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Pandora will start making platinum-plated jewellery as the Danish group pivots in response to the soaring price of silver.
Shares in the world’s largest seller of jewellery by volume have fallen almost two-thirds in the past year, as the price of silver nearly quadrupled before falling sharply in the past week.
Pandora will start selling platinum bracelets in a few stores this quarter before launching them and charms globally in the second half of the year.
“It’s highly frustrating when you are a highly desirable jewellery brand to be considered a silver trading company,” new chief executive Berta de Pablos-Barbier told the FT. “This is something we want to move away from, to stop being so linked to one commodity.”
Silver prices have been on a rollercoaster ride in recent months, fuelled by speculative trading and hurting users such as jewellery makers. Silver prices soared at the end of last year because of geopolitical tensions and weakness in the dollar, before dropping precipitously following the nomination of Kevin Warsh to head the US Federal Reserve.
Pandora said it expected to move from making about 60 per cent of its jewellery from silver to about 20 per cent, a shift de Pablos-Barbier said she hoped to be complete by the end of 2028.
The Danish group said it expected its operating profit margin to be 21-22 per cent this year, compared with 24 per cent in 2025, as it was fully hedged against the silver price.
But in 2027, when it has little to no hedging for silver, its operating margin will fall to 12 per cent, or 14 per cent excluding one-off costs from the transition to platinum, such as reconfiguring crafting facilities that are expected to total DKr600mn ($95mn). Pandora forecasts a “medium-term” margin of 21 per cent.
“It’s lower than where we are, but it’s higher than if we wouldn’t do anything,” de Pablos-Barbier said.
The company said it had conducted a large survey of consumers, with more recognising platinum as a precious metal than sterling silver. It also touted platinum as water- and tarnish-resistant as well as hypoallergenic “so you can take it to the beach and to the pool, unlike silver,” said de Pablos-Barbier.
Shares in Pandora rose 6 per cent on Thursday morning in Copenhagen to DKr543, while spot silver prices plunged 15 per cent.
Pandora had outperformed broader luxury brands such as LVMH and Kering as well as Richemont in recent years on the stock market, but suffered more than them in the past year.