Birks Group Inc. (BGI) gained 6.84% to $2.50 during after-hours trading Friday. Shares of BGI were down 3.31 percent at $2.34 during the previous trading session. During the period, the company’s shares ranged from $2.19 to $2.49. The firm traded 0.29 million shares, below the daily average of 1.07 million equity shares it traded over the past hundred days. As of the last five days, BGI’s shares fell by 17.02 percent, but in the previous month they went down by 15.52 percent.

What happened at BGI?

Birks Group manufactures jewelry in addition to operating jewellery stores. They are a leading manufacturer and retailer of fine jewellery, watches, and gifts in Canada. In 2021, BGI plans to have 26 stores operating under the Maison Birks banner in most Canadian metropolitan areas, as well as a retail location in Calgary operating under the Brinkhaus banner, one in Vancouver operating under Graff and one in Vancouver operating under the Patek Philippe banner.

The On Thursday, the Birks Group released its financial results for the fiscal year that ended on March 27, 2021.

• The figures presented here are all in Canadian dollars.
• Because the BGI had to close numerous stores at intermittent times throughout the year due to government restrictions, its financial results were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic during the fiscal year ended March 27, 2021.
• Birks Group’s net sales dropped to $143.1 million with a decrease of $26.3 million, or 15.5%, compared to the fiscal year 2020.
• COVID-19 negatively impacted BGI’s gross profit of $56.4 million, a decrease of $8.1 million, or 12.6%, compared to fiscal 2020.
• For BGI, a gross profit percentage of 39.4% represents an increase of 130 basis points over fiscal 2020’s gross profit percentage of 38.1%.
• As a result of its proactive management of the pandemic, Birks Group effectively controlled costs despite declining sales and gross profits volumes.
• In fiscal 2021, total operating expenses fell by $11.8 million 16.6% over fiscal 2020 to $59.2 million.

What’s still impacting BGI?

Birks Group (BGI)’s fiscal 2021 EBITDA totaled $2.6 million, an increase of $4.3 million over the $1.7 million negative EBITDA for fiscal 2020. In June 2021, 20 of the BGI’s 29 stores were open, albeit with reduced hours of operation. As a result of a government order, BGI’s nine remaining stores in Ontario will be closed until at least July 6, 2021.