Image credit: Luk Fook
Jewellery group Luk Fook Holdings (International) Limited has reported that revenue generated from its 11 self-operated shops in the Macau market dropped by 18.7 per cent to some $ 202 mln in the first quarter of this year. However, improvements have been noticed this month, says the company.
Overall same-store sales growth in Hong Kong and Macau have dropped 33.3 percent y-o-y in the first quarter of this year as visitor numbers to the two SARs plunged due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between January and March, the number of visitors reported in Macau went down by 69 per cent to around 3.2 mln.
The company’s revenue for the first three months of the year also went down 29.2 per cent to about HK$11.2 billion, with profit attributable to equity holders decreasing by 42 per cent.
As of March 2020, the group had a global network of 2,120 shops, including 2,062 ‘Lukfook’ shops with business spanning across Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, the United States, Canada and Australia. The group noted that with border restrictions still not been fully lifted in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland, same-store sales in the Hong Kong and Macau market recorded an 80 per cent drop for the period from April to May.
The decline of its same store sales in the first three weeks narrowed to around 60 per cent, while overall shops in Mainland market showed progressive improvements with a less than 20 per cent decline in June as compared to the 20 per cent drop in April to May 2020 and 40 per cent drop in March 2020.
The Group will net reduce five shops in Hong Kong in the coming year and seek opportunities for opening two new shops in Macau. Luk Fook also remained optimistic over mid- to long-term business prospects and noted it would focus its expansion in the Mainland China market.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
