Leefung-Asco magazine may reap $4m
Leefung-Asco Printers Holdings expects up to $4 million of revenue this year from an order to print the Chinese edition of American fashion magazine W.
Chairman John Yang Yat-kwei said 3,000 copies of the women's monthly magazine will be printed each month for distribution in the local market.
Another 150,000 copies a month were expected to be printed for the mainland market by the end of this year.
'The magazine will be launched in China once the magazine is granted a registration number [by the government] in the mainland' Mr Yang said.
The magazine is to be priced at 20 yuan (about HK$18.64) in the mainland market.
Some observers said the comparatively high price would make the magazine uncompetitive in a market where up to 7,000 magazine titles were already available.
'China has a population of 1.2 billion and we are only targeting less than 1 per cent of it,' magazine publisher Daniel Chau said.
Mr Yang said revenue from the W order would help the printer reduce its gearing.
'We expect the gearing ratio will come down from 59 per cent to 50 per cent this year,' he said.
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