Home Depot appoints new chief to run China operations

HOME Depot Inc, the world's largest home-improvement retailer, has appointed a new president at its Chinese unit after Yves Chen resigned.

Simon Chuen, formerly vice president for merchandising in China, was named last month to succeed Chen, said Beijing-based John Hong of public-relations firm MS&L, a spokesman for the company. He declined to comment on yesterday's China Business News report that Chen's resignation may stem from Atlanta-based Home Depot's flagging performance amid the global financial crisis.

The credit crunch and property slowdown have hurt home-improvement store owners such as Home Depot, whose third-quarter profit slid 31 percent.

Kingfisher Plc, owner of the B&Q chain, on November 27 said Chinese sales fell 28.5 percent in the quarter as new apartment sales were "significantly down."

China Vanke Co, the nation's biggest publicly traded real-estate developer, said property sales in October fell 35 percent from a year earlier.

"Both B&Q and Home Depot, or the whole sector, will have a very difficult time in the next six to 12 months," Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, told Bloomberg News yesterday in Shanghai. While three-fifths of Chinese consumers will spend as much or more next year, real estate and cars are exceptions, he said, citing a company survey.

"People think prices are going to drop," Rein said. "They are not going to buy home decoration. It's a very difficult area to be in now."

B&Q, which has more than 60 outlets across China, has a stronger presence in the country than Home Depot, which entered the market in 2006 after acquiring The Home Way, a Tianjin-based home-improvement retailer with 12 stores in six cities. The number of stores remained unchanged for Home Depot.

"B&Q will beat Home Depot for now, as it has built a better brand name among consumers," Rein said.