Beijing Wumart To Invest CNY400 Million For China Store Expansion

Beijing-based supermarket operator Wumart Stores Inc. has announced that it plans to invest CNY400 million in store expansion in 2011.

According to Xu Ying, executive director of Wumart, the company plans to open five to 12 hypermarkets and 50 convenience stores in 2011, increasing its sales area by about 15%.

She predicted that the newly-added sales of Wumart will also increased by 15% in the following three years. Xu revealed that in 2011, Wumart's gross margin may grow and the growth of its net profit rate would be at the same level as last year. In addition, due to its good performance during the first two months of 2011, she is very optimistic about the sales increase of Wumart's individual stores.

Statistics from Wumart's annual performance report as of December 31, 2010 showed that the retailer gained net profit of CNY530 million in 2010, a year-on-year increase of 21.03%; and its earnings per share was CNY0.42.