Giordano International, a casual wear retailer with more than 1,700 outlets in Asia, has reversed the sales decline in the first half and reported a 6 per cent rise in the third quarter, thanks to its robust mainland operations.
The Hong Kong-listed company, which did not disclose its absolute sales amount, said sales on the mainland jumped 22 per cent for the three months to September on the back of an 11 per cent increase in same-store sales.
Hong Kong sales gained 1 per cent in the quarter, with a 5 per cent increase in same-store sales, while sales in Singapore rose 6 per cent. Sales in Taiwan fell 2 per cent amid poor consumer sentiment due to ongoing political uncertainty.
Giordano has been expanding outside of its Hong Kong base to other markets to drive growth particularly in China where demand for consumer goods has been strong.
Analysts said competition in the Hong Kong retail clothing market will heat up next year with the entry of Sweden's Hennes & Mauritz.
China accounted for 23.4 per cent of Giordano's HK$2.02 billion sales between January and June, while Hong Kong derived 20.8 per cent, Taiwan 15.9 per cent and Singapore 9.4 per cent.
Giordano's first-half net profit fell 19.3 per cent to HK$151 million.
