Xtep business surges

Staff reporter

Xtep International (1368) said its retail sales grew about 20 percent for the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

The retail discount for the three months was between 25 to 30 percent, the Chinese sportswear company said in a filing.

The channel inventory turnover during the period was less than five months, according to the filing.

The company's shares jumped 6.11 percent yesterday to HK$9.9 - a surge of more than 13 percent since the beginning of this year.

Xtep's net profit rose 1.5 percent year-on-year to 921.7 million yuan (HK$1.05 billion) last year but nearly halved its final dividend to 7.1 HK cents. Sales, though, soared by 29.1 percent to a record 12.93 billion yuan.

And the gross profit margin dipped by 0.8 percentage points to 40.9 percent.