Pandora aims to break with volatile silver market, CEO says

Jewellery brand Pandora is introducing platinum-plated products to distance itself from the volatile silver market after a historic surge in the price of the precious metal, the company's new CEO said on Thursday.

Pandora's share price has been highly sensitive to sharp moves in silver, with a historic selloff in the precious metal at the end of last week driving a surge in the stock.

"We have to decouple the performance of the company and the share value from the commodity," Berta de Pablos-Barbier told Reuters in an interview. "We are a jewellery brand, we are not a silver trader."

Pandora is introducing platinum-plated versions of its best-selling bracelets, which will be less costly to produce.

Eventually the brand plans to reduce its reliance on any one commodity and shift its jewellery portfolio from nearly 60% silver to "maybe 20% in the end", de Pablos-Barbier, in the role since January 1, said.

She did not give a full time frame but said Pandora plans for at least 50% of the silver assortment to transition to platinum-plated in 2027.

After hitting a record high of $121.64 last week, spot silver XAG= plummeted on news of Kevin Warsh's nomination as Federal Reserve chief, and was trading at $74.94 an ounce on Thursday.

-Helen Reid/Reuters