Yue Yuen Holdings of Hong Kong, the world's largest manufacturer of branded footwear, said it plans to become the biggest shoe retailer in the mainland over the next five years. Managing director David Tsai said that he wanted the business to have expanded at least 10-fold by 2008.
Yue Yuen already operates 100 sports shoes and apparel outlets in China through its joint venture e-21 Sports, which last year reported a net profit of more than US$2m. It has also established a wholesale network in China with 495 distributors through another joint venture to distribute Converse products.
Hualian reports rising profits Hualian Supermarket Co, owner of China's biggest supermarket chain, reported profits of Yn67m for 2002, 34 per cent higher than in 2001. Sales increased by 13 per cent to Yn3.7bn, compared with a national average of 8.8 per cent calculated by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The company started with six supermarkets in Shanghai a decade ago and now operates 1,541 stores throughout China. It claimed that sales have expanded faster than its rivals because of free delivery and promotions such as giving free ice-cream to customers who use its website.