Lazurde Company for Jewelry incurred a loss of 1.6 million riyals in the first quarter of 2020, compared to profits of 12 million riyals in the same quarter of 2019.
According to Arabia Net, the company said in a statement that the reason for the shift to loss in the first quarter of this year, compared to the corresponding quarter of last year, is due to the following factors: -
1. The total revenue of the group during the first quarter of 2020, including the value of gold metal, reached 633.7 million riyals, a decrease of 5.9% compared to 673.5 million riyals in the same quarter last year. It is worth noting that the group does not consider the value of the gold metal sold as real revenue, as the group does not realize any profits or losses from selling gold as metal.
2. The operating income of the group decreased by 25.3% during the first quarter of 2020, which is the real revenue of the group after excluding the value of gold metal, as the operating income of the group amounted to 114.3 million riyals, compared to 153.0 million riyals in the same quarter of last year.
Egypt's retail sector performed well during the first quarter of 2020 as retail revenue increased by 9.7%, mainly due to the successful opening of five new outlets For brand products (Miss L), it was offset by a partial decrease in revenue from the sale of existing outlets as working hours were reduced after the precautionary measures taken by the Egyptian government in relation to the Corona virus (COVID-19) were taken.
Within Saudi Arabia, retail revenues decreased by 31.6%, mainly due to the complete closure of the commercial centers since mid-March 2020, based on the government's directives to protect citizens and residents. And the spread of the emerging corona virus (Covid-19) in the Kingdom, and the impact on retail revenues in the first quarter of 2020 was palpable, as March is a major boom and consumption period for the goldsmiths sector in Saudi Arabia, as well as in Egypt.
The performance of the wholesale sector was strongly influenced by the preventive and precautionary measures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to address the new Corona virus COVID-19, where the revenue of the wholesale sector decreased by 45.7% compared to the quarter Similarly, last year, was negatively affected by the complete closure of the gold markets and shopping malls starting from mid-March 2020 AD, as the volume of demand for gold jewelery was affected due to the high rise in global gold prices.
Revenue from the wholesale sector in Egypt also decreased by 7.2% compared to the same quarter of last year due to the decrease in working hours applied in shopping centers and ...
