Hong Kong's Sa Sa to accelerate mainland expansion

Jul. 17, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Hong Kong-based Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd<0178>, a leading cosmetic retailer and beauty service group in Asia, plans to double its outlets in mainland China to 24 in the next nine months, as part of its plan to accelerate expansion, the Shanghai Daily reported on Friday.

Sa Sa International plans to open 12 new outlets in Shanghai, Beijing and Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province. It currently has 12 stores in the three cities.

There will be more than 100 Sa Sa stores in mainland China by 2011, according to previous reports.

The company plans to invest as much as HK$75 million in new stores in the financial year ending on March 31, 2010, and aims to boost sales from markets outside Hong Kong to 50% from 20% in three to five years, said Simon Kwok, Sa Sa's chairman and chief executive.

The cosmetics retailer said that because its losses in the mainland have decreased while the number of stores has increased, indicating that business performance has picked up strongly as expected, the company will push forward with its expansion plans.

Sa Sa's net profit declined 9.27% from a year earlier to HK$316 million in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31, sources reported. Its mainland sales, however, posted a total loss of HK$27.3 million in the same period.