Jeweller Luk Fook says regardless of a 17.1 per cent fall in gross sales within the final monetary yr, it nonetheless achieved its second greatest gross sales yr on report.
And it says specializing in gem-set gross sales, with larger margins, meant its revenue for the yr to March 31 fell simply 9.1 per cent.
The group recorded income of HK$15.923 billion (2014: HK$19,214,930,000). With its gross margin up by 2.2 factors to 24.1 per cent, because of strong progress in gem-set gross sales, gross revenue reached HK$three.832 billion. The revenue attributable to fairness holders decreased by 13.four per cent to HK$1.61 billion, which was higher than anticipated and marked the group’s second highest document.
All jewelry retailers have posted declining gross sales by greenback worth, largely because of the ‘gold rush’ of 2014 which created a excessive baseline to match 2015 gross sales towards.
“Though the excessive base impact because of the gold rushes has pale within the second half of the yr, the difficult international financial system, foreign money depreciation and relaxed visa necessities in different in style vacationer locations hampered the buyer sentiment of Mainland Chinese language vacationers in Hong Kong and Macau,” Luk Fook chairman and CEO Wong Wai Sheung stated.
“However, with the group’s excellent gross sales technique, gross sales mixture of gem-set jewelry merchandise which bear larger gross margin has been efficiently elevated. The expansion in general gross margin resulted in a revenue enchancment of the retail enterprise in Mainland China. Along with the passable efficiency within the wholesale enterprise, it mitigated the influence of the drop of retail income in Hong Kong and Macau market.”
Wong Wai Sheun stated the group carried out past expectation for the yr, coming off the ‘gold rush’ of 2014.
The retail enterprise continued to be the first gross sales driver for the group with its income down 22.three per cent to HK$12.552 billion, accounting for 78.eight per cent of the group’s complete income. After the completion of the acquisition of 50 per cent curiosity within the issued share capital of China Gold Silver Group, an working firm partaking in jewelry retailing and franchising beneath the brandname of “3D-Gold”, the group turned certainly one of its suppliers.
Along with the rise in variety of licensed outlets, the wholesale income grew by 14.eight per cent over the earlier yr to HK$2.794 billion, 17.6 per cent of the group’s complete income. Licensing revenue decreased by 6.6 per cent to HK$578 million, primarily as a result of gold gross sales returned to a comparatively regular degree.
All year long, gold merchandise remained probably the most favorite merchandise amongst clients and along with platinum merchandise contributed roughly 60.2 per cent of gross sales.
Similar retailer gross sales for Hong Kong and Macau fell 28.2 per cent and for Mainland China by 29.eight per cent.
Mainland Chinese language guests continued to be the key driver for the retail enterprise in Hong Kong, which remained the important thing income for the group, contributing roughly 59.eight per cent of complete gross sales.
Through the yr Luk Fook opened 115 new licensed outlets and closed 4 self-operated outlets. As at March 31, the group had a complete of 1383 outlets globally in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, Singapore, the US, Canada and Australia.
Wanting ahead, Wong Wai Sheung stated Mainland China’s financial slowdown, the adjustment to the coverage of Particular person Go to Scheme, and the abroad foreign money devaluation have brought on the Mainland Chinese language vacationers to modify to neighbouring nations for consumption, which affected the enterprise progress of the group.
“The group stays prudent about our enterprise improvement briefly time period. Nevertheless, we’re nonetheless optimistic concerning the mid- to long-term enterprise improvement. We’ll proceed to utilise cross-selling methods and supply extra product collection that are diversified and should meet mass market wants. This helps to entice clients’ want for consumption and increase the gross sales of gem-set jewelry merchandise which bear comparatively larger gross margin.”
