Sa Sa says retail sales in its home markets of Hong Kong and Macau fell 10 per cent over Lunar New Year.
In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Sa Sa said the sales fell short of expectations.
Transactions attributable to mainland tourists grew by five per cent during holiday season, despite a decrease in the number of arrivals reported by the Immigration Department.
“The growth in transactions was offset by a 15 per cent decrease in average sales of transaction attributable to them, resulting in an 11 per cent drop of sales to mainland customers,” Sa Sa said.
“It seems that the effect of the [Lunar] New Year and Golden Week holidays has faded out.”
The shift of the timing of Chinese New Year from January last year to February this year extended the festive shopping season and benefited the overall retail sales performance for January and February of this year.
The group’s retail sales growth and same store sales growth in Hong Kong and Macau for the fourth quarter February 28 were three per cent and seven per cent year-on-year, respectively.
“Sales attributable to the mainland customers grew by six per cent year-on-year, as the number of transactions increased by 23 per cent and average sales per transaction decreased by 14 per cent.
