bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Sogo operator optimistic about Shanghai outlet as investment gains boost income by 37pc to HK$740m

Lifestyle International Holdings, the operator of Sogo department stores, reported a better than expected 37.23 per cent rise in annual profit on higher investment gains and expects its Shanghai outlet to make a profit for the first time this year.

Net profit jumped to HK$740.17 million, or 87.4 HK cents per share, for the year to  December from HK$539.38 million, or 69.4 HK cents per share, a year earlier. Sales grew 21 per cent to HK$2.53 billion.

Its profit beat Deutsche Bank's estimate of between HK$686 million and HK$711 million and Macquarie's HK$697 million.

Last year's earnings were partly lifted by a surge in investment income to HK$67.1 million from HK$1.88 million a year earlier, fuelled by the stock market rally. The company invested HK$670 million in index-linked notes and Hong Kong-listed stocks.

However, shares in Lifestyle, which have risen 103 per cent in the past 12 months, fell 0.4 per cent yesterday to HK$24.95.

CIMB, Malaysia's second-largest bank, said in a report this month that the shares were overpriced.

Sales at its Shanghai store, which  opened at the end of 2004 under the Jiuguang brand, climbed 45 per cent last year and accounted for 14.8 per cent  of the company's total sales, up from 12 per cent a year earlier.

'We expect Shanghai Jiuguang to make a profit this year. Indeed, it has been profitable since January this year,' Lifestyle managing director Thomas Lau Luen-hung said.

Jiuguang made a net loss of less than HK$10 million in the first half, compared with a HK$30 million loss a year earlier.

Average sales per ticket in the Jiuguang store, at Shanghai's  prime shopping street Nanjing Road, rose to 230 yuan  from 215 yuan.

Mr Lau said the company's growth driver would be its mainland projects.

Lifestyle bought a 56,000 square metre site in Shenyang's Shenhe district for 1.02 billion yuan in December and plans to develop it into a department store. The gross floor area of the  store,  due to open in 2009, will be about 310,000 square metres, similar to that of  Jiuguang.

It also took a 50 per cent stake in a US$100 million shopping centre and office project in Suzhou that it will jointly develop with the local government.

'We want to own 100 per cent of the Suzhou project, but the local government has indicated the interest in taking a stake. I think in the end, they may own 10 per cent or 15 per cent,' Mr Lau said.

The  project, which has a gross floor area of 168,000 square metres, will  have a soft opening in the fourth quarter of next year.

Lifestyle's flagship Sogo store in Causeway Bay, which accounted for 78.4 per cent of its  sales, saw  11.3 per cent sales growth. Average sales per ticket  were HK$436,  up from HK$396.

The company declared a final dividend of 21 HK cents for last year. Together with the 14.5 HK cent interim dividend it has paid, the payout ratio was 50 per cent.



Sogo department store operator to delist in December as shareholders approve tycoon Thomas Lau’s privatisation offer

Head of Hong Kong retail group Lifestyle International, operator of Sogo, seeks to take company private for US$239 million

Sogo operator worried over outlook as extradition bill protests, trade war weigh on first-half sales

Weakening yuan, possible China slowdown worry Sogo store operator as profit plunges by half

Lifestyle International Holdings

Lifestyle profit beats forecasts