But for retailers desperately seeking a silver lining to Tiffany Elsa Starfish most catastrophic of recessions, here it is: The nation's wealthiest 2 percent have kept spending. A lot. The other 98 percent simply stopped purchasing the occasional $300 pair of Chanel sunglasses or $900 Movado watch and the sector felt it. This aspirational though decidedly middle-class customer, who fueled the growth of the luxury retail market in the early 2000s, isn't buying. Tiffany Engine-turned money clip most luxury retailers have turned their focus back to their core customers--those who had no problem dropping $20,000 on a designer bag pre-recession and still don't. These customers are more concerned with the cost of fueling up their private planes than any price fluctuations at the pump. Tiffany Elsa Peretti small--but critical--2 percent of shoppers have been the lifeline that the luxury market has clung to through the powerful economic storm. "There's a been a seismic shift in luxury retail and its relationship with its consumers," says Pamela Joy Ring, a retail consultant and chief marketing officer of BannerView.com. "Gone is the aspirational buyer, Tiffany Eternal Link Cross pendant was an upper middle-class buyer who from time to time splurges on a luxury good. That customer has not rebounded. When we're talking about the uber- luxury brands, we're talking about people whose buying patterns weren't affected by the recession. They were consistent." Ring says even luxury purchasers have become more cognizant of value and are buying in a more deliberate manner. They aren't purchasing in the quantities they have in the past and are sticking with brands they've been loyal to for years.
Net earnings from continuing operations rose 39%, and certainly all of Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Wave ring results exceeded our expectations. And we generated about $172 million in free cash flow. Not a bad year. Beyond strong sales and earnings growth, we opened new stores, like this one pictured. That is Shanghai. We introduce quite a bit of new product, most significant among which was the Yellow Diamond Jewelry Collection that you also see here. And Tiffany Elsa Peretti Round Bracelet expanded our marketing reach, most interestingly with, for example, launch of our -- of this iPhone application. Today we operate at 233 Tiffany stores in 22 countries at year-end. As you can see on this slide, Tiffany sales outside the US now exceed sales here at home. Now, we expect Tiffany Elsa Peretti Round earrings store base to continue to become even more geographically diversified in the future. Our plan for 2011 is to open 21 stores, including eight stores here in the Americas, five stores in Europe, and eight stores in the Asia-Pacific region, in total increasing our total worldwide store base by 9% in 2011, Tiffany Elsa Peretti Round pendant likely maintaining a high single digit rate of store expansion in the foreseeable future. Our multi-channel distribution system also includes a robust e-commerce platform, as you know, accounting for approximately 8% of our sales in 13 countries where it is offered. And of course, in the United States, we continue to offer our very well known Selections catalog. The worldwide jewelry market still remains vast and competitively fragmented, with meaningful barriers to entry. And it is still dominated by the independent small jeweler.
We think there's a great global growth opportunity potential with some Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Teardrop pendant the highest growth in our universe. When we look closely at the Tiffany story, we think there's a good unit and economic story overall with the business. Longer-term, we think the US could operate up to 150, up from 84 currently. And within Europe, we think they could be about 50 in six or seven years, up from Tiffany Atlas from where we are today, and China at least 30, if not more, in four to five years, up from about 13 currently. Tiffany also has some other strong emerging market potential in Russia and the Middle East, and we look forward to having -- we have the management team with us today.We've got Mike Kowalski, Chairman and CEO, Jim Fernandez, EVP and CFO, and Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Wave earrings with us, VP of IR. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Mike. Thanks very much for being here. MIKE KOWALSKI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, TIFFANY & CO.: Thanks very much, Bob, for inviting all of us here this afternoon. We are going to provide you with a brief update on Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Wave pendant strategies, our global growth opportunities, and certainly leave plenty of time to answer your questions. Before continuing, the mandatory slide. Thank you. Last month, as you all know, we did report solid performance for Tiffany's in fiscal 2010. Net sales rose 14% to $3.1 billion, and that really was driven by strong results across most of our regions. Tiffany's operating margin, perhaps most significantly, rose by a full three points, reaching its previous historical peak level as we were successfully able to offset higher commodity costs with retail price increases and, of course, maintain strong expense control.
Insiderslab.com is not a registered investment advisor. Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart earrings contained in any materials should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Insiderslab.com and Insiders.hk are not compensated by any of the companies mentioned above, or in research reports compiled by its experts. All calculated numbers are statistics are based on the best available information and represent Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart hoop earrings best efforts toward accuracy. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon any materials in this press release shall be at your sole risk.AT Home Care, Virginia's largest independent home health care agency, is partnering with WellAWARE Systems to offer a monitoring system designed to help seniors Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart key ring more independently in their own homes as well as in long-term care facilities throughout Virginia. This state-of-the-art technology passively monitors key wellness indicators without the use of cameras, microphones, or wearable devices to enhance patient health data. WellAWARE will provide this new technology Tiffany Cushion is based around a wireless selection of "smart sensors" that are placed unobtrusively within a patient's residence and provides 24/7 physiological data (i.e. sleep quality, bathroom visits and activity levels). The information gathered can alert caregivers to changes in living patterns that may indicate emerging health problems and provide the opportunity for early intervention. "AT Home Care is committed to providing high quality, personalized care. We are now able to combine our exceptional hands on care with WellAWARE's technology to better serve our patients throughout Virginia," said Curt Kassab, Executive Vice President of AT Home Care.
What may be most important for Luxottica now are signs Tiffany Cushion its managed vision-care business, much of which was acquired seven years ago in a deal that has drawn less public interest than the company's later purchase of Oakley, has been restructured and improved, Mr. Guerra said. "One of the things I most like of the past nine months is to see a very balanced growth story for the company," he said. Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm are more profitable than optical kits and the wholesale channel has a profit margin twice as high as from the retail chain, but the company makes a total of 1.2 million pairs a week and needs to focus on keeping a balance across sectors, Guerra said. The same logic applies to China and other new markets, Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart drop earrings luxury labels have posted sizzling results of late. Such fast-growing economies "are not heaven or hell, but they are big and will get bigger," Mr. Guerra said. "You have to develop deep local roots there. Once that is done, business is good," he said.Insiderslab.com is a leading provider of independent reports on insider trade.Tiffany Atlas include insider trade reporting on blue chips and penny stocks, real-time insider trading alerts, and newsletters describing notable insider trades. Insiderslab.com features a team of experienced analysts striving to provide the investment community with the tools, software and data necessary to carry out more effective investment research. Insiderslab.com covers major stock markets in the U.S., Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Singapore.
Luxottica Group SpA on Thursday posted a 21% increase in first-quarter profit, Tiffany Cushion by a sales rebound in the U.S. The performance was spurred by strong growth of premium brands, said Chief Executive Andrea Guerra, whose company owns the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands and makes eyewear under license for luxury labels such as Burberry Group PLC, Prada SpA and Tiffany & Co. "Tiffany Frank Gehry Fish drop earrings luxury segment suffered a lot in 2008 and 2009 but it's been recovering very well for the past 24 months, which brings a lot of value," he said. The company reported net profit of [euro]114.7 million, up from [euro]95.1 million a year earlier, while sales rose 12% to [euro]1.56 billion from [euro]1.39 billion. Revenue rose 9.2% Tiffany Frank Gehry Fish earrings foreign currency effects were excluded. The company's wholesale division posted revenue gains of 16%, with a whopping 28% increase in North America, Luxottica said. Revenue at the retail division rose 9.2%. Comparable-store sales at Sunglass Hut, the company's core chain, rose 7.9% globally and an even faster 10.2% in the U.S. "Having the Tiffany Elsa Peretti Open Heart bracelet consumer back in the game is great news," Mr. Guerra said. He praised Luxottica's stable of brands as proving particularly hot in the U.S. but also noted Luxottica is reaping benefits from past efforts to speed delivery and boost customer service. Similar efforts in its home country led to an 8% boost in sales in the first quarter, even though overall retail sales in Italy have been flat. While hailing Luxottica's display of brand power in the U.S. and in emerging markets--the company opened its first Sunglass Hut stores in Brazil and China this month--Mr. Guerra said he "doesn't want to be dependent on one-time exploits."