dline sales figure that barely moved. In the three months to September 30, the group’s fiscal second quarter, retail sales slipped 0.5 per cent from a year earlier. Chow Tai Fook has been closing stores, pushing design-led products, leaning on Hong Kong and Macau and reporting a profit figure flattered by the gold price. “The Q2 performance demonstrated the resilience of our business model and validated the growing traction of our brand transformation,” the company said. The board said net profit for the six months to September is expected to rise by about 90 to 100 per cent. Two measures, two stories Measured by retail sales value (RSV), the quarter was flat. Mainland China, which produced 83.3 per cent of group sales, fell 5.3 per cent. Hong Kong, Macau and other markets, which represent the remaining 16.7 per cent, rose 33.2 per cent. A year earlier, Mainland China accounted for about 87.5 per cent of group RSV, so the balance between the two has moved roughly four percentage points in a single year. Measured by same-store sales, it was better. Mainland self-operated stores grew 2.2 per cent. Stores in Hong Kong and Macau grew 29.6 per cent, with Hong Kong up 24 per cent and Macau up 47.3 per cent. Morgan Stanley said both figures were ahead of expectations. Tighter network in Mainland, growth in Hong Kong and Macau Most of the gap between those two measures comes from store closures in Mainland China.  During the quarter, Chow Tai Fook opened 23 Chow Tai Fook Jewellery points of sale there and closed 263, a net reduction of 240. It had already closed a net 258 in the April-to-June quarter. In six months, the brand’s mainland network has gone from 5305 outlets to 4807. Across all brands and markets, the group ended September with 5192 points of sale, against 6041 a year earlier. That is roughly one in seven stores gone in twelve months. “The decline in Mainland China RSV during the quarter was mainly attributable to network optimisation and a high comparison base in the corresponding period last year,” the company said.  In the same quarter of 2025, Mainland same-store sales rose 7.6 per cent at self-operated stores and 8.6 per cent at franchised stores, a period Chow Tai Fook described at the time as a significant turning point for the business. The two halves of the store network are also trading differently. Same-store sales at self-operated Mainland shops rose 2.2 per cent, while those at franchised shops fell 2.9 per cent. Even so, the company said, “we continued to outperform the jewellery retail market”, without naming a benchmark. Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Macau’s same-store sales rose 29.6 per cent, which the company credited to “robust consumption sentiment and customer traffic”. Beyond Greater China International markets were among the fastest-growing parts of the business. “Our international business serves as a strategic platform and growth driver for the Group as the brand transformation progresses,” the update said. “By deepening our presence in distinguished luxury destinations, we successfully engage affluent local clientele and international travellers.” RSV in other markets rose 31.1 per cent. New stores opened at Wisma Atria in Singapore and Mid Valley Megamall in Malaysia, which the company described as “high-profile showcases” that “are actively redefining Chinese luxury on the world stage, highlighting the beauty of craftsmanship and cultural heritage to a global audience”. The overseas network is still small. It stood at 65 points of sale at the end of September, unchanged over the quarter after two openings and two closures, against a target of more than 100 international stores by FY2030. The collections doing the work New collections are where the transformation shows most.  “Our brand transformation continued to drive high-quality earnings during the Quarter, anchored by iconic collection launches,” the company said. Dawn, it added, “generated nearly HK$2 billion in RSV during the period, significantly outperforming expectations”. Those figures sit alongside an established line-up. In the year to March 2026, the long-running HUÁ heritage collection produced HK$43 billion of RSV, and the Rouge, Joie and Palace Museum collections together produced close to HK$10 billion, according to the company’s annual results. Dawn’s first six months put it on a path to join that group. “As a global Chinese luxury group, we elevated our storytelling and creative vision, exemplified by the sensory-driven Summer Tuning branding campaign,” the update said. “To broaden our reach among younger generations, we appointed Zhao Lusi, one of China’s most influential actresses and singers, as our global brand ambassador in July.” What comes next The early weeks of the new quarter have been softer. Morgan Stanley noted that same-store sales declined in October, which it put down to a high base and the timing of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, and said it expects the base effect to ease from November. The company said the full-year figures “may be affected by changes in market conditions and other factors beyond the group’s control”. Further reading: Why Chow Tai Fook sees global potential in a new generation of Chinese design.