The children’s apparel market in China has not been affected by the US-China trade dispute thus far, allowing TOPBI International Holdings Ltd (淘帝國際控股) to deliver a 25.08 percent increase in net profit in the first half of the year to NT$524.21 million (US$16.71 million), or NT$6.39 per share, while revenue increased 6.74 percent to NT$3.1 billion, the company said on Wednesday.
TOPBI, which operates 1,615 stores in China, said that the growth momentum is expected to continue in the second half of this year, with revenue likely to peak in the fourth quarter.
The second and fourth quarters are high seasons for children’s apparel in China, the company said.
“The children’s apparel market in China is expected to increase steadily on the back of growing domestic demand for high-quality products, Chinese authorities’ more-flexible birth policy and stricter oversight of low-quality clothing,” the company said in an e-mail.
The US’ imposition of 10 percent tariffs on an additional US$300 billion of imports from China, to take effect on Sept. 1, would cover textile products, but TOPBI said the new tariffs have had little effect on orders so far.
It would closely watch any changes in domestic demand in China to see if the trade dispute leads to an economic slowdown or a decline in consumption there, the company said.
It plans to renovate stores in Fuzhou to attract customers and aims to raise the proportion of e-commerce to 10 percent of overall sales, compared with 8.61 percent last quarter, it said.
However, TOPBI is to slow the pace of store expansion this year and focus on raising average sales per unit area, the company said.
Average sales per ping (3.3m2) were 20 percent higher than three years earlier, it said.
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