The Hour Glass Group, one of Asia’s leading luxury watch retailers, says it registered stronger revenues in the second quarter but competition drove down margins and profit.

The Group says it had anticipated the onset of deteriorating trading conditions in the watch industry, brought on by the unfolding of the global credit crisis. Hence, early steps were taken to cut its debt and build up cash reserves as a buffer to weather the downturn. With the introduction of stimulus packages by governments around the world, consumer sentiment has since improved as the impact of such actions flowed directly into the domestic economies.