Diamond and specialty jewelry retailer Signet Jewelers recently issued weak sales guidance for this fiscal year that we think portends further business challenges. The company expects same-stores sales down in the low- to mid-single-digit levels, which is far weaker than we previously anticipated. We are lowering the corporate credit rating to 'BB+' from 'BBB-'. At the same time, we lowered the issue-level rating on the company's unsecured notes to 'BB+' and assigned a '3' recovery rating. The negative outlook reflects our view that credit metrics have modest cushion at the current rating, and any sustained operational issues or adverse market conditions could prevent the company from improving same-store sales trends and profitability. On March 21, 2018, S&P Global Ratings lowered
