RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the specific risks described below before making an investment decision. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Where You Can Find More Information.” Any of the risks we describe below could cause our business, financial condition, results of operations or future prospects to be materially adversely affected. The market price of our Class A voting shares could decline if one or more of these risks and uncertainties develop into actual events and you could lose all or part of your investment. Some of the statements in this section of the prospectus are forward-looking statements. For more information about forward-looking statements, please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to the Rights Offering

When the rights offering is completed, your ownership interest will be diluted if you do not exercise your subscription rights.

To the extent that you do not exercise your rights and shares are purchased by other shareholders in the rights offering, your proportionate voting interest will be reduced, and the percentage that your original shares represent of our expanded equity after the rights offering will be diluted. If Montrovest purchases $3.5 million Class A voting shares in the rights offering pursuant to its basic subscription privilege and, subject to the availability of shares, its over-subscription privilege, and assuming no other shareholder exercises it rights in the rights offering, Montrovest will own and control [            ]% of all classes of our outstanding voting shares. However, there is no assurance that Montrovest will purchase $3.5 million Class A voting shares in the rights offering.

The subscription price determined for the rights offering is not necessarily an indication of the fair value of our Class A voting shares.

The subscription price is $[            ] per share. The subscription price was determined by our board of directors and will be equal to the average closing price of our Class A voting shares on the NYSE Amex over the seven trading days prior to the effective date of this Registration Statement. Factors considered by the board of directors included the strategic alternatives to us for raising capital, the price at which our shareholders might be willing to participate in the rights offering, historical and current trading prices of our Class A voting shares, and our business prospects and the general condition of the securities market. We cannot assure you that the market price for our Class A voting shares during the rights offering will be equal to or above the subscription price or that a subscribing owner of rights will be able to sell the Class A voting shares purchased in the rights offering at a price equal to or greater than the subscription price.

You may not revoke your subscription exercise and you could be committed to buying shares above the prevailing market price.

Once you exercise your subscription rights, you may not revoke the exercise of such rights. The public trading market price of our Class A voting shares may decline before the subscription rights expire. If you exercise your subscription rights and, afterwards, the public trading market price of our Class A voting shares decreases below the subscription price, you will have committed to buying Class A voting shares at a price above the prevailing market price, in which case you will have an immediate, unrealized loss. We cannot assure that, following the exercise of your rights, you will be able to sell your Class A voting shares at a price equal to or greater than the subscription price, and you may lose all or part of your investment in our Class A voting shares. Until the shares are delivered to you, you will not be able to sell the Class A voting shares that you purchase in the rights offering. Certificates representing Class A voting shares purchased pursuant to the basic subscription privilege will be delivered promptly after expiration of the rights offering; certificates representing Class A voting shares purchased pursuant to the over-subscription privilege will be delivered promptly after expiration of the rights offering and after all pro rata allocations and adjustments have been completed. We will not pay you interest on funds delivered to the subscription agent pursuant to the exercise of rights.

Our Class A voting shares are traded on the NYSE Amex under the symbol “BMJ,” and the last reported sales price of our Class A voting shares on the NYSE Amex on the record date of [            ], 2012, was $[            ] per share. Moreover, you may be unable to sell your Class A voting shares at a price equal to or greater than the subscription price you paid for such shares.

12

Table of Contents

If you do not act promptly and follow the subscription instructions, your exercise of subscription rights may be rejected.

Subscription rights holders who desire to purchase shares in the rights offering must act promptly to ensure that all required forms and payments are actually received by the subscription agent before [            ], 2012, the expiration date of the rights offering, unless extended. If you are a beneficial owner of shares, but not a record holder, you must act promptly to ensure that your broker, bank, or other nominee acts for you and that all required forms and payments are actually received by the subscription agent before the expiration date of the rights offering. We will not be responsible if your broker, custodian, or nominee fails to ensure that all required forms and payments are actually received by the subscription agent before the expiration date of the rights offering. If you fail to complete and sign the required subscription forms, send an incorrect payment amount or otherwise fail to follow the subscription procedures that apply to your exercise in the rights offering, the subscription agent may, depending on the circumstances, reject your subscription or accept it only to the extent of the payment received. Neither we nor our subscription agent undertakes to contact you concerning an incomplete or incorrect subscription form or payment, nor are we under any obligation to correct such forms or payment. We have the sole discretion to determine whether a subscription exercise properly follows the subscription procedures.

Significant sales of our Class A voting shares, or the perception that significant sales may occur in the future, could adversely affect the market price for our Class A voting shares.

The sale of substantial amounts of our Class A voting shares could adversely affect the price of our Class A voting shares. Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A voting shares in the public market, and the availability of shares for future sale, including up to [            ] Class A voting shares to be issued in the rights offering, and [            ] Class A voting shares issuable as of [            ], 2012, upon exercise of outstanding options to acquire Class A voting shares under our stock incentive plans and outstanding warrants, could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A voting shares and could cause the market price of our Class A voting shares to remain low for a substantial amount of time. We cannot foresee the impact of such potential sales on the market, but it is possible that if a significant percentage of such available shares were attempted to be sold within a short period of time, the market for our shares would be adversely affected. It is also unclear whether or not the market for our Class A voting shares could absorb a large number of attempted sales in a short period of time, regardless of the price at which they might be offered. Even if a substantial number of sales do not occur within a short period of time, the mere existence of this “market overhang” could have a negative impact on the market for our Class A voting shares and our ability to raise additional capital. In addition, because the public float of our Class A voting shares is relatively small, the market price of our Class A voting shares is likely to be volatile, and because our Class A voting shares have limited trading volume, the trading price is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to extreme fluctuations.

We may use the proceeds of this rights offering in ways with which you may disagree.

We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering for the repayment of interest bearing debt under our Amended and Restated Cash Advance Agreements, dated June 8, 2011, between the Company and Montrovest. Nevertheless, we will have significant discretion in the use of the net proceeds of this offering, and it is possible that we may allocate the proceeds differently than investors in this offering desire, or that we will fail to maximize our return on these proceeds. You will be relying on the judgment of our management with regard to the use of the proceeds from the rights offering, and you will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. For more information, see the section entitled “Use of Proceeds.”

13

Table of Contents

We may cancel the rights offering at any time, and neither we nor the subscription agent will have any obligation to you except to return your subscription payments.

We may, in our sole discretion, decide not to continue with the rights offering or cancel the rights offering. If the rights offering is cancelled, all subscription payments received by the subscription agent will be returned promptly, without interest or penalty.

The rights offering does not have a minimum amount of proceeds, which means that if you exercise your rights, you may acquire additional shares of our Class A voting shares when we may require additional capital.

There is no minimum amount of proceeds required to complete the rights offering. In addition, an exercise of your subscription rights is irrevocable. Therefore, if you exercise the basic subscription privilege or the over-subscription privilege, but we do not raise the desired amount of capital in this rights offering and the rights offering is not fully subscribed, you may be investing in a company that may require additional capital.

The subscription rights are not transferable, and there is no market for the subscription rights.

You may not sell, give away, or otherwise transfer your subscriptions rights. The subscription rights are only transferable by operation of law. Because the subscription rights are non-transferable, there is no market or other means for you to directly realize any value associated with the subscription rights.

Risks Related to the Company

Our business depends, in part, on factors affecting consumer spending that are out of our control.

Our business depends on consumer demand for our products and, consequently, is sensitive to a number of factors that influence consumer spending, including general economic conditions, consumer confidence in future economic conditions and political conditions, recession and fears of recession, consumer debt, disposable consumer income, conditions in the housing market, consumer perceptions of personal well-being and security, fuel prices, inclement weather, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, sales tax rate increases, inflation, and war and fears of war. In particular, the economic downturn over the past three years has lead to decreased discretionary spending, which adversely impacted the luxury retail business and lead to declining revenues and losses for our business. Jewelry purchases are discretionary for consumers and may be particularly and disproportionately affected by adverse trends in the general economy and the equity markets. Continued adverse changes in factors affecting discretionary consumer spending could further reduce consumer demand for our products, resulting in a continued reduction in our sales and further harming our business and operating results. A substantial portion of our customers use credit, either from our private label and proprietary credit cards or another consumer credit source, to purchase jewelry. When there is a downturn in the general economy, fewer people may use or be approved for credit, which could result in a reduction in net sales and/or an increase in bad debt, which in turn, could lead to an unfavorable impact on our overall profitability. Our belief that we currently have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations is based on certain assumptions about the future state of the economy, the future availability of borrowings to fund our operations and our future operating performance. To the extent that the economy and other conditions affecting our business are significantly worse than we anticipate, we may not achieve our projected level of financial performance and we may determine that we do not have sufficient capital to fund our operations.

We may require additional financing or capital, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Capital raised through the sale or issuance of equity securities may result in dilution to our shareholders. Failure to obtain such additional financing or capital could have an adverse impact on our liquidity and financial condition.

Within the last three years, the general economic and capital market conditions in the United States and other parts of the world have deteriorated significantly and have adversely affected access to and the cost of capital. There is a possibility that our existing cash, cash generated from operations and funds available under our credit agreements may be insufficient to fund our future operations, including capital expenditures, or to repay debt when it becomes due, and as a result, we may need to raise additional funds through public or private equity or debt financing, including funding from governmental sources, which may not be possible. The sale of additional equity securities could result in significant dilution to our shareholders, and the securities issued in future financings may

14

Table of Contents

have rights, preferences and privileges that are senior to those of our Class A voting shares. The incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that may restrict our operations. Financing may be unavailable in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, or at all, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, including our ability to continue as a going concern.

We have significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect our operations, liquidity and financial condition.

We currently have a significant amount of indebtedness and significant debt service obligations in proportion to our assets. Our debt levels fluctuate from time to time based on seasonal working capital needs. The following table sets forth our total indebtedness (includes bank indebtedness and current and long-term portion of debt), total stockholders’ equity, total capitalization and ratio of total indebtedness to total capitalization as of:

This high degree of leverage could adversely affect our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. For example, it could:

Significant restrictions on our excess borrowing capacity could result in our inability to fund our cash flow requirements needed to support our day-to-day operations.

Our ability to fund our operations and meet our cash flow requirements in order to fund our operations is dependent upon our ability to maintain positive excess availability under our senior credit facilities. Both our senior secured revolving credit facility lenders and our senior secured term loan lenders may impose, at any time, discretionary reserves, which would lower the level of borrowing availability under our senior secured revolving credit facility (customary for asset based loans), at their reasonable discretion, to: i) ensure that we maintain adequate liquidity for the operation of our business, ii) cover any deterioration in the amount or value of the collateral, and iii) reflect impediments to the lenders to realize upon the collateral. There is no limit to the amount of discretionary reserves that our senior secured revolving credit facility lenders may impose at their reasonable discretion, however, our senior secured term loan lenders’ ability to impose discretionary reserves at their reasonable discretion is limited to 5% of the senior secured credit facility availability. From February 11, 2009 to February 23, 2009, the senior secured term loan lender imposed a discretionary reserve of $4 million. While our senior secured revolving credit facility lender has not historically imposed such a restriction, it is uncertain whether conditions could change and cause such a reserve to be imposed in the future. In addition, the value of our inventory is periodically assessed by our lenders and, based upon these reviews, our borrowing capacity could be significantly increased or decreased. Another factor impacting our excess availability includes, among others, changes in the U.S. and Canadian dollar exchange rate, which could increase or decrease our borrowing availability. Furthermore, under the terms of our senior credit facilities, amended in June 2011, a $12.5 million and a $5.0 million seasonal availability block is imposed by the senior secured revolving credit facility lenders and the senior secured term loan

15

Table of Contents

lenders each year from December 20 ^th to January 20 ^th and from January 21 ^st to February 10 ^th , respectively, and both our senior secured revolving credit facility and our senior secured term loan are subject to cross default provisions with all other loans, by which if we are in default with any other loan, the default will immediately apply to both the senior secured revolving credit facility and the senior secured term loan.

We are exposed to currency exchange risks that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

While we report financial results in U.S. dollars, a substantial portion of our sales are recorded in Canadian dollars. For our operations located in Canada, non-Canadian currency transactions and assets and liabilities subject us to foreign currency risk. Conversely, for the operations located in the U.S., non-U.S. currency transactions and assets and liabilities subject us to foreign currency risk. In addition, material fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, resulting in a weakening of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar, could significantly reduce our borrowing availability under our secured revolving credit facility, which is denominated in U.S. dollars, and limit our ability to finance our operations. For purposes of financial reporting, our financial statements are reported in U.S. dollars by translating, where necessary, net sales and expenses from Canadian dollars at the average exchange rates prevailing during the period, while assets and liabilities are translated at year-end exchange rates, with the effect of such translation recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income. As a result, for purposes of financial reporting, foreign exchange gains or losses recorded in earnings relate to non-Canadian dollar transactions of the operations located in Canada and non-U.S. dollar transactions of the operations located in the U.S. We expect to continue to report our financial results in U.S. dollars. Consequently, our reported earnings could fluctuate materially as a result of foreign exchange translation gains or losses.

We may not successfully manage our inventory, which could have an adverse effect on our net sales, profitability, cash flow and liquidity.

As a retail business, our results of operations are dependent on our ability to manage our inventory. To properly manage our inventory, we must be able to accurately estimate customer demand and supply requirements and purchase new inventory accordingly. If we fail to sell the inventory we purchase or manufacture, we may be required to write-down our inventory or pay our vendors without new purchases, creating additional vendor financing, which would have an adverse impact on our earnings and cash flows. Additionally, a portion of the merchandise we sell is carried on a consignment basis prior to sale or is otherwise financed by vendors, which reduces our required capital investment in inventory. Any significant change in these consignment or vendor financing relationships could have a material adverse effect on our net sales, cash flows and liquidity.

Our credit business may be adversely affected by changes in applicable laws and regulations.

The operation of our credit business subjects us to substantial regulation relating to disclosure and other requirements upon origination, servicing, debt collection and particularly upon the amount of finance charges we can impose. Any adverse change in the regulation of consumer credit could adversely affect our earnings. For example, new laws or regulations could limit the amount of interest or fees we, or our banks, can charge on consumer loan accounts, or restrict our ability to collect on account balances, which could have a material adverse effect on our earnings. Compliance with existing and future laws or regulations could require material expenditures or otherwise adversely affect our business or financial results. Failure to comply with these laws or regulations, even if inadvertent, could result in negative publicity, and fines, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our business could be adversely affected if our relationships with any primary vendors are terminated or if the delivery of their products is delayed or interrupted.

We compete with other jewelry retailers for access to vendors that will provide us with the quality and quantity of merchandise necessary to operate our business, and our merchandising strategy depends upon our ability to maintain good relations with significant vendors. Certain brand name watch manufacturers, including Rolex, have distribution agreements with our Company that, among other things, provide for specific sales locations, yearly renewal terms and early termination provisions at the manufacturer’s discretion. In fiscal 2012, merchandise supplied by Rolex and sold through our stores accounted for approximately 26% of our total net sales. Our relationships with primary suppliers, like Rolex, are generally not pursuant to long-term agreements.

16

Table of Contents

We obtain materials and manufactured items from third-party suppliers. Any delay or interruption in our suppliers’ abilities to provide us with necessary materials and components may affect our manufacturing capabilities or may require us to seek alternative supply sources. Any delay or interruption in receiving supplies could impair our ability to supply products to our stores and, accordingly, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The abrupt loss of any of our third-party suppliers, especially Rolex, or a decline in the quality or quantity of materials supplied by any third-party suppliers could cause significant disruption in our business.

Fluctuations in the availability and prices of our raw materials and finished goods may adversely affect our results of operations.

We offer a large selection of distinctive high quality merchandise, including diamond, gemstone and precious metal jewelry, rings, wedding bands, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, charms, timepieces and gifts. Accordingly, significant changes in the availability or prices of diamonds, gemstones, and precious metals we require for our products could adversely affect our earnings. Further, both the supply and price of diamonds are significantly influenced by a single entity, the Diamond Trading Corporation. We do not maintain long-term inventories or otherwise hedge a material portion of the price of raw materials. A significant increase in the price of these materials could adversely affect our net sales and gross margins.

We operate in a highly competitive and fragmented industry.

The retail jewelry business is highly competitive and fragmented, and we compete with nationally recognized jewelry chains as well as a large number of independent regional and local jewelry retailers and others types of retailers who sell jewelry and gift items, such as department stores and mass merchandisers. We also compete with internet sellers of jewelry. Because of the breadth and depth of this competition, we are constantly under competitive pressure that both constrains pricing and requires extensive merchandising efforts in order for us to remain competitive.

We are controlled by a single shareholder whose interests may be different from yours.

As of March 31, 2012, the Goldfish Trust beneficially owns or controls 67.8% of all classes of our outstanding voting shares, which are directly owned by Montrovest. The trustee of the Goldfish Trust is Rohan Private Trust Company Limited, or the Trustee. Dr. Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera, who is the Company’s Chairman of the Board, is a beneficiary of the Goldfish Trust. Under our restated articles, Montrovest, as holder of the Class B multiple voting shares, has the ability to control most actions requiring shareholder approval, including electing the members of our Board of Directors and the issuance of new equity. Dr. Rossi, in certain circumstances, may be delegated the authority from the Trustee to vote on shares held by Montrovest.

On the record date for the rights offering, Montrovest beneficially owned approximately [    ]% of our outstanding Class A voting shares and Class B multiple voting shares. As a shareholder of the Company as of the record date, Montrovest will have the right to subscribe for and purchase shares of our Class A voting shares under the basic subscription privilege and the over-subscription privilege. The purchase of any shares by Montrovest upon exercise of rights, would be effected in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and, accordingly, would not be registered pursuant to the Registration Statement of which this prospectus forms a part. If all of our shareholders, including Montrovest, exercise the basic subscription rights issued to them under this prospectus and the rights offering is therefore fully subscribed, Montrovest’s beneficial ownership percentage will not change. If Montrovest is the only holder of rights who exercise its rights in the rights offering, including its over-subscription privilege, we will issue an aggregate of [            ] shares of Class A voting shares to Montrovest. Under such circumstances, Montrovest’s ownership percentage of our outstanding Class A voting shares would increase to approximately [            ]%, after giving effect to this rights offering. If Montrovest decides not to participate in the rights offering, and all of our other shareholders exercise their basic subscription privileges and over-subscription privileges, we will issue an aggregate of [            ] shares of Class A voting shares. Under such circumstances, Montrovest’s ownership percentage of our outstanding Class A voting shares would decrease to approximately [            ]%, after giving effect to this rights offering.

The Trustee and Montrovest may have different interests than you have and may make decisions that do not correspond to your interests. In addition, the fact that we are controlled by one shareholder may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in our management or voting control.

17

Table of Contents

Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to successfully negotiate favorable lease terms.

As of March 31, 2012, we had 59 leased retail stores, which includes the capital lease of our Canadian headquarters and Montreal flagship store. The leases are generally for a term of five to ten years, with rent being a fixed minimum base plus, for a majority of the stores, a percentage of the store’s sale volume (subject to some adjustments) over a specified threshold. We have generally been successful in negotiating leases for new stores and lease renewals as our current leases near expiration. However, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected if we are unable to continue to negotiate favorable lease and renewal terms.

Our strategy to develop the Birks product brand through international expansion may add complexity to our operations and may require additional capital or strain our resources and adversely impact our financial results and liquidity.

One of our strategies is to continue to develop the Birks product brand through expansion of all sales channels including international channels of distribution. The expansion into markets outside of Canada and the United States would add complexity to our operations and may require additional capital or strain our resources and adversely impact our financial results and our liquidity. International expansion would place increased demands on our operational, managerial and administrative resources at all levels of the Company. These increased demands may cause us to operate our business less efficiently, which in turn could cause deterioration in our performance or could adversely affect our inventory levels. Furthermore, our ability to conduct business in international markets may be adversely affected by legal, regulatory, political and economic risks. Any international expansion strategy could also be adversely impacted by the global economy or the economy of the region of the world in which the Company chooses to expand. If we expand internationally, we may incur significant costs related to starting up and maintaining foreign operations. Costs may include, but are not limited to obtaining prime locations for stores, setting up foreign offices and distribution centers, as well as hiring experienced management. We may be unable to open and operate new stores successfully, or we may face operational issues that could delay our intended pace of international store openings. These additional costs may require the Company to raise additional cash through the issuance of additional equity or debt financing which if the Company is not able to obtain at a sufficient level to fund the operation could negatively impact the availability of funding to operate the operations of the Company.

Hurricanes and other severe weather conditions could cause a disruption in our operations, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.

Our U.S. operations are located in Georgia and Florida, regions that are susceptible to hurricanes. In the past, hurricanes have forced the closure of some of our stores, resulting in a reduction in net sales during such periods. Future hurricanes could significantly disrupt our U.S. operations and could have a material adverse effect on our overall results of operations. In addition, severe weather such as ice storms, snow storms and blizzards in Canada can cause conditions whereby peak holiday shopping could be materially affected.

Terrorist acts or other catastrophic events could have a material adverse effect on Birks & Mayors.

Terrorist acts, acts of war or hostility, natural disasters or other catastrophic events could have an immediate disproportionate impact on discretionary spending on luxury goods upon which our operations are dependent. For example, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks carried out on September 11, 2001, tourism and business travel was significantly reduced in all of our markets, which had an adverse impact on our net sales. Similarly, the SARS epidemic in Toronto, Ontario in the spring of 2003 had an adverse impact on net sales in our stores in that region. Similar future events could have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property and may be required to engage in costly litigation as a protective measure.

To establish and protect our intellectual property rights, we rely upon a combination of trademark and trade secret laws, together with licenses, exclusivity agreements and other contractual covenants. In particular, the “Birks” and “Mayors” trademarks are of significant value to our retail operations. The measures we take to protect our intellectual property rights may prove inadequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. Monitoring the unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Litigation of this type could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, may result in counterclaims or other claims against us and could significantly harm our results of operations.

18

Table of Contents

Risks Related to Class A Voting Shares

Our share price could be adversely affected if a large number of Class A voting shares are offered for sale or sold.

Future issuances or sales of a substantial number of our Class A voting shares by us, Montrovest, or another significant shareholder in the public market could adversely affect the price of our Class A voting shares, which may impair our ability to raise capital through future issuances of equity securities. As of March 31, 2012, we had 3,673,615 Class A voting shares issued and outstanding. Sales of restricted securities in the public market, or the availability of these Class A voting shares for sale, could adversely affect the market price of Class A voting shares.

As a retail jeweler with a limited public float, the price of our Class A voting shares may fluctuate substantially, which could negatively affect the value of our Class A voting shares and could result in securities class action claims against us.

The price of our Class A voting shares may fluctuate substantially due to, among other things, the following factors: (1) fluctuations in the price of the shares of a small number of public companies in the retail jewelry business; (2) additions or departures of key personnel; (3) announcements of legal proceedings or regulatory matters; and (4) general volatility in the stock market. The market price of our Class A voting shares could also fluctuate substantially if we fail to meet or exceed expectations for our financial results or if there is a change in financial estimates or securities analysts’ recommendations.

Significant price and value fluctuations have occurred in the past with respect to the securities of retail jewelry and related companies. In addition, because the public float of our Class A voting shares is relatively small, the market price of our Class A voting shares is likely to be volatile. There is limited trading volume in our Class A voting shares, rendering them subject to significant price volatility. In addition, the stock market has experienced volatility that has affected the market prices of equity securities of many companies, and that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. A number of other factors, many of which are beyond our control, could also cause the market price of our Class A voting shares to fluctuate substantially. In the past, following periods of downward volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, class action litigation has often been pursued. If our Class A voting shares were similarly volatile and litigation was pursued against us, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

We are governed by the laws of Canada, and, as a result, it may not be possible for shareholders to enforce civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the U.S.

We are governed by the laws of Canada. A substantial portion of our assets are located outside the U.S. and some of our directors and officers are residents outside of the U.S. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service within the U.S. upon us or our directors and officers, or to realize in the U.S. upon judgments of courts of the U.S. predicated upon civil liability of Birks & Mayors and such directors or officers under U.S. federal securities laws. There is doubt as to the enforceability in Canada by a court in original actions, or in actions to enforce judgments of U.S. courts, of the civil liabilities predicated upon U.S. federal securities laws.

We expect to maintain our status as a “foreign private issuer” under the rules and regulations of the SEC and, thus, are exempt from a number of rules under the Exchange Act of 1934 and are permitted to file less information with the SEC than a company incorporated in the U.S.

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are exempt from rules under the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that impose certain disclosure and procedural requirements for proxy solicitations under Section 14 of the Exchange Act. In addition, our officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and the rules under the Exchange Act with respect to their purchases and sales of our Class A voting shares. Moreover, we are not required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act, nor are we required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information. Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information concerning us than there is for U.S. public companies.

19

Table of Contents

If we were treated as a passive foreign investment company, or a PFIC, some holders of our Class A voting shares would be subject to additional taxation, which could cause the price of our Class A voting shares to decline.

We believe that our Class A voting shares should not be treated as stock of a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and we expect to continue operations in such a manner that we will not be a PFIC. If, however, we are or become a PFIC, some holders of our Class A voting shares could be subject to additional U.S. federal income taxes on gains recognized with respect to our Class A voting shares and on certain distributions, plus an interest charge on certain taxes treated as having been deferred under the PFIC rules.

Our assessment of our internal control over financial reporting may identify “material weaknesses” in the future and may result in an attestation with an adverse or qualified opinion from our independent auditors, which could reduce confidence in our financial statements and negatively affect the price of our securities.

We are subject to reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires us to prepare a management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. As a non-accelerated filer, our report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting is not subject to attestation by our independent auditors. Our management may conclude that our internal control over our financial reporting is not effective. If at any time in the future, we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, market perception of our financial condition and the trading price of our stock may be adversely affected and customer perception of our business may suffer, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations.

If the costs and burden of being a public company outweigh its benefits, we may in the future decide to discontinue our status as a publicly traded company.

As a public company, we currently incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the NYSE Amex Stock Market, have imposed various requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls as well as mandating certain corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel devote a substantial amount of time and financial resources to these compliance initiatives. As such, if it is determined in the future that the costs and efforts of being a public company outweigh the benefits of being a public company, we may decide to discontinue our status as a publicly traded or registered company.

20

Table of Contents