Chinese hypermarket and eCommerce company Sun Art Retail Group saw its revenue rise 4.1 per cent last year to RMB97 billion (US$14.1 billion).
Releasing its audited consolidated results for the year ended December 31, the group says the revenue increase was primarily attributable to continued expansion, with the opening of 38 stores.
Same-store sales fell by a marginal 0.34 per cent, an improvement over the 3.6 per cent decline the previous year which the group puts down to efforts to promote fresh products, differentiating the business and integrating its online and offline trading.
The year’s gross profit was RMB24 billion, up 6.8 per cent, and the gross profit margin 23.9 per cent, up 0.6 points from the previous year.
Profit from operations was RMB3.9 billion, an increase of RMB361 million, or 10.1 per cent, from RMB3.6 billion for the previous year. The operating margin was 3.9 per cent, an increase of 0.2 points from the previous year.
Profit was up 6.7 per cent to RMB2.6 billion, an increase of RMB165 million
During the year, the group opened five hypermarkets under the Auchan banner and 33 under the RT-Mart banner. An RT-Mart store in Shandong province was closed in October. This gives the group a total of 446 hypermarket complexes in China.
