NEW YORK, United States — Tiffany & Co., the world's second-largest luxury jewellery retailer, reported a 1 percent decline in total holiday sales and lowered its annual forecast, amid continued weakness in Japan.

Sales in November and December fell to $1.02 billion worldwide, the New York-based company said today in a statement. That was slower than the 4 percent gain in the period a year earlier.

Sales in the Americas region fell 1 percent to $544 million compared with an increase of 6 percent a year earlier. In Japan total sales in U.S. dollars declined 16 percent to $113 million.

“Clearly, sales for the holiday period were disappointing overall, with significant variability in performance by region and by product category.” Chief Executive Officer Michael Kowalski said in the statement. “Asia-Pacific showed solid sales growth, sales in Japan continued to be weak, European sales rose nicely in local currencies and sales in the Americas declined slightly after a very strong start to the year.”

The retailer said earnings for the year ending Jan. 31 will $4.15 to $4.20 a share, compared with a prior forecast of $4.20 to $4.30.

By Lindsey Rupp, Allison Prang. Editors: Nick Turner, Andrew Pollack, Niamh Ring.