Belle International Holdings, the mainland's largest retailer of women's shoes, said it would scale back expansion in the loss-making second-tier sportswear brand business after reporting a 1.43 per cent net profit decline in the first half.
Chief executive Sheng Baijiao said to lift profitability, Belle would be cautious in opening new stores for the unprofitable brands.
'We will think twice before opening new stores and will close some underperforming ones,' Mr Sheng said.
Belle's second-tier brand sportswear products include Fila, Reebok, Puma, Kappa, Mizuno, Converse and Li Ning.
'We invested a lot of money in this sector but it is still bleeding, so now we are making changes to our strategy,' executive director Yu Mingfang said.
He declined to say when the sector was expected to turn around.