Sa Sa lines up store closures after worsening sales

Sa Sa (0178) announced that about 20 percent to 25 percent of the stores in Hong Kong are tentatively planned for closure in the coming 18 months. Most are located in tourist areas.

Sa Sa reported a 35.2 percent year-on-year decline in its third-quarter Hong Kong and Macau turnover at HK$1.19 billion from October to December, while the same-store sales fell by 34.7 percent.

The retail and wholesale turnover dropped by 35.2 percent. Same-store sales fell by 34.7 percent.

This was mainly due to the drop of 32.3 percent in total transaction volume, of which the number of transactions of mainland tourists declined by 50.8 percent and that of local customers dropped by 9.1 percent.

The average sales per transaction of local customers and mainland tourists increased by 3 percent and 3.5 percent respectively. However, the change in the proportion of customer mix led to a 7.5 percent decline in the overall average sales per transaction.

A better sales performance was reported in Macau with a double-digit year-on-year sales growth from August to December.

It was mainly attributed to the shift of consumption power from Hong Kong to Macau among mainland tourists, resulting in a 18.6 percent increase in sales in the third quarter for Macau.

The group's overall turnover plunged by 27.3 percent from a year ago during the quarter to HK$1.58 billion.

The average sale per transaction fell by 7.5 percent to HK$331 and the number of the deals fell 32.2 percent to 34 million at the same time.

Retail and wholesale turnover in other markets outside of Hong Kong and Macau SARs (including mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, and e-commerce) increased by 15.1 percent in the third quarter.