After 12 consecutive quarters of decline, jeweller Luk Fook has recorded a 2 per cent turnaround for its fourth quarter, ended March 31.
The retailer says that with a relatively low base and encouraging improvement in the Hong Kong/Macau market, same-store sales growth moved back into the black for its self-run outlets.
In addition, Luk Fook sales of gold and gem-set jewellery products rose 16 per cent and 6 per cent respectively in Mainland China leading to double-digit growth for the first time this year, reaching 11 per cent.
On the other hand, the same-store sales of gem-set jewellery products in Hong Kong and Macau also turned around from a decline of more than three years to achieve 12 per cent growth.
During the quarter the group opened four self-run shops on the mainland and closed one licensed shop. At the end of March the group had 199 self-run shops in total – 133 in China, 47 in Hong Kong, 10 in Macau and nine in other countries. Together with 1296 licensed shops in China and one in Korea, there were a total of 1496 shops worldwide.