Sales down at fashion retailer I.T amid street protests
Fashion retailer I.T's sales during the National Day golden week holiday dropped an average of 30 per cent, while some stores saw falls of 80 per cent, impacted by a month of street protests.
Fashion retailer I.T's sales during the National Day golden week holiday dropped an average of 30 per cent, while some stores saw falls of 80 per cent, impacted by a month of street protests.
"The most affected areas were Mong Kok and Causeway Bay and in the worst performing stores it dropped as much as 80 per cent," chief financial officer Eymon Tsang said at the interim results press conference yesterday, while declining to reveal other third-quarter performance figures. "Both street level stores and ones in malls were affected."
Chief executive and founder Sham Kar-wai said he hoped the Occupy Central protests could be "resolved peacefully as soon as possible".
The company reported profit grew in the six months to the end of August, helped by a low base from last year after the company abruptly halted promotions, which caused sales to decline. Interim profit grew 30.3 per cent year on year, excluding a non-recurring gain on repurchases of senior notes, to HK$49.4 million. Turnover grew 9.8 per cent to HK$3.23 billion.
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The group's Hong Kong business, which accounts for more than half of total turnover, grew 3.8 per cent to HK$1.63 billion. The mainland market performed better, growing 20.2 per cent per cent to HK$1.12 billion.
