Poya International Co Ltd (寶雅國際), which operates a retail network selling cosmetics, lingerie and stationery, reported that revenue last month grew 11.77 percent monthly and 5.48 percent annually to NT$1.32 billion (US$44.35 million), as sales were the highest in the company’s history for May.
The growth could be attributed to new store openings — including four Poya cosmetics stores and nine Poya Home (寶家) hardware merchandise and household goods stores — and its promotional campaign to attract consumers who have stayed at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak, it said on Wednesday last week.
In the first five months of the year, cumulative revenue totaled NT$6.77 billion, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, Poya said.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
As of the end of last month, the company operated 234 Poya cosmetics stores and nine Poya Home outlets nationwide, data released at an investors’ conference on June 3 showed.
On Saturday, the company launched its 235th Poya cosmetics store in Taipei’s East District area. The Zhongxiao-Fuxing store is part of seven new store openings the company has planned for this month, including six Poya cosmetics stores and one Poya Home store in Taichung.
The company is also scheduled to launch a Poya Home logistics center in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) next month.
As the COVID-19 situation has been kept relatively under control in Taiwan, and because Mirada (美華泰), another local cosmetics and beauty product chain operator, is closing its remaining 15 stores this month, Poya is expected to maintain steady single-store sales growth throughout this year, market watchers said.
The company’s net profit grew 8.73 percent year-on-year to NT$493.97 million in the first quarter, with earnings per share of NT$5.06, compared with NT$4.65 a year earlier.
“Poya Home is likely to be the next growth driver, as Taiwan’s hardware merchandise market is scattered and lacks modernized stores,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a recent note. “In addition, Poya Home targets the male and family segments, complementing Poya’s targeted female customers, while Poya Home’s gross margin would be higher than Poya cosmetics chain in the long term.”
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