Movado Group Inc (MOVAA)

Description:

Movado Group Inc was incorporated in New York in 1967 under the name North American Watch Corporation to acquire Piaget Watch Corporation and Corum Watch Corporation, which had been, respectively, the exclusive importers and distributors of Piaget and Corum watches in the United States since the 1950's. The Company sold its Piaget and Corum distribution businesses in 1999 and 2000, respectively, to focus on its own portfolio of brands. The Company designs, sources, markets and distributes fine watches. Its portfolio of brands is currently comprised of Coach Watches, Concord, Ebel, ESQ Movado, Scuderia Ferrari Watches, HUGO BOSS Watches, Juicy Couture Watches, Lacoste Watches, Movado, and Tommy Hilfiger Watches. The Company divides the watch market into five principal categories as follows: Exclusive, Luxury, Accessible Luxury, Moderate and Fashion, and Mass Market. Exclusive watches are usually made of precious metals, including 18 karat gold or platinum, and are often set with precious gems. Luxury watches are either quartz-analog watches or mechanical watches. The majority of accessible luxury watches are quartz-analog watches. Most moderate and fashion watches are quartz-analog watches. Mass market watches typically consist of digital watches and analog watches made from stainless steel, brass and/or plastic and are manufactured in Asia. The Company conducts its business primarily in two operating segments: Wholesale and Retail. The Company sells all of its brands in the U.S. wholesale market primarily to major jewelry store chains such as Helzberg Diamonds Corp., Sterling, Inc. and Zale Corporation; department stores, such as Macy's, and Nordstrom, as well as independent jewelers. Internationally, the Company's brands are sold in department stores such as El Cortes Ingles in Spain and Galeries Lafayette in France, jewelry chain stores such as Christ in Switzerland and Germany and independent jewelers. Retail: the Company's subsidiary, Movado Retail Group, Inc., operates 35 outlet stores located in outlet centers across the United States, which serve as an effective vehicle to sell discontinued models and factory seconds of all of the Company's watches. In January 2014, the Company signed two additional lease agreements for new outlet stores to be opened for operations in fiscal 2015. The markets for each of the Company's watch brands are competitive. With the exception of Swatch Group, Ltd., a Swiss-based competitor, no single company competes with the Company across all of its brands. Certain companies, however, compete with Movado Group with respect to one or more of its watch brands.