Hong Kong clothes seller and retail sourcing group Li & Fung has warned its full-year core operating profit will fall 40 per cent.

The company blamed the change on restructuring costs and provisions at its businesses in the US.

In August, the company reported a 22 per cent decline in its core operating profit citing slower than expected turnaround in the US business.

Li & Fung said that it is unlikely that the company will exceed the US$681.4 million profit it achieved in 2011. The company will release its full-year financial report in March.

Meanwhile, the company has appointed Dow Peter Famulak as its new president for the US as part of its restructuring there.

“With this management change, the group expects to successfully complete its LF USA restructuring project in 2013 which includes a reduction in the number of brands for distribution in the US,” it said in a statement.

Li & Fung, which owns stakes in French fashion house Sonia Rykiel, Belgian luxury handbag brand Delvaux and French shoemaker Robert Clergerie, said it remains committed in achieving its target of US$1.5 billion core operating profit in 2013.

GB