Giordano sales up 4 pct in SARs

By
Kam Leong

Clothing retailer Giordano International Ltd. saw its sales in Macau and Hong Kong register an increase of four per cent year-on-year for the third quarter of this year, following the company’s repositioning of its product range in the two cities.
According to its filing with Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday, total sales in the two Special Administrative Regions totalled HK$225 million (US$28 million) for the quarter, while comparable store sales in the cities jumped 12 per cent year-on-year.
‘As tourist visitors from the Mainland are declining and changing their shopping habits, we re-positioned the product range to focus on more basic essential products. This has resulted in strong volume growth compared to the same period last year,’ the company observed of its sales in the two cities.
Slight increase
For the first nine months of the year, total sales in Macau and Hong Kong reached HK$704 million, a slight increase of two per cent year-on-year from HK$677 million one year ago. In addition, comparable sales in the months grew 11 per cent year-on-year during these months.
In general, the company generated HK$1.24 billion from sales during the quarter, down three per cent year-on-year. Nevertheless, on a constant currency basis, the number represents a year-on-year growth of two per cent.
‘The depreciation of local currencies against the U.S. dollar in South East Asia, Taiwan and Australia is depressing reported sales growth at the Group level, and pushing costs up in those markets,’ the Hong Kong-listed retailer claimed.
For the first nine months of the year, Giordano generated a total sales volume of HK$3.98 billion, up one per cent year-on-year.
However, its sales in the Mainland Chinese market plunged 12 per cent year-on-year to HK$299 million from HK$341 million between July and September this year, while for the first nine months total sales registered a decrease of 5 per cent to HK$1.06 billion.
The international retailer, which owns 2,359 stores worldwide, posted a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent in its net profit during the first half of the year, taking in some HK$208 million, according to its previous interim report.