Lianhua goes for growth

China's biggest supermarket chain, Lianhua Supermarket Holdings, plans to open 1,000 stores this year,
taking the total number of retail outlets under the Lianhua brand to 2,900, the Financial
Times reported. Half of the new outlets will he invested by the group itself and the rest
licensed to franchisees.
The company, which raised net proceeds of USS75m through a
listing in Hong Kong late in June, posted a net profit of Ynl28m for 2002, 49 per cent higher
than in the pre-vious year. The operating margin was 2.1 per cent, compared with 1.1 per
cent previously. However, the operating margin of its hyper-markets fell to 1.5 per cent from
about 2.6 per cent, as start-tip costs increased with the opening of 10 more
outlets.