Chinese sportswear brand Lining announced a round of staff layoffs to lower labor costs.

The company said that it will make a full analysis and evaluation on its current brands, and focus more on core businesses. For brands with large development potential and scale, the company will further promote their healthy development; while for those with small scale and development pressure, it will make corresponding adjustment and reduction. The company also said that this structure adjustment is a part of its continuous strategic changes, aiming to optimize organizational structure, improve operating efficiency, and raise profiting level.

According to Zhang Zhiyong, executive president of the company, to meet the company's goal of transformation and strategy implementation, it is necessary to make continuous structure changes and personnel adjustments. However, Zhang did not disclose how many employees will be affected in this layoff.

Lining predicted in January 2012 that due to the slow order growth and inventory problems of resellers, its revenue for 2011 is expected to decrease by between 6% and 7%; and its net profit rate may decrease by seven to eight percentage points from 11.7% in 2010 to between 3.7% and 4.7%.