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Hong Kong: Esprit plans $100m expansion in Europe |
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2004-7-26
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Hong Kong based clothing retailer, Esprit Holdings that makes more than four-fifths of its sales in Europe, plans to spend US$100 million (HK$780m) to add at least 70 shops, with more than half in Europe.
The company will add at least 40 shops in Europe, 10 in the USA and 20 in Australia and New Zealand in the financial year that started on July 1, it informed on its Website. The additions will help boost outlets by at least 13 percent worldwide from more than 560 shops at the end of 2003.
Teresa Chow of RBC Investment Management Asia said, “The chief growth driver for retailers will be new store openings.''''
Chow said she sold all Esprit shares last month after getting a ‘decent’'' profit, but she remains ‘positive’ about the stock.
The company will add at least 500 wholesale points of sale in Europe, the Website said. Wholesale revenue, or sales from department stores and other stores that carry Esprit clothing and accessories, accounted for almost three-fifths of sales last year.
Esprit''s first-half profit surged 60 percent as sales climbed by almost a third. The company expects its Hong Kong operation will return to profit in the financial year, which started on July 1, Chief Financial Officer John Poon said in May.
Hong Kong is the biggest of its four unprofitable markets. The others, Taiwan, the UK and Canada, will also post profits this financial year, Poon predicted in May.
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