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Tag: la chapelle

  • La Chapelle sales Slump Again

    La Chapelle sales Slump Again

    La Chapelle sales slumped 21 per cent in the first quarter to RMB2.372 billion (US$352 million) as the Hong Kong-listed fashion retailer continued its restructuring.

    The troubled retailer has closed 1877 loss-making and inefficient stores in the past year, leaving it with 9540 at the end of March, and representing the shuttering of one in five directly operated outlets.

    Net profit attributable to shareholders plunged 94.4 per cent to RMB9.751 million (US$1.44 million).

    In a shareholder update, La Chapelle said weak consumer confidence and the continued overall negligible growth of apparel spending compared with the second half of last year had also impacted on sales in the March quarter.

    According to the National Bureau of Statistics data, Mainland China sales of shoes, hats and apparel grew by just 3.3 per cent year on year, a rate five percentage points less than the growth rate of all consumer goods sales.

    “Furthermore, the Chinese New Year holiday of 2019 was 11 days earlier than that of 2018, which had an adverse effect on the sales of winter products for the first quarter. The revenues of the ladies’ apparel brands such as La Chapelle, Puella, 7 Modifier as well as La Babite for the first quarter had a year-on-year decrease of 26.65 per cent, 29.76 per cent, 22.91 per cent and 23.06 per cent respectively, which is mainly due to the decrease in direct-sale stores, the change in numbers of ultimate consumers, and the increase in proportion of sales of obsolete inventories,” the company said.

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  • Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion seeking profitability

    Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion seeking profitability

    Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion warns it will report an operating loss for last year, for the first time in its trading history.

    In an update to a profit warning issued last December, the company says total revenue dropped by about 2.5 per cent last year and costs accelerated.

    “Revenue from La Chapelle and Puella, which are our main women’s wear brands, is estimated to have decreased by approximately 11.94 per cent and 13.35 per cent year-on-year, respectively, and the growth in sales of the women’s wear brand Candie’s and that of children’s wear and men’s wear brands could not make up for the decrease in sales of La Chapelle and Puella,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

    With a slowdown in consumption growth and a decline in customer flow at physical stores, La Chapelle’s sales at brick-and-mortar stores in the second half of last year were lower than expected. As a result, revenue in the third and fourth quarters decreased by 7 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, year on year.

    The company also reported a continuing decline in revenue from concessions at department stores. Last year, that revenue was estimated at about RMB4.893 billion (US$729 million), down 7 per cent, and department stores’ share of total sales fell from 50.4 per cent to 48 per cent year on year.

    In the second half of last year, the company closed down 179 loss-making and inefficient stores, and launched a joint-venture “franchise and trusteeship cooperation business model”. It ended the year with 9269 stores.

    The company estimates it will post a net loss attributable to shareholders of about RMB156 million, representing a decrease in net profit attributable to shareholders of the company of RMB654 million (US$23.256 million).

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  • La Chapelle Vietnam launch gets closer

    La Chapelle Vietnam launch gets closer

    Hong Kong-listed Chinese fashion retailer Shanghai La Chapelle is preparing to launch in Vietnam. A huge La Chapelle Vietnam standalone flagship store is under construction, next to Ho Chi Minh City’s VivoCity mall, facing to the front street of Nguyen Van Linh in District 7.

    While the opening date has not been revealed, branding has appeared on the store with the interior fitout almost complete and apparently only awaiting stock.

    The brand is using social media and online channels to recruit staff for the store and seek interest from potential nationwide distributors.

    La Chapelle Vietnam is operated by VV Mall Management Service, which owns the under-construction VV Mall in Danang. The 35,000sqm mall is set to open its doors in the second quarter of next year.

    Founded in 1998, La Chapelle has its own brands including menswear labels Jack Walk, Pote and Marc Ecko, childrenswear brand 8eM and womenswear labels La Chapelle, Puella and Candie’s.

    La Chapelle has struggled in the first nine months of this year, reporting a decline in sales of 0.5 per cent to US$889.94 million and a near 30-per-cent decline in profit to $34 million.

    Vietnam is the first country in the company’s Southeast Asian expansion plan.

  • La Chapelle group buys Naf Naf

    La Chapelle group buys Naf Naf

    A Chinese investment group led by Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion has paid €52 million (US$64 million) to acquire French fashion chain Naf Naf, part of the Vivarte group.

    European clothing retailer Vivarte has owned Naf Naf since buying it from Parisian brothers Patrick Patrick and Gérard Pariente, who founded the brand in 1973, for €200 million.

    It is the first foreign investment for La Chapelle, China’s largest cheap women’s apparel retailer, which has 9448 stores, 37,544 employees and a €1.2 billion turnover in China itself.

    Vivarte says La Chapelle will open 500 Naf Naf stores in China over the next five years and another 30 in Europe. Naf Naf now has 474 points of sale and 1200 employees.

    The Naf Naf sale is part of a major restructuring program for Vivarte. The French retail group needs to clear a €600 million debt and already sold shoe chains Andre and Pataugas and women’s clothing brand Kookai. It is also ready to sell Besson (shoes) and Chevignon (men’s fashion).

    CEO Patrick Puy wants to turn Vivarte’s attention to five core brands: Caroll, Cosmoparis, La Halle, Minelli and San Marina. The money from the Naf Naf sale will go toward its most important asset, La Halle, which generates €1 billion in turnover (on overall €1.8 billion group turnover), but faces competition from H&M, Primark and e-commerce outlets.

  • La Chapelle gets green light to list in China

    La Chapelle gets green light to list in China

    Chinese multi-brand apparel group Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion Co., Ltd., backed by Legend Capital, Goldman Sachs and other investors, have received approval from Chinese security regulators to list on domestic Chinese stock exchanges three years after it completed an IPO in Hong Kong.

    Founded in 1998, La Chapelle is often called “China’s ZARA” as it focuses on fast fashion for young female consumers in China. Receiving regulatory approval for its IPO is welcoming news for La Chapelle, and its investors, as the company has previously tried and failed to list on domestic exchanges. Its Hong Kong-traded shares have long traded below its IPO price and are currently valued at a price-to-earning ratio of 3.5, compared to a projected PE ratio of around 29 for its planned A-share IPO.

    With the more favorable valuation, La Chapelle can raise RMB1.64 billion (US$240 million) in fresh capital to fuel its expansion. Its venture investors will also be handsomely rewarded. Goldman, in particularly, will finally be able to make a positive return on investment after suffering significant paper losses.

    Legend Capital invested RMB45 million to acquire a 25% stake in the company in 2009. A year later, as the company reached its earnings target, Legend invested another RMB46 million to remain its stake as required by a valuation adjustment mechanism embedded in the investment contract.

    At the same time, Le Chapelle grew rapidly, quadrupling its sales to RMB2 billion in 2011 from RMB500 million in 2009. But its road to IPO did not go as well. In 2013, its IPO application was rejected by the China Securities Regulatory Commission as the domestic IPO market was suspended.

    That year, Goldman invested RMB300 million for a 5% interest in the company, valuing the company at RMB6 billion, before the company moved its focus to a Hong Kong IPO. Other investors in the company from previous financing rounds include Orchid Asia Group Management Ltd., Boxin Capital, Shanghai Ronggao Venture Capital and Asia Alternatives Management LLC.

    The company completed a Hong Kong IPO in October 2014, raising a total of HK$1.7 billion (US$220 million) by offering 121.58 million ordinary shares at HK$13.98. Its shares subsequently tanked and reached as low as HK$7 apiece last July despite a HK$120 million share buy-back aimed to improve sentiment. The poor performance also put Goldman at a significant paper loss.

    In April 2015, shareholders approved a plan to list on the A-shares market during one of the biggest ever bull markets in the domestic Chinese stock market. Over two years later, the newly approved plan calls for the company to issue no more than 54.77 million new shares to raise RMB1.64 billion.

    Le Chapelle plans to use the IPO proceeds on opening more retail stores. The company has expanded its network of retail locations, which are 100% self-owned, to nearly 9,000 last year from 1,841 in 2011.

  • Niologie China receives RMB20m. boost

    Niologie China receives RMB20m. boost

    Hong Kong women’s apparel company Niologie Limited has received a capital injection of RMB20 million (US$3.034 million) for its wholly owned subsidiary Niologie China from one of China’s largest fashion brands.

    Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion gains a direct holding of 16 per cent of the shares of Niologie China through the investment co-operative agreement with its wholly owned subsidiary Shanghai La Chapelle Enterprise Management.

    Originating in Hong Kong, Niologie China’s Tanni brand is a mid- to high-end lifestyle store brand with romantic European styling encompassing women’s apparel, handbags, footwear and accessories as well as houseware products. A significant characteristic of the brand, which entered mainland China in 2010, is its floral prints, designed exclusively by a UK team.

    Shanghai La Chapelle believes the investment complies with its “product-oriented, fashionable and high-quality” brand philosophy, and will help it consolidate its leading position in China’s apparel market. Through the investment in Tanni, the group aims to enrich its mid-range to high-end product mix and accelerate the development of its multi-brand strategy, while the brand itself can leverage the group’s channels and supply-chain management capability for expansion and improved margins.

    “With the constantly changing fashion trends in apparel and the need to satisfy consumers’ requirements for a more sophisticated shopping experience, apparel retailers have to adjust their sales model in order to capture first-mover advantages and expand market share amid intense market competition,” says La Chapelle executive VP Wang Yong.

    “The Tanni brand has an independent design team, offers individualised products, stable domestic and overseas product channels, an excellent marketing system and speedy and stable logistics systems enabling a fast market response.”

    Founded in 1998, La Chapelle designs, markets and sells apparel products with a focus on mass-market women’s casualwear. Its retail network comprises 7893 outlets in about 2500 locations across China.

    Founded in 2010, Niologie China is the first women’s apparel brand chain in China to introduce European lifestyle-brand shops. The company has directly run shops in major business districts in Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Dalian and Harbin.

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  • La Chapelle takes Jack Stroll stake

    La Chapelle takes Jack Stroll stake

    Shanghai La Chapelle Style has taken a controlling stake in high quality mens’ style label Jack Stroll.

    The Hong Kong-listed firm has paid RMB 75 million for a 69.12 per cent share of the six yr previous Jack Stroll Shanghai enterprise which produces casualwear, sport, denim and enterprise. attire and has its personal retail chain.

    La Chapelle says the funding is in keeping with its product-oriented technique in addition to its core values of “cost-effectiveness, trend, high quality”, which can assist strengthen the group’s place in mass-market casualwear phase.

    Because the introduction of its male attire merchandise in 2011, La Chapelle has been actively cultivating its menswear manufacturers and continuously looking for for alternatives to develop new model to be able to improve its market share in menswear market.

    “The core administration workforce of Jack Stroll had labored in numerous well-known worldwide fast-fashion corporations together with Uniqlo and possesses ample hands-on expertise within the business,” La Chapelle stated in a press release.

    “The funding in Jack Stroll will additional enrich the product mixture of the group and speed up the implementation of its multi-brand technique. Leveraging on La Chapelle’s in depth distribution channel and aggressive provide chain functionality, the funding is predicted to reinforce Jack Stroll’s speedy enlargement and margin enchancment,” stated the assertion.

    “With the rising male inhabitants in China, the change within the attire consumption preferences for male shoppers and a big improve in buying energy, China’s informal menswear and enterprise informal menswear market has been rising quickly, and is predicted to proceed its secure progress,” stated Wang Yong, government VP of La Chapelle.

    “The core members of Jack Stroll have years of operational expertise in worldwide fast-fashion corporations. They’re the specialists in working ‘brief, cost-effective, quick’ enterprise, which is appropriate for present fast-fashion market. Then again, their in depth expertise in product improvement and model administration allows them to intently comply with market developments and develop merchandise which are according to the wants of mass shoppers.

    “As one of many essential steps in La Chapelle’s multi-brand technique, investing in high quality menswear model Jack Stroll will certainly increase the enterprise progress of the group,” he concluded.

    Based in 2001, Shanghai La Chapelle Trend designs, markets and sells attire merchandise with a give attention to mass-market women’ casualwear. The group has eight manufacturers (5 ladieswear manufacturers, two menswear manufacturers, one childrenswear model): La Chapelle, La Chapelle Sport, 7.Modifier, Candie’s, La Babite, La Chapelle Homme, Pote and La Chapelle Youngsters.

    As of the top of 2014, the group’s had 6887 retail factors in some 2200 places, comprising primarily department shops and purchasing malls, in cities throughout all 31 provinces, autonomous areas and municipalities within the PRC.

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