LONDON, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Signet Group plc (LSE and NYSE: SIG), the world's largest speciality retail jeweller, today announced its sales performance for the 13 and 26 weeks ended 2 August 2008.

13 WEEKS ENDED 2 AUGUST 2008

    Group like for like sales fell 4.5% in the 13 week period.  Total sales
were down 2.4% on a reported basis to $768.6 million (13 weeks to 4 August
2007: $787.4 million) reflecting an underlying decrease of 1.9% at constant
exchange rates (see Note 1). The breakdown of the sales performance was as
follows:

                     Sales               Change on Previous Year
                 $m   % of Total    Reported   At Constant  Like for Like
                                                 Exchange
                                                  Rates
    US         575.4      74.9%       (1.6)%     (1.6)%       (5.8)%
    UK         193.2      25.1%       (4.8)%     (3.0)%       (0.6)%(a)
    GROUP      768.6     100.0%       (2.4)%     (1.9)%       (4.5)%
    (a) Like for like sales: H.Samuel (0.4)% and Ernest Jones (0.8)%.

26 WEEKS ENDED 2 AUGUST 2008

Group like for like sales were down by 3.4% in the 26 week period. Total sales were down 0.7% on a reported basis to $1,591.1 million (26 weeks to 4 August 2007: $1,601.8 million) reflecting an underlying decrease of 0.5% at constant exchange rates (see Note 1). The average US dollar exchange rate for the period was 1 pound/$1.98 (2007/08 H1: 1 pound/$1.99). The breakdown of the sales performance was as follows:

                    Sales                Change on Previous Year
                $m    % of Total   Reported   At Constant  Like for Like
                                                Exchange
                                                 Rates
    US        1,206.5    75.8%      (0.9)%       (0.9)%        (5.2)%
    UK          384.6    24.2%      (0.1)%        0.4 %         2.3 %(b)
    GROUP     1,591.1   100.0%      (0.7)%       (0.5)%        (3.4)%
    (b) Like for like sales: H.Samuel 2.4% and Ernest Jones 2.2%.

Terry Burman, Group Chief Executive, commented, 'In the first half, Group like for like sales were down 3.4% reflecting the continuing difficult trading environment in both the US and UK.

In the second quarter, the underlying like for like sales in the US remained at a similar level to that seen since the start of the year. The results of the price increases continue to be encouraging and we remain on target to at least maintain at last year's level our full year gross merchandising margin rate. In the UK, as expected, the like for like sales growth of the first quarter was not maintained.