Finlay Enterprises, Inc. said it has received notification from Lord & Taylor that the company’s license agreements will not be renewed upon the expiration of the agreements on Jan. 31, 2009. The company will close a total of 47 Lord & Taylor locations at the end of fiscal 2008.

This development follows the acquisition of Fortunoff out of bankruptcy by an affiliate of NRDC Equity Partners LLC, which owns the Lord & Taylor department store chain. Lord & Taylor has indicated its intent to operate its own jewelry departments through Fortunoff.

In fiscal 2007, the Lord & Taylor locations generated approximately $44 million in revenue for Finlay. Finlay said it is currently evaluating the impact of the expected closings on its financial results for fiscal 2008 and beyond.

“Given the recent evolving department store landscape, we have focused on the diversification of our business over the last three years by entering into the luxury free-standing specialty jewelry sector,” said Arthur E. Reiner, chairman and chief executive officer of Finlay Enterprises, Inc. “We will continue to focus on further penetrating this sector, while also maximizing the return of our existing lease business.”

Finlay Enterprises, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Finlay Fine Jewelry Corp., is a retailers of fine jewelry operating luxury stand-alone specialty jewelry stores and licensed fine jewelry departments in department stores throughout the United States. The operates 794 locations, including 69 Bailey Banks & Biddle, 32 Carlyle, and five Congress specialty jewelry stores.

JCK