Finnish retailer Marimekko has reported a decline in global net sales – but says Asian stores are performing beyond expectation.

In the first nine months of this year, the quirky retailer of brightly coloured homewares and fashion opened 10 new stores in Asia-Pacific, a market which president and CEO Mika Ihamuotila describes as “important” to the brand.

Two more will join the network in December – in Hong Kong and Chengdu, China.

“During the year, we have continued to reinforce our position in the Asia-Pacific region, where growth in the consumer market is strong,” Ihamuotila said in a statement.

“The new retailer-owned stores that have already been opened are located in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and New Zealand. In Australia, our retail sales have developed better than was forecast, and we opened our third company-owned store there in September.”

Elsewhere in the world, the news was not quite so rosy. Net sales fell by one per cent year on year, totalling euro68.1 million, the decline blamed on a downturn in the company’s wholesale sales in North America, Scandinavia and Africa-Middle East; and a fall in retail sales in Finland.

However profit excluding nonrecurring items doubled to euro 4.3 million.

Marimekko has 42 stores in Asia-Pacific.