Hong Kong retail chain Best Mart 360 has plans to diversify its business and grow its income stream after a surge in profit.

For the six months to September 30, sales increased 19.6 per cent to US$132.05 million (HK$1.03 billion) while gross profit rose 30.7 per cent to approximately $46.67 million.

The increase in profits is mainly attributed to the group maintaining an active “expansion policy” of its physical stores while also implementing a sales and optimisation strategy for its product range.

The company sold more than 3000 SKUs from 900 brands during the half year across its 144 chain retail stores — 141 under the Best Mart 360 banner and three FoodVille stores.

Loyalty program membership grew 9.5 per cent to over 1 billion with mobile app users reaching 815,100 — an increase of 27.9 per cent year on year.

“Looking ahead, as the market anticipates the lifting of all travel restrictions by the government and a continued improvement in local business sentiment, the group will ride on the economic recovery to consistently look for suitable opportunities to expand the store network,” said the company in a statement.

To satisfy the demand of different consumer segments, the company has plans to implement a “dual-brand” model with the Best Mart 360 brand serving residential areas and expanding its store network while the FoodVille brand will target large and medium-to-high-end shopping malls in Hong Kong as well as locations with higher customer traffic and stronger consumer spending power.

The group will also expand its private label offer to meet market demand.

In August, the company announced it would sell off 49 per cent of its shares to state-owned China Merchants Hoi Tung Trading Company.