gold use in this form of jewelry is falling sharply, in part due to the rise in gold prices, but also reflecting weaker overall economic conditions in several major industrialized economies and a shift in preference away from gold jewelry as a luxury purchase by consumers in some markets.

Gold jewelry also is used as a form of gold investment, a form of savings, and an investment, according to the report. This gold jewelry market is most vibrant in India, and throughout the Middle East, and other parts of Asia. Gold use in jewelry in these countries and regions rose sharply last year, meditative the push to add to gold holdings by investors.

The price of gold has risen to record levels as of early 2008, as investors worldwide have turned to gold and other commodities as a safe haven in periods of sharply heightened concerns about overall economic conditions, potential further volatility in world financial markets, and political uncertainties, according to the report. Investors are buying gold as an inflation hedge, as protection against a falling dollar, as an alternative to stocks and bonds, and as a store of value in a world they perceive to have greater risks to their wealth and well being than at any time since the early 1980s.

The 209-page hard-bound detail provides statistics on trends in each sector of the gold market in 2007, with insights into likely developments for the coming year. The supply chapter discusses trends in mine production, which declined around 1.1 percent last year but is expected to increase modestly in 2008. Mine production is only a portion of total refined gold supplies, the report explains. While mine production totaled 59.3 million ounces in 2007, secondary recovery of gold from scrapped jewelry, electronics, and other manufactured products bought another 32.4 million ounces of newly refined gold bullion into the international market.

In addition to these conventional sources of supply, around 16 million ounces of gold entered the market from net sales by various central banks, primarily European ones, during 2007. Gold promoters continue to talk about how central banks may set on foot buying gold, disenchanted with their large holdings of U.S. dollars as monetary reserves. Most central banks have not been buyers and suggest that they are not interested in adding gold to their reserves. The central banks of Russia and Qatar were two notable buyers of gold last year, but, as the Gold Yearbook highlights, their respective purchases of 1.4 million ounces and 380,000 ounces were more than offset by dint of. larger sales from other banks.

Investors last year increased their purchases of gold from 39.2 million ounces in 2006 to 43.7 million ounces. Last year was the seventh year of large net gold purchases by investors, which has been the catalyst for the increase in gold prices from $256.60 in early 2001 to a record $988.50 (basis the April Comex futures contract settlement price) onward March 5. Investor demand is projected to remain high in 2008, helping to keep gold prices strong, according to CPM Group.

Gitanjali Group Acquires Lucera

Gitanjali Group, India’s largest integrated diamond and jewelry manufacturer and retailer, has acquired Renaissance Jewellery’s Retail Business - Lucera Jewellery. Mumbai-based Renaissance Jewellery markets Lucera premium silver jewelry in India through its wholly owned subsidiary Renaissance Retail Venture. Gitanjali Group says the acquisition helps strengthen its position in the silver jewelry market.

The Gitanjali Group acquired Lucera for Rs 25 crores ($6.2 million). The company says it plans to extensively broaden the Lucera brand reach. Gitanjali aims to consolidate Lucera’s position as a premium jewels and lifestyle brand and has plans to open 5 more stores across country this year in Aurangabad, Nagpur, Pune, Rajkot & Kanpur.

The company says it plans to liberalize the Lucera brand portfolio from exclusively silver jewelry to designer watches, belts, and bags to complement the "contemporary global citizen."

Gitanjali says it aims to position Lucera as a Jewellery and Lifestyle brand worldwide.

"We are aggressively pursuing opportunities that direct synergise with the company’s philosophy to add incremental value at every level of the supply chain, said Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Group chairman. "Also this acquisition brings unparalleled perspicacity and breadth of lifestyle and product offerings to existing and prospective customers of Gitanjali.” … “Silver jewelry is very popular amongst the youth and is an integral part of their jewelry purchase today. We are happy to see the successful conclusion of the transfer of the brand to Gitanjali Lifestyle.

Hitesh Shah, executive director, Renaissance Jewellery added, “The company has taken a conscious decision to focus on the export market and thus have sold our domestic retail venture to the best in the retail jewelry business.”

Ideal Brilliant Joins the GemFind.com

Ideal Brilliant of New York has joined GemFind.com’s network of wholesaler jewelers, making an additional 3,300 certified diamonds available to GemFind.com customers.

The GemFind Network now has 45 diamond suppliers and a diamond inventory of over 50,000 certified loose diamonds. Using its diamond database, GemFind.com customers are able to perform detailed searches for the type of diamonds they are looking for online, and then choose to buy the diamonds online or see them first at a local diamond jeweler.

Consumers are accomplished to see each diamond in person.

Easton Leaves Blue Nile after Six Months

Internet diamond and jewelry retailer Blue Nile said Monday that Robin Easton, its chief financial officer, has resigned from the company after only six months on the job, effective March 31. Terri Maupin, the Seattle-based company’s vice president of finance and controller, will assume the duties of the principal financial and accounting official.

Maupin, 46, has served as the company’s VP of finance and controller since July 2004. From September 2003 to July 2004, she served as the company’s controller.

Easton’s appointment for the job was announced in August 2007 and he took over the position the following month. Prior to Easton’s appointment, the company announced in June 2007 that Scott Devitt was named to the CFO position. However, before beginning his first sunlight on the job, Blue Nile said in July that Devitt decided not to take the position because of "personal considerations" involving the relocation of his family.

Prior to joining Blue Nile, From February 2001 to September 2003, Maupin served as the staff vice president of Finance and controller at Alaska Air Group, Inc., the parent company of airline companies Alaska Airlines, Inc. and Horizon Air Industries, Inc., and staff vice president of Finance and controller at Alaska Airlines, Inc. Prior to Alaska, Maupin served as director of Financial Reporting at Nordstrom, Inc.

Maupin holds a B.A. in Accounting from Western Washington University.

Audemars Piguet Names Marketing VP

Audemars Piguet North America named Dana Hagendorf as the company’s new vice president of marketing.

Hagendorf will manage the marketing, advertising, and public relations efforts for the United States and Canada. She reports directly to Francois-Henry Bennahmias, the company’s chief charged with execution officer, and desire be based in the company’s New York City headquarters.

Prior to joining Audemars Piguet, Hagendorf established strong luxury brand experience in both the hospitality and automotive sectors. In her most recent position at St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, she served viewed like the brand’s senior director of marketing, developing the global marketing strategy for 12 St. Regis hotels worldwide. She was also instrumental in the openings of the San Francisco, Bora Bora, and Fort Lauderdale properties.

Prior to St. Regis, Hagendorf was director of marketing and communications at BMW in New York City, where she had marketing and advertising responsibility for BMW cars and motorcycles, and executed the launch of the MINI Cooper. As a Global Marketing Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, her team was responsible for creating the firm’s new global corporate identity during the corporation’s merger.

Hagendorf earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. with honors from Cornell University. She currently serves on the Board of the New York Women in Communications Foundation, and is actively involved with City Harvest and Share Our Strength.

Audemars Piguet is the oldest haute horlogerie watchmaker still in the hands of its founding families.