LI Ning Co, the Chinese sportswear maker and retailer founded by a former Olympic gymnast, aims to double sales in China by 2013 as rising incomes spur demand for leisure clothing and shoes.
"The future growth prospects are very strong," Chief Financial Officer Tan Wee Seng told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday. The firm will spend 200 million yuan (US$29 million) this year and 150 million yuan in 2009 on new stores, Tan said.
Li Ning is taking advantage of increasing affluence in the world's most populous nation, where average earnings have doubled over the past five years. The China market expanded as much as 24 percent last year, helping the company post sales growth four times that of Nike Inc, the world's biggest sportswear maker, and 18 times that of No. 2 Adidas AG, Bloomberg News reported.
The sportswear maker added 717 stores in the first half, almost matching its full-year target of 800, helping the company boost sales by 60 percent to 3.06 billion yuan in the six months to the end of June.
Li Ning plans to increase its total number of outlets to 10,000 by 2013 from 6,393 now, Tan said.
The Beijing-based retailer on Wednesday reported first-half profit surged 68 percent to 333.7 million yuan as the Olympics spurred demand for sports apparel and footwear.
Sales rose 43 percent from a year earlier during the Games, Tan said.