Top Biz News

Jingkelong shares close up 22%

By Lillian Liu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-26 13:59

Retail sales of consumer goods in Beijing reached about 290.3 billion yuan (US$36.55 billion) in 2005, compared to 95 billion yuan (US$11.58 billion) in 1995, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

The mainland's retail sales rose 13.3 per cent to 5.4 trillion yuan (US$650 billion) last year as annual per capita disposable income increased 7.7 per cent to 9,422 yuan.

Sales in the mainland's top 30 retail chains surged 32.9 per cent to 384.56 billion yuan (US$46.9 billion) last year, according to official data.

A host of newly listed companies have recently seen their share prices leap around 20 to 30 per cent on their first trading day in Hong Kong.

Last week, shares in China Merchants Bank closed 25 per cent higher than their IPO price, while Jutal Offshore Oil Services Ltd's went up 49 per cent.

Jingkelong raised a total of HK$594 million (US$75 million) in a four-day sale of the retail tranche of its IPO from September 12 to 15.

The supermarket chain, which lists on the secondary Growth Enterprise Market, said earlier that it planned to use HK$282 million (US$36.6 million) of its IPO proceeds to expand its network in Beijing from the current 169 outlets to 255 by the end of 2008, in a bid to overtake its rivals.

Its first-half net profit soared 23 per cent year-on-year to 47.3 million yuan (HK$5.9 million).

The mainland's retail sector has attracted investments from foreign giants such as France's Carrefour, Wal-Mart from the United States, and Germany's Metro.

But the sector remains dominated by local players, including Shanghai Bailian Group, Beijing Wangfujing Group and Wumart.