Signet Jewelers

The group was founded in 1949 and grew organically before expanding rapidly through a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was formerly known as the Ratner Group.

Gerald Ratner, a previous CEO who built the company from 130 stores to 2500, made possibly the most famous gaffe in twentieth-century British business when he explained to a major business conference that the reason why one of his products was so cheap was that it was "total crap". He then went on to unfavourably compare some of the company's earrings with a 99p prawn sandwich. His remarks were gleefully reported by the media. The company lost over 500 million pounds off its share price and consumers subsequently avoided the Ratner branded stores, nearly 300 of which were closed between January 1992 and May 1994 as the group went through a financial restructuring. Ratner resigned in November 1992, and the group changed its name to Signet Group plc in September 1993.This perceived lack of judgement and contempt for the customer gave rise to the expression "doing a Ratner".The company moved its primary stock market listing from the London to the New York Stock Exchange on 11 September 2008, changing its name to Signet Jewelers Limited in the process. The firm moved its country of domicile from the United Kingdom to Bermuda on the same day, although it retains headquarters in Akron, Ohio. In 2012, Signet acquired ULTRA Diamonds and converted most of ULTRA stores to Kay Jewelers Outlets.In February 2014, Signet Jewelers Ltd. agreed to buy Zale Corporation, with Zale shareholders receiving USD$21 a share in cash in USD$1.4 billion deal. This merger created a $6.2 billion firm.In July 2017, Virginia Drosos was appointed CEO of Signet Jewelers Ltd., replacing Mark Light, who had served as CEO since October 2014. A month later it was announced that Signet Jewelers Ltd. agreed to buy R2Net, owner of online jewellery retailer James Allen, for $328 million. The company announced the sale of its revolving credit portfolio to Alliance Data Systems and Genesis Financial Solutions that same year.During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Signet Group announced it would not reopen 80 of its UK stores after the shutdown. In the United States, following mandatory temporary closures of stores due to the pandemic, online sales rose 58 percent to $1.2 billion during the fiscal year ended in January 30, 2021, compared to the previous year. Total sales, however, fell 15 percent to $5.2 billion. To operate more efficiently, CFO Joan Hilson stated the company plans on reducing the hours of operation for stores outside of malls and adjusting staffing depending on foot traffic, as well as eliminating costs through its supply chain. The company planned to close around 100 of its bricks-and-mortar stores in 2021 in an ongoing effort to reduce their reliance on mall-based locations and focus more on online distribution.