Jeweller - August 2020

News
In Brief
David Allen returns to lead Pandora
Australia; Phil McNutt steps down
Gold price reaches
record high
4 Amid an investor surge, the gold price
has broken its previous record high.
Gold reached $US2,075 per ounce on
7 August – exceeding the previous record of
$US1,917, which was set in August
2011. However, the price has since dropped
back below $US2,000. The gold price
has seen an upward trend throughout
2020 as a result of uncertainty in other
areas of the world economy.
Record-breaking colour
diamond found in Russia
4Russian mining giant Alrosa has
confirmed that it has unearthed the
largest natural colour diamond ever
found in Russia. The 236-carat rough
– which displays a yellowish orange
colour – was mined at the Ebelyakh site in
Yakutia. Pavel Vinikhin, head of polishing
Alrosa, said the stone was being evaluated
to determine if it would be cut in-house at
Alrosa or sold as rough.
Apprentice competition
revamped for 2020
4Nationwide Jewellers has launched its
2020 Apprentice of the Year Competition,
with key changes. This year, apprentices
have been given a customer brief
including thoughts, ideas, and budget to
reflect the market demand for custommade
jewellery. Entry forms have been
snt to Nationwide members in Australia
and New Zealand. The winner will be
announced in November.
GIA embraces artificial
intelligence
4The Gemological Institute of America
(GIA) is developing an artificial
intelligence (AI) system for diamond
clarity grading, alongside IBM. Pritesh
Patel, chief operating officer GIA, said
AI clarity grading works by feeding
data gathered from GIA’s thousands of
reference stones into a program, which
then is used to ‘train’ algorithms on
how to grade for clarity. The system is
currently being trialled at two GIA US labs.
David Allen – who previously led Pandora Australia from 2012–2015 – has returned to take over management of
the new Pacific regional division, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
As part of Pandora Jewelry’s global
restructuring, David Allen – who led Pandora
Australia between 2012–2015 – will return to
head up the new Pacific regional division, with
current managing director Phil McNutt leaving
the company.
Allen had been based at Pandora’s global
headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark for the
past five years, where he oversaw its Europe,
Middle East and Africa operations.
Speaking to exclusively to Jeweller about his
return, Allen said, “It is wonderful to be back,
Australia is home, and we all missed her very
much. My family and I have had an incredible
life and professional experience abroad and I
will always be truly grateful for the opportunity
that was given to us.”
He added, “One of the first things we did when
we got back was to have a barbecue – not that
we didn’t have barbecues in Denmark, but
there is nothing quite like an Aussie barbecue
on a Saturday afternoon with a cold beer!”
When the restructuring was initially announced
in March 2020, Allen was confirmed to be
staying with the company in an unspecified role.
Internationally, 180 redundancies were
expected, with Kenneth Madsen, president
Pandora Asia-Pacific, among those leaving
the company.
At the time, a spokesperson for Pandora
Australia told Jeweller that McNutt – who was
appointed managing director in January 2019
– would take over as general manager of the
new Pacific regional division, which includes
Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Jeweller also previously contacted McNutt
regarding potential job losses and staffing
changes at Pandora Australia’s head office in
Sydney, but those questions went unanswered.
Pandora Australia’s revenue has declined each
year since 2017. Throughout 2019, revenue
fell by double digits each quarter; the most
significant drop was in the three months to
November 2019, when it fell by 23 per cent.
“It is wonderful to be back, Australia
is home, and we all missed her very
much. My family and I have had an
incredible life and professional
experience abroad”
– David Allen, Pandora Jewelry
It has also undergone something of a
management merry-go-round, having been led
by three different executives: Brien Winther,
who was transferred to Pandora British Isles
after 13 months, Mikael Kruse Jensen, who left
to manage Pandora Northern Europe following
less than two years in the role, and Phil McNutt,
who joined the company from Sunglass Hut in
January 2019.
When asked about the differences between the
Australian and EMEA markets and the changes
in Australia over the past five years, Allen
said, “It is of course very important for me to
understand if and how the market has changed
– as I am sure that it has – and I will invest time
in understanding this. This will in turn help the
team and I understand the role that Pandora
will play moving forward.”
Some industry commentators have noted
that Pandora’s local problems may have
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18 | August 2020