Source:
https://scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1459894/vinda-aims-salesboost-e-commerce
Business/ China Business

Vinda aims for salesboost from e-commerce

Chinese tissue maker Vinda is banking on e-commerce to drive future growth.

Top Chinese tissue maker Vinda is banking on e-commerce to drive future growth, after sales last year rose 13.6 per cent.

The company yesterday announced growth in net profit of 1.2 per cent to HK$543 million, with revenue increasing 12.8 per cent to HK$6.8 billion. The market consensus was for revenue of HK$6.95 billion, based on estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

E-commerce accounted for 2.6 per cent of the revenue, up 1.9 percentage points from the year before.

Vinda chief executive Zhang Dongfang said the company aimed to boost e-commerce's contribution to 10 per cent in the coming years, with a team tasked with achieving this goal.

The key is to make us stand out among all the other brands on that platform ZHANG DONGFANG, VINDA CHIEF

"Instead of building our own platform, we'd rather take advantage of the existing ones. The key is to make us stand out among all the other brands on that platform," Zhang said at the annual results briefing yesterday.

To expand market coverage of Vinda's personal hygiene products, the company has hired HSBC to conduct a strategic review of its operation with SCA, a Swedish hygiene products firm and the biggest shareholder in the company. The company expects to become one of the top three players in the personal hygiene segment in the mainland market.

Vinda's annual designed production capacity reached 760,000 tonnes last year. This year, the company expects it to rise to 890,000 tonnes.

"We don't have a problem of excess capacity," chairman Li Chaowang said yesterday. Vinda would consider contracting out its reel production to make up for the shortfall in its own capacity. It would also seek strategic partners from among new entrants in the market, the firm said.

Vinda's shares rose 1.79 per cent to close at HK$11.40 yesterday, in line with the 1.06 per cent gain in the Hang Seng Index.