In mid-November, OAO Krasnoyarsk Plant of Precious Metals named after Gulidov (Krastsvetmet, for short) reported its results for nine months of 2007. According to the official report of the plant, it increased its cash receipts from sales up to 7.1 billion roubles. As compared with three previous quarters, the growth was 21%. However, the net profit of this company was going down. It shrank from 1.5 billion in January-September 2006 to about 400 million in the similar period of 2007.
The price rise for rough materials used by Krastsvetmet in its production was the reason behind the low indicators.
It is worth mentioning that now the company receives 58% of its profit from affinage, 18.9% from processing customer-owned raw materials and 22.5% from jewelry.
Saint Petersburg-based jewelry network Russkiye Samotsvety consisting of 11 boutiques is moving to the Moscow market, says its General Manager Sergey Dokuchayev. According to him, in the coming year the network plans to open at least five stores in the metropolis each having an area from 80 to 150 square meters. The first one will be launched in December 2007 – January 2008. “It is difficult to estimate the amount of investments into the project, but every store will have a stock of goods worth $1 million,” Dokuchayev says. The company hopes to get a footing in the mid-price jewelry segment (the medium price of a jewelry item offered by Russkiye Samotsvety in its boutiques is 10,000-15,000 roubles).
A manager of the Adamas network, who heard about the competitor’s Moscow project, said, “It is logic because Moscow accounts for 30% of the Russian market.”
“Russkiye Samotsvety will have difficulties as we had our own difficulties in the established market of Saint Petersburg. One year ago we opened there five outlets and now we have to close three of them due to their low profit rate,” says Ilya Adamsky, Commercial Director of the Moscow Jewelry Plant.
In the opinion of Denis Gorinov, Lead Marketing Consultant of Finexpertiza Consulting, “Domestic factories should exert more efforts to gain footing in the retail market to maintain their sales.” The Russian jewelry market capacity is about $3 billion a year. Moscow’s share is approximately $900 million and that of Saint Petersburg is $400 million.
The last-month intrigues had their further development. Thus, on November 17, Krasnoyarsk inaugurated a Remix Jewelry House. REGNUM-KNews reported that the Krasnoyarsk jewelry factory, bearing the same name, used 1200 square meters to display jewelry of its own make and that made by the largest jewelry factories in Russia and abroad.
In previous reports, Valery Burda, General Manager of the Remix Jewelry House, did not disclose financial details of this matter, but later he informed that the jewelry house had taken up almost $1 million worth of investments.
The most expensive adornment displayed by the Remix Jewelry House was a crocodile-shaped bracelet made by the Lino Jewelry Factory (Yekaterinburg). The adornment worth 2.7 million roubles was made of gold 750 encrusted with 99 diamonds, as well as with rubies and emeralds. The jewelry house salesrooms displayed jewelry pieces manufactured by such factories as Eesthet, Art-Facet, Shar, Choron Diamond, Zen and others.
“Launching a large jewelry house is a decision ensuing from our work experience in the jewelry market of Krasnoyarsk,” said Valery Burda. According to him, having opened the trade house Remix plans to seize up to 30% of the Krasnoyarsk jewelry market.
In mid-November, the “Vedomosty” and later the “Company” reported that Vitaly Nikulin, the former CEO of the Nezabudka Sales Network, had headed the Zoloto Mira Company affiliated with Mizar, a large Chelyabinsk-based holding owning 120 Fianite jewelry stores, the Chelyabinsk Jewelry Plant and a pawnshop chain.
As it was assumed, the Fianite Network headed by Nikulin would be re-branded and expanded in the course of five years to include 500 stores with an average area of 50 square meters.
However, on November 20, the Shareholders’ Council of the Fianite Sales Network decided to appoint Yelena Yerofeyeva as its General Manager instead of Nikulin, who had been in charge for five months.
The company did not officially comment on such a dashing change in its management. According to Nikulin, this personnel rotation was done according to the schedule: he had been invited to Fianite to re-structure the company, to change its management pattern and to introduce some business processes. “These tasks have been completed. Fianite is successful, stable and ready for a new quality breakthrough in improving business processes and its efficiency. I am going to find a new project to work on,” Vitaly Nikulin said.
A Faberge Museum will be built in Moscow, the first of this kind in the world.
This was declared by Roman Tucker, Director of the Cultural and Historic Foundation “Link of Times”, who visited Tyumen where on November 24 there was opened an exhibition entitled “Faberge: Lost and Found”. Tucker remarked that the negotiations with the Moscow Government were already underway. Today, the collection of Link of Times accounts already for 500 items. At the Tyumen exhibition, according to the foundation director, there were displayed about 20 items, which had not been exhibited earlier. Among them, there were brooches and Easter Eggs pendants as well as a collection of cigar cases and writing utensils. The exposition also featured the so-called “objects-fantasies” – miniatures of flower compositions and old-time French furniture.
According to Tatyana Mountyan, Curator of the Faberge Collection in the Museums of the Moscow Kremlin, “The collection of Link of Times contains one of the largest selections of Imperial Easter Eggs in the world; only the national treasury of Russia – the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin Museums – has a collection which is more by one egg.”
