Dickson profit slumps 75.6pc on higher taxes
Dickson Concepts (International), a Hong Kong-listed high-fashion retailer, said profit for the financial year to March plunged 75.6 per cent, hit by a loss in the value of its property and higher taxes.
Sales in April and May this year continued to decline because of the swine flu outbreak, group executive chairman Dickson Poon said yesterday.
'We will keep a prudent strategy under the bad economic conditions to ensure controllable cost and healthy inventory situation,' he said.
Net profit dropped to HK$51.37 million from HK$210.58 million a year earlier, mainly due to the impairment loss on the invested retail property and rising taxation expenses. The company declared a final dividend of 18 HK cents per share, compared with 27.5 HK cents last year.
Sales rose 2.4 per cent to HK$3.84 billion but operating profit dropped 10 per cent to HK$203 million on rising operating costs. About 55 per cent of the sales came from Hong Kong, 20 per cent from the mainland, 16 per cent from Taiwan and the remainder from Southeast Asia.
The company, which runs Harvey Nichols and Seibu and outlets for brands such as Vertu and Alexandre de Paris in Hong Kong, made a provision of HK$116.12 million for the unrealised loss in its recent investment in retail stores.
As of March, the company had 495 retail outlets, including 70 in Hong Kong, 268 on the mainland, 114 in Taiwan, three in Macau and 40 in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Mr Poon said the departure of Polo and Ralph Lauren from 2010 would not have an immediate impact on the group as it would still operate more than 400 retail stores.
With a net cash position of HK$531 million, the company said it was confident of weathering the economic downturn.
'We are always looking for new opportunities,' Mr Poon added.
Fashion victim
Dickson Concepts saw earnings decline despite achieving higher sales
The amount the company earned in the past financial year, in HK$: $51.4m
