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Upmarket fashion retailer The Swank
Shop says it plans to tap into the mainland's retail market.
The retailer, which runs about 20 stores and sales counters
in Hong Kong under brand names that include Swank, Givenchy,
Kenzo and Valentino,
is 60 percent owned by e-New Media Company,
a firm that is controlled by tycoon Nina Wang.
It wants to open some wholly-owned stores
in Shanghai and Beijing, though the timeframe and investment
amount is undecided.
It may also adopt the joint venture or
franchise model and cooperate with local partners to speed
up expansion in inner Chinese cities like Wuhan and Chongqing,
according to chief executive James Ng.
In Hong Kong, the company will continue
to expand its retail network by adding four to six stores
over the next two years. Estimated investment for each
store is over HK$10 million.
"As the Hong Kong operation of Swank consolidates,
we will be looking at the mainland, it is a very big market
in the long run,'' Ng said. He said e-New Media, which
was mainly a telephone services business, is looking to
diversify its revenue source by tapping into the retail
market as its IT business has slowed.
"Retail, resort and recreational
pursuits have become our core businesses in recent years,''
he said. e-New Media decided last week to change its name
to ENW Holdings to better reflect its diversified nature.
The firm, which acquired a 60 percent
stake in The Swank Shop in 2003, will continue to look
for acquisition opportunities in the retail industry,
Ng said.
``We will be buying more retail businesses,''
Ng said, adding that acquisition targets would be mainly
fashion brands.
With more than HK$500 million cash on hand, Ng said the
investment firm has enough to fund any expansion and had
no need to raise money.
e-New Media, which owns the Hong Kong
and Shanghai Hilltop country clubs, may also look at new
resort projects in big mainland cities.
The company said renovation and expansion
at its US$10 million-resort and recreational project in
Shanghai will be completed soon and will open this month
or next.
Catering to the moneyed classes, the
Shanghai Hilltop Country Club should show a profit as
early as 2006.
Its Hong Kong Hilltop Country Club averaged an occupancy
rate of 80 percent to 90 percent last year, thanks to
a robust economy and influx of mainland tourists.
Despite many mainland visitors delaying their travel plans
until the opening of Disneyland and causing the occupancy
rate to drop by up to 10 percent during the first five
months of 2005, the company is confident that the country
club business will improve from last year, Ng said.
He said it might take time to turn the
resort and recreational clubs' operation around, which
was in the red last year.
Despite rumors to the contrary, e-New Media never intended
to tap into the Macau entertainment industry, Ng said,
adding that the company will focus on its developments
in Hong Kong and mainland China for now.
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