Bermuda-based jewellers Signet Jewelers Ltd saw its sales rise 7.8 percent for the nine weeks to December 31, 2011 in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year.The largest specialty retail jeweller in the US and the UK was also up 9.4 percent for the 48 weeks to the of the year the US division by 11.6 percent and the UK by 0.8 percent.The company also expects its income before tax to be up 64 to 678 percent between $494 million and $501 million in fiscal 2012, and earnings per share up 58 to 60 percent at $3.67 to $3.72.The board of directors meanwhile has declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share.Mike Barnes, CEO of Signet Jewelers, said: “We are pleased with our holiday season performance, with same store sales up 7.8 percent. We believe our strong performance in both the US and the UK for the holiday season and year to date is due to the exceptional execution by our teams in both divisions. I would like to thank them all very much for their dedication and hard work.“Our performance is built on the long term competitive strengths of the business, including the great customer experience which our teams deliver, the strength of our merchandise, our continued investment in advertising to support our store concepts and merchandising initiatives, and our US customer finance programs, which are highly effective in supporting our customers’ jewellery purchases.“We believe that Signet is well-positioned for fiscal 2013 and we will remain focused on providing our customers with an outstanding experience and investing in the business to further our competitive strengths, in order to continue to create shareholder value.”