Lianhua Supermarket Holdings, China's leading retail chain, has posted 'satisfactory' interim results for the six months ended 30 June, with turnover growing by 18.5 per cent to RMB13bn.
In its report published today, the group announced a 26.2 per cent rise in operating profit to RMB401m over the year-earlier period, and a record profit margin of 3.08 per cent.
During the period under review, the turnover of Lianhua's hypermarket segment increased by around 9 per cent to RMB7.2bn, while the turnover of the group's supermarket business rose by 36.7 per cent to RMB4.8bn. Lianhua's convenience stores recorded a turnover of RMB849.
Lianhua chairman Ma Xinsheng attributed the group's 'satisfactory' results in part to strong economic development in the Yangtze River Delta.
He added that the company was on the look-out for acquisitions and further business development.
'China's economic development, urbanisation, acceleration of the development in central and western China, reform of the system for income and pay-rise storm, will all increase residents' income, thus driving consumption growth, providing the impetus for the development of all types of Lianhua's retail business,' Mr Xinsheng said in a press release.
Established in Shanghai in 1991, Lianhua Supermarket Holdings now operates over 5,000 stores in 22 Chinese provinces and municipalities.
