Xie Ruilin: Hong Kong retail is not optimistic in the second half of the year

due to the trade war and the depreciation of the Renminbi, the retail market that has risen steadily in the past year has started to slow down in September. It is expected that the retail market will be less optimistic and cautious in the second half of the year. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the high-speed railway have been opened. They are confident that they will drive Hong Kong’s retail growth in the future, but they have not seen significant results in a short period of time.

Earn 39% in half a year and send 4.8 cents more

The company announced its interim results as of the end of September. The net profit for the first half of the year was RMB 42.69 million, up 38.9% year-on-year. The revenue increased by 10.2% year-on-year to RMB 1.91 billion. The gross profit margin decreased by 2.2 percentage points to 38.9%. The interim dividend was 4.8 HK cents. Increased by 128%.

Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy and Finance Officer Wu Yiqin pointed out that the gross profit margin remained at a high level. The decline was due to the company’s expansion of the network of franchisees in the Mainland, which increased the proportion of wholesale business, which led to a lower overall gross profit margin.

Gross profit margin fell

In the first half of the year, same-store sales in the Mainland fell 3.5%. Wu Yiqin said that in the past two years, the development of the mainland business has shifted from department stores to shopping malls. It takes two years to reach break-even.