Tiffany Sales Up in Q1, Profit Hurt by Poor U.S. Performance

Earnings totaled $82 million, a small year-over-year increase. However, excluding nonrecurring costs related to the relocation of Tiffany's New York headquarters staff last year, net earnings would have declined 5%.

Comparable store sales rose 4%.

"In terms of our sales for the first quarter, regions outside the Americas performed generally as expected. However, the Americas region underperformed," said CEO Michael J. Kowalski.

The performance in the Americas, mainly U.S., is continuing a soft trend that began in the last quarter of 2011, he added.