China Wumart Reports Net Profits Of CNY409 Million In First Nine Months Of 2008

According to Wumart Stores' financial report for the first three quarters of 2008, the company made net profits of CNY409 million in this period , but the growth rate of its net profits in the third quarter decreased by 26% compared with that of the first half of 2008.

The report said in the first nine months of 2008, Wumart Stores' sales increased by 27.4% year-on-year while its net profits increased by 74.15% year-on-year. Of this, the company's revenue in the third quarter was CNY82.463 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. However, the growth rate of its net profits decreased by 26% compared with that of the first half of 2008.

According to the interim report of the company, the growth rate of its net profits in the first six months of 2008 was about 36.7%.

Wumart is not the only Chinese retailer who has suffered the a decline in growth.An earlier report from Hualian Hypermarket said its profit rate decreased by over 90% in the third quarter of 2008 — attributed to the expense of renovating the Beijing Fuchengmen store and the opening of new stores. Jingkelong, another retailer that has just released its third quarter report, also said that the sales growth of its individual stores slowed down compared with the same period last year.