CROCODILE Garments is to open nine new shops in China to take advantage of this year's consumer boom.
Last year, the trendy clothing company set up 11 outlets on the mainland. These now account for eight per cent of total turnover.
Mr Franky Tam Lup-wai, company secretary of Lai Sun Development, Crocodile's major shareholder, expected that the proportion of Chinese business would grow to 20 per cent this year.
The nine shops will be established in Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Shanxi provinces with total investment of about $5 million. Like the existing China shops, they will be run as a franchise.
''We have turned down about 20 mainland enterprises who would like to have joint ventures with us. We are very careful about selecting our partners,'' said Mr Tam.
Next year, Crocodile will open 20 additional shops.