U.S. jewellery sales continue at strong pace even after halt to stimulus - Pandora CEO

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Jewellery sales in the United States have continued at a strong pace even after stimulus checks stopped in September, the chief executive of Pandora said on Wednesday.

Sales at the world's largest jewellery maker by production capacity in the United States, where it has around 570 shops, rose 59% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2019.

"It's no secret that this is very much propelled by the stimulus check," CEO Alexander Lacik said.

"We had expected sales to cool off when stimulus checks stopped in September. So far we haven't seen that cooling off," he said, adding that credit card data shows Pandora is taking market share in the United States.

It remains to be seen when the growth will begin to abate, he said.

"So far it looks very strong," Lacik said.

The company's shares fell on Monday after the company said sales from Pandora stores fell below expectations in the third quarter. The shares were trading 3.3% higher at 0830 GMT on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Editing by Louise Heavens)