Jingkelong Revenue Down 3% In H1 2009

Beijing-based supermarket retailer Jingkelong has published its financial report for the first half of 2009, stating that its revenue decreased by 3% year-on-year to CNY3.249 billion.

The company attributed the revenue decrease to the decrease of its wholesale business, which saw a decrease of about 6.4% compared with the same period of last year.

At the same time, Jingkelong's gross profit was CNY452.5 million, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1%; and its gross profit rate was 13.9%.

During the first six months of 2009, Jingkelong continued to implement its regional expansion strategy and opened 14 new retail outlets in Beijing, and in Langfang in Hebei. Six out of these 14 new outlets are directly-managed stores, including one hypermarket, two supermarkets, and three convenience stores. Meanwhile, it closed one hypermarket and terminated franchise agreements with 12 franchised convenience stores and one licensed store.

By June 30, 2009, the company had had 242 retail outlets, including 114 directly-managed stores, 102 franchise stores, and 26 licensed stores, with total operating areas of about 310,000 square meters.