Economy

Hallmarking set to top 10m items for first time in three years

The total number of hallmarked items is set to top 10 million for the first time since 2011, the latest data from the four UK assay offices suggests. Overall hallmarking figures, collated by the Assay Office Birmingham, dropped by 7.8% in November compared with the same period last year, mainly…

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Polished diamond suppliers reduce prices in November

Polished diamond prices fell in November as suppliers lowered prices in an effort to improve cash flow, according to Rapaport’s Rapnet Diamond Index (RAPI).  The price for 1-carat laboratory-graded diamonds declined by 1.7% in November, while 0.3-carat diamonds fell 2.2% and 0.5-carat diamonds dropped 1.6%. Three-carat diamonds decreased by 1.8%…

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Business rates set to undergo structural review

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has said in his Autumn Statement that business rates will undergo a full “structural review” alongside the extension of the 2% cap on business rate increases for next year.  Further help on business rates announced in the speech included the extension of small business…

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Jewellery comes third in cross-border buying habits

Jewellery is the third most popular category for customers making cross-border purchases online in the US, according to new research.  The research, commissioned by PayPal and carried out by Ipsos, interviewed more than 17,500 online adults in 22 markets and found that the UK was the third most popular shopping…

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Online sales set to grow ahead of Christmas, says IMRG

Online sales are back on track following a disappointing September, with annual growth of 14% in October.  This is according to the latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index which found an index growth of 7% month-on-month, the highest level of growth between September and October for four…

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Shop vacancies rise for first time since Q1 2013

The average shop vacancy rate in town centres in the UK was 10.3% in October, up from July’s rate of 10.1%, and the first time the figure has risen since the first quarter of 2013.  The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Footfall and Vacancies Monitor for October found footfall was 0.8%…

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Demand for gold jumps 18% for Q3, but jewellery drops 4%

UK demand for gold rose 18% in Q3 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council (WGC). Within that, jewellery demand softened by 4% year-on-year, but the WGC said “the comparison continues to be heavily influenced by the events in 2013”.…

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HALLMARKING: Gold keeps climbing, silver lets the side down

Gold continued its upward trajectory in the month of October with a 22.1% rise in the number of articles hallmarked, totalling 115,815 overall. The figures, released by the Birmingham Assay Office using data collated from the four UK assay offices, showed that 9ct remained the strongest performer of all metal…

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Online sales grow by 15.4% in October

Online sales in the UK grew 15.4% in October compared with the same time last year, according to the BRC-KPMG Online Retail Sales Monitor for October.  In October online sales represented 18.2% of total non-food sales, compared to 16.5% in October last year. This is the highest penetration rate since…

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Jewellery spurs 2% sales rise for Richemont Group

Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, has reported a 2% rise in sales citing the “international demand for jewellery” which saw the group’s jewellery sales grow by 10% at constant exchange rates.  In its unaudited consolidated financial results for the six months ended September 30 2014, Richemont reported a 2%…

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