Watches of Switzerland Group – now could be the time to really watch this stock, Q3 Trading Update due on Wednesday, shares 518p

Mark Watson-Mitchell – 02.02.2026

This coming Wednesday, 4^th February, will see the Watches of Switzerland Group (LON:WOSG) update investors on its third-quarter trading.

The £1.17bn-capitalised business, which is the UK's largest retailer for Rolex, OMEGA, Cartier, TAG Heuer and Breitling watches, is an international retailer of world leading luxury watch brands, complemented by a strong luxury jewellery offering.

With over 200 showrooms globally, employing some 3,000 people, it derives around 82% of its revenues from the sales of luxury watches.

Investors are now wondering whether the Trading Update could report better than expected business over the Christmas and New Year period.

Interim Results

On Thursday 4^th December last year, the Group reported that for the 26 weeks to 26^th October 2025, it had made shown a strong H1 FY26 performance driven by robust US growth.

Group revenue increasing by 10% in constant currency to £845m, driven by robust US growth of 20% in constant currency, which now accounts for 48% of Group revenue and 59% of profitability.

Group Adjusted EBIT rose by 6% to £69m, though the Adjusted EBIT margin slightly decreased by 30 basis points to 8.1% due to changes in gross margin rates and product mix.

The company reiterated its FY26 guidance, anticipating 6-10% constant currency revenue growth and an Adjusted EBIT margin flat to 100 basis points lower than the prior year, while also completing a £25m share buyback programme and reducing net debt to £112m.

Management Comment

At that time, CEO Brian Duffy stated that:

"We have delivered a strong first half, with Group revenue up 10% in constant currency, and good levels of profitability with Group Adjusted EBIT of £69m, up 6%, along with strong free cash flow and return on capital employed.

The US remains the key driver of our performance, with robust demand across brands and categories, and the region now makes up almost 60% of our profitability.

One year in, we are even more excited about the scale of the opportunity for Roberto Coin and Hodinkee. In the UK, trading has been resilient in a challenging market, underpinned by the stability of the luxury watch segment and the strength of our consumer proposition, with particular success at our flagship boutiques.

We welcome the recent reduction in US tariffs on Swiss imports, which is a positive development for the sector.

The second half of the year has started well.

Trading is in line with expectations, and we are well placed as we enter the Holiday trading period.

Whilst we remain mindful of the external economic and geopolitical environment, we are confident in the strength of our business and our differentiated offering, and have reiterated our FY26 guidance."

The Business

The Watches of Switzerland Group is the UK's largest luxury watch retailer, operating in the UK and US comprising seven prestigious brands; Watches of Switzerland (UK and US), Mappin & Webb (UK), Goldsmiths (UK), Mayors (US), Betteridge (US), Analog:Shift (US) and Hodinkee (US), with a complementary jewellery offering.

The Group also owns the exclusive distribution rights for Roberto Coin in the US, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean.

It has 200 showrooms across the UK and US including 83 dedicated mono-brand boutiques in partnership with Rolex, OMEGA, TAG Heuer, Breitling, TUDOR, Longines, Grand Seiko, Roberto Coin, BVLGARI and FOPE and it has a leading presence in Heathrow Airport with representation in Terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 as well as seven retail websites.

The Equity 

There are some 239.6m shares in issue. 

Institutional investors own around 79.5% of the group’s equity. 

The larger holders include Capital Research & Management (5.15%), BlackRock Investment Management (5.13%), JP Morgan Asset Management (5.12%), Pelham Capital (5.12%), Schroder Investment Management (3.51%), Aegon Asset Management (3.04%), Alberta Investment Management (3.03%), Select Equity Group (2.92%), Norges Bank Investment Management (2.83%), and M&G Investment Management (2.45%). 

Broker Views

Some 11 analysts follow the group, five of whom call the shares out as a Buy, five suggest Hold, while the eleventh has no opinion what to do with the stock.

With the group’s shares currently trading around the 518p level, they are just 3p higher than the consensus average Target Price at 515p.

The Lowest puts them at 430p, while the Highest looks for a 640p Target Price.

Following the early December 2025 Interim Results announcements, the analyst consensus moved higher their estimates for the year to end-April 2026 revenues to £1,746.9m against £1,651.5m in the 2025 period, with adjusted EBITDA of £192.7m (£192.3m), and earnings of 40.2p (41.6p) per share.

My View

The shares of this global group have strong appeal.

It is a leader in its luxury marketplace, and it has shown a good track record over the years.

I featured the group two months ago at 478p, since when they have been up to 553p before easing back to 518p.

In my view, they could well break well above the 600p level in 2026.

(Profile 02.12.25 @ 478p set a Target Price of 550p)