Shares of Global Brands, which manages more than 350 labels, licensed characters from Disney and Star Wars and brands such as Coach and Juicy Couture, debuted in Hong Kong at HK$2.09 on Wednesday and were trading at HK$2.05 at 11.48am.
Bruce Rockowitz, chief executive of the Li & Fung spin-off, tried to temper expectations at the firm’s trading debut.
“The United States is still the biggest market in the world by three or four times. So even if our penetration [in China] is as big as the United States, it won’t be as big as the United States,” he said.
“I think it’ll be many years before China surpasses the US for us, because we’re relatively new. We only started two to three years ago in China.”
As for sales in the US, he said, “The first quarter in the United States was poor because of the weather. We’re expecting a better second half.”
