Expansion has been fast with one new store opening in New York’s Madison Avenue last year, the first in the United States, and another in Singapore links of london. There are plans to open a third Hong Kong store, on Kowloon side, this year and talks are under way in Japan.
”We plan to take the business on to a much bigger global scale,” says Ms Ducas. “China is very much on the cards Links of London Rings. We are talking to someone who wants to open 25 stores there.
”We have looked at it project by project and made sure that each part of the business could be independently successful,” says Ms Ducas. “This year we will turn over GBP40 million. The business has grown 35 per cent this (Links of London Necklaces) year in terms of turnover and we are projecting another 40 per cent in 2001.”
Low overheads have meant profits each year, from an initial investment of GBP2,000. A stock-market listing is possible in the next few years.
Ms Ducas’ job has evolved since those early days when she would come up with a design, make sure it was executed correctly, pack boxes and ship orders. Today, a staff in Britain of 120 bears some of the workload. Ms Ducas works at home two days a week to spend time with her children, with another addition to the family due in August.
At the heart of it all is a love for the work and the products.
”Every day I learn something new,” she says Links of London Necklaces. “The important thing is I still love the business. When it is not fun anymore, then we need to think again.”