Clothing retailer Esprit Holdings Ltd. has ambitious growth targets again after extensive reforms. “The group plans to return to key markets in Asia and to open up new markets such as South and Central America,” the company said on Tuesday as part of the publication of its current annual results.
New distribution centers in Hong Kong and South Korea are to be put into operation in the first half of the year, and preparations for opening online shops in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea this year are already underway. The clothing supplier explained that it is also being examined whether “to open a limited number of stationary stores, outlets and pop-up stores” in these countries. At the same time, he wants to further improve his logistics and supply chain management, invest in IT and push ahead with the expansion of e-commerce that has already been initiated.
Turnaround achieved: in 2021, net profit amounted to 381 million Hong Kong dollars
The company had already announced in the middle of the month that it was able to be in the black for the first time since 2017. At 381 million Hong Kong dollars (43.7 million euros), net profit in 2021 was even slightly higher than last expected.
Sales reached HK$8.32 billion (EUR 954.3 million). Of this, HK$4.58 billion was accounted for by brick-and-mortar retail and wholesale business in Europe and HK$3.62 billion by e-commerce.
The group did not present comparable figures for the previous year. This was due to the postponement of the end of the financial year from the end of June to the end of December and the fact that the German subsidiaries, which were particularly profitable, had gone through protective shield proceedings in 2020 and had been deconsolidated for several months.