By Helen Reid

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) – Jewellery brand Pandora said weak sentiment especially among mid- to lower-income consumers curbed sales in North ‌America, which fell 2% in comparable terms, as new CEO Berta de ‌Pablos-Barbier grapples with weak consumer sentiment in the U.S. and Europe amid the Iran war.

Pandora has ​been under pressure from high U.S. import tariffs and a surge in silver prices squeezing margins at the Danish firm which sells silver charm bracelets priced from around $70 made at its factories in Thailand.

Overall, first-quarter sales fell to 7.109 billion ‌crowns ($1.12 billion) from 7.347 billion ⁠crowns a year ago, but beating the 7.089 billion crowns analysts expected in a company-compiled poll, sending Pandora’s shares up 9% ⁠in early trading.

Comparable sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa also declined 2%, but strong growth in Latin America and Asia-Pacific helped offset the weaker core ​regions.

Operating profit ​was 1.487 billion crowns, beating analysts’ average ​forecast of 1.28 billion crowns, ‌thanks in part to lower marketing spending.

De Pablos-Barbier, previously Pandora’s head of marketing, has promised to win new customers, bring in new designs and more efficient advertising. She has said 2026 will be a transition year, while the strategy would deliver higher comparable sales growth in 2027.

Pandora’s shares are down about 50% ‌from a year ago, and in February Pandora ​said it would shift at least half of ​its silver jewellery to platinum-plated ​to cut its exposure to highly volatile silver prices.

As the ‌brand grows its lab-grown diamond business, ​Pandora said it would ​start labelling its diamond products with their carbon footprint, which the company calculated with external auditors, highlighting their much lower carbon emissions impact compared ​to diamonds produced by ‌mining.

Pandora sources its lab-grown diamonds from suppliers in the U.S. and ​India, which use renewable energy.

($1 = 6.3686 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Helen Reid; ​Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Elaine Hardcastle)