Sun Art has announced a 51 per cent rise in profits over 2012.
The Shanghai-based retailer’s net income rose to Rmb2.41bn (US$388m) last year, up on the 1.6bn (US$257m) it generated in 2011.
Sales rose by 14 per cent in the 12 months to 31 December 2012, with the company expecting this rate to double by 2017.
Sun Art is now China’s largest hypermarket operator, managing RT-Mart and Auchan brand stores across the country.
While rival retailers such as Carrefour SA and Tesco have struggled to expand in China, Sun Art’s focus on strategic store location has helped it gain a significant share of the country’s 507bn (US$81bn) hypermarket industry.
“Sun Art benefits from the macro trends like urbanization, an economic rebound and the rising spending power in second and third-tier cities,” HSBC Holdings analysts Lina Yan and Erwan Rambourg told Bloomberg Businessweek.
