Sales up as Sa Sa tightens its belt

Aiden He

Sa Sa International (0178) posted a 22.6 percent year-on-year growth in same-store sales in Hong Kong last quarter mainly due to a low base effect and cuts in capacity and costs.

But year-on-year increase in sales slowed to 9.4 percent from 14.3 percent in the December quarter as many stores were temporarily closed and foot traffic decreased amid Covid, it said in a filing yesterday.

The overall turnover from its continuing operations in the quarter edged up by 1.9 percent to HK$834.3 million but was still 58.2 percent lower than the pre-pandemic level.

This came as clothing brand Uniqlo's Japanese owner Fast Retailing (6288) recorded a 38.7 percent growth in net profit to 146.8 billion yen (HK$9.2 billion) in the six months ended February from a year earlier.

Revenue and profit declined significantly in the mainland market due to weaker consumer appetite amid Covid restrictions.