More Mainland China tourists to Hong Kong and Macau as well as improved market sentiment resulted in “outstanding” growth of fourth-quarter same-store sales for jeweller Luk Fook Holdings (International).

Despite a relatively high base and rise in gold prices, the group’s retail stores saw sales jump 16 per cent for the period to the end of March. “It was better than expected and represented a substantial improvement when compared to the 1 per cent growth of the past quarter. The overall same-store sales growth of gold products and gem-set jewellery products were 16 and 18 per cent respectively.

Gold and gem-set jewellery sales for Hong Kong and Macau were both up 19 per cent, and in March alone, by 22 and 14 per cent respectively.

Under a relatively higher base than the Hong Kong and Macau market, Mainland China saw its decline narrow. Comparable sales of gold products and gem-set jewellery products were down 1 and 2 per cent respectively, while for March were unchanged and up 18 per cent respectively.

Nevertheless, the sales of its licensed shops for these two categories of products recorded single-digit growth during the period and double-digit growth for March.

During the period, 14 more Lukfook licensed shops were added in China and one in Cambodia, and well as one more corporate shop in Hong Kong. At the end of March, the group had a total of 225 Lukfook self-run shops including 157 in China, 48 in Hong Kong, 10 in Macau and 10 overseas.

With 1404 licensed shops in China, one in Korea and one in Cambodia, there were a total of
1631 Lukfook shops worldwide, of which 1561 were in Mainland China.