The good news comes as the company continues to weather Covid-19 trading disruption across Greater China.
During the six months to 30 September, group turnover rose one per cent to HK$1.008bn. Net profit attributable to shareholders was HK$155.3M up 14.8 per cent year on year. In Taiwan, ongoing improvements in margins and “aggressive cost and inventory control” drove a 26.6 per cent growth in sales and a record profit, up 194.8 per cent as the company overcame the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 since April.
“The Taiwan market was our strongest market during the period,” the company said in a statement. “The group remains cautiously optimistic about the business in Taiwan for the remainder of the year.”
The Taiwan performance helped mitigate an “extremely difficult” trading environment in Hong Kong for the parent of upscale department store Harvey Nichols due to the fifth wave of Covid-19 since January, coupled with very cautious consumer sentiment and a complete lack of tourist spending in Hong Kong. Those factors led to a 10.9 per cent decrease in sales despite aggressive promotional activities.
