Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. posted a year-on-year decrease of 26 per cent in its total retail sales value for the first three months of this year, driven by decreased sales in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, it announced in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. According to the notice, the company’s retail sales value in the two Special Administrative Regions registered a decline of 26 per cent compared to the same period last year, while retail sales in the Mainland market also dropped by some 25 per cent year-on-year. Yesterday’s updated sales data of Chow Tai Fook does not disclose the exact sales revenue figures recorded during the quarter. Additionally the jeweller said its same store sales in Hong Kong and Macau had plunged by 27 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of the year – due to a 22 per cent decrease in the sale of gem-set jewellery and a drop of 27 per cent in the sale of gold products. ‘[Same store sales growth] of Hong Kong and Macau continued to be dragged [down] by the declining visitation of Mainland tourists to Hong Kong and weak local consumer sentiment in the regions, showing a further deterioration from last quarter,’ the company claimed. Meanwhile, the jeweller’s same-store sales in the Mainland fell by 25 per cent year-on-year during the period. It explained the drop in the region was due to the outflow of holiday consumption, as well as the weakening of consumer sentiment for luxury goods amid the slowdown of economic growth.
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