Zhou Liu Fu Jewellery listing seen bearing fruit on fifth attempt

Mainland jewelry retailer Zhou Liu Fu Jewellery passed the hearing for its fifth listing attempt last week, though its hundreds of legal disputes have dented the outlook.

After one lapsed application in Hong Kong and three failures in mainland China, Zhou Liu Fu’s fifth attempt within six weeks is set to come to fruition.

It was reported to have kicked off roadshows for the share sale and that it plans to raise up to US$200 million (HK$1.56 billion).

While retail sales of giants such as Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (1929) shrank amid rising gold prices, Zhou Liu Fu saw revenues and net profit in 2024 gain 11 percent and 7 percent year-on-year respectively.

Founded in 2004, Zhou Liu Fu had 4,129 stores as of the end of last year, of which 4,034 or nearly 98 percent were franchised. Its footprint spans 4,125 stores in the mainland China and 4 franchised stores overseas.

Zhou Liu Fu ranked fifth among Chinese jewelry brands in 2024 in terms of store number, down one place from 2023. The company said it plans to open 12 new self-operated stores this year, 13 in 2026, and 15 in 2027, totaling 40 new self-operated stores.

But a number of gold jewelry sellers had closed stores to offset the impact of rising gold prices. Zhou Liu Fu ceased operations across 674 franchised stores last year, while Chow Tai Fook also reported a net decrease of 239 stores in mainland China.

Notably, Zhou Liu Fu recently faced allegations of infringing the trademarks of several well-known Hong Kong-based jewelers, including Chow Tai Fook and Lukfook (0590). In a 2023 prospectus, Zhou Liu Fu once disclosed that it was involved in over 400 lawsuits and had received 451 complaints from consumers.

STAFF REPORTER