Signet Jewelers Ltd. (Ratner Group 1949–1993 then Signet Group plc to September 2008) is, as of 2015, the world's largest retailer of diamond

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...

y. The company is domiciled in

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and headquartered in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, and is listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

. The group operates in the middle market jewellery segment and has number one positions in the US, Canada and UK speciality jewellery markets. Certain brands (Jared in the US and H. Samuel/

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

/Leslie Davis in the UK) operate in the upper middle market. Signet Jewelers owns and operates the companies

Zales The Zale Corporation is an American jewelry retailer, incorporated in Delaware in 1993. The principal executive offices are located in Coppell, Texas. History The company began in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when the two Russian-Jewish immig ...

, Kay Jewelers, Jared, JamesAllen.com, and others.

History

The group was founded in 1949 and grew organically before expanding rapidly through a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was formerly known as the Ratner Group.

Gerald Ratner Gerald Irving Ratner (born 1 November 1949) is a British businessman. He was formerly chief executive officer of the major British jewellery company Ratners Group (now the Signet Group). He achieved notoriety after making a speech in which h ...

, a previous CEO who built the company from 130 stores to 2500, made possibly the most famous gaffe in twentieth-century British business when he explained to a major business conference that the reason why one of his products was so cheap was that it was "total crap". He then went on to unfavourably compare some of the company's earrings with a 99p prawn sandwich. His remarks were gleefully reported by the media. The company lost over 500 million pounds off its share price and consumers subsequently avoided the Ratner branded stores, nearly 300 of which were closed between January 1992 and May 1994 as the group went through a financial restructuring. Ratner resigned in November 1992, and the group changed its name to ''Signet Group plc'' in September 1993. This perceived lack of judgement and contempt for the customer gave rise to the expression " doing a Ratner". The company moved its primary

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

listing from the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to the

on 11 September 2008, changing its name to Signet Jewelers Limited in the process. The firm moved its country of

domicile Domicile may refer to: * Home, a place where someone lives * Domicile (astrology) In astrology, a planet's domicile (or less commonly house, not to be confused with the astrological house system) is the zodiac sign over which it has rulership ...

from the United Kingdom to

on the same day, although it retains headquarters in Akron, Ohio. In 2012, Signet acquired

ULTRA Diamonds ULTRA Diamonds was a seller of fine jewelry in factory outlet and value centers in the United States. ULTRA was a manufacturer as well as a direct importer of diamonds, gemstones, and gold jewelry. At one point, Ultra operated over 100 stores in ...

and converted most of ULTRA stores to Kay Jewelers Outlets. In February 2014, Signet Jewelers Ltd. agreed to buy

Zale Corporation The Zale Corporation is an American jewelry retailer, incorporated in Delaware in 1993. The principal executive offices are located in Coppell, Texas. History The company began in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when the two Russian-Jewish imm ...

, with Zale shareholders receiving USD$21 a share in cash in USD$1.4 billion deal. This merger created a $6.2 billion firm. In July 2017, Virginia Drosos was appointed CEO of Signet Jewelers Ltd., replacing Mark Light, who had served as CEO since October 2014. A month later it was announced that Signet Jewelers Ltd. agreed to buy R2Net, owner of online jewellery retailer James Allen, for $328 million. The company announced the sale of its revolving credit portfolio to Alliance Data Systems and

Genesis Financial Solutions Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

that same year. During the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

, Signet Group announced it would not reopen 80 of its UK stores after the shutdown. In the United States, following mandatory temporary closures of stores due to the pandemic, online sales rose 58 percent to $1.2 billion during the fiscal year ended in January 30, 2021, compared to the previous year. Total sales, however, fell 15 percent to $5.2 billion. To operate more efficiently, CFO Joan Hilson stated the company plans on reducing the hours of operation for stores outside of malls and adjusting staffing depending on foot traffic, as well as eliminating costs through its supply chain. The company planned to close around 100 of its

bricks-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

stores in 2021 in an ongoing effort to reduce their reliance on mall-based locations and focus more on online distribution.

Operations

As of February 2018, Signet operated 2,958 stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Republic of Ireland, and Channel Islands.

Litigation

In May 2017, one of Signet's subsidiaries, Sterling Jewelers, settled a federal civil lawsuit brought by the US

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

accusing it of discriminating against female employees. Signet was also subject to at least two class actions through Sterling Jewelers and one of its subsidiaries, Jared—the Galleria of Jewelry. It was sued by 44,000 female employees and former employees for discrimination. The action was launched in 2008 and went to go to trial in 2018. In January 2019, Signet subsidiary Sterling Jewelers settled allegations that it had signed customers up for credit cards without their permission, paying $11 million to the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...

and

New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...

's office.''Consumer Protective Action''
NY Attorney General's Office

References

External links

Official Signet Jewelers Ltd. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewelers, Signet Jewellery retailers of the United Kingdom Offshore companies of Bermuda British companies established in 1949 Retail companies established in 1949 Jewelry retailers of the United States Jewellery retailers of Canada Companies based in Akron, Ohio 1949 establishments in England Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange