HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Ltd. (0551.HK), the world's largest athletic footwear maker by output, said Sunday its first-half net profit rose 4.0% from a year earlier on increased sales despite a difficult business environment.
The company said its net profit for the six months ended March 31 rose to US$217.7 million from US$209.3 million a year earlier.
Yue Yuen, a unit of Taiwan's Pou Chen Corp. (9904.TW), said revenue for the period rose 9.7% to US$2.55 billion from US$2.32 billion.
The company proposed a first-half dividend of HK$0.34, unchanged from a year earlier.
Yue Yuen, which makes shoes for brands such as Nike Inc. and Adidas-Salomon AG, produced 129.9 million pairs of shoes in its first half, up 1.6% from a year earlier.
The shoe maker said revenue in the April-May period dropped 1.6% from a year earlier, but it expects footwear sales to stabilize on the performance of its brand-name customers, and sales for its retail operations in China to be steady on healthy consumer spending in the country.
from the wall street journal
AdBrite
AdBrite
Showing posts with label Recover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recover. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Retailers change their Mindset
NEW YORK — When times were good, retailers sold sundresses in February and heavy wool sweaters in August.
Now, Americans worried about the recession are buying only what they need today. This new frugality has merchants and suppliers overhauling every aspect of their businesses, from window displays to the fabrics they choose to purchase.
It’s changing some of the rules of retail.
Joan Danehy, a 63-year-old retired teacher from Cazenovia, N.Y., would always get a head start on spring, buying summer clothes for her grandchildren when it was still chilly in March. She would put her purchases aside and give out the items a few months later when the weather turned warm. This year, she passed by the colorful assortment at Lord & Taylor without buying.
"A year ago, I knew I was going to have money, but now there is this feeling that you are going to need it for something else, paying a bill or buying tires,” said Danehy, whose retirement funds have lost half their value. "Not that we were rich, but I didn’t worry about tomorrow. Now, the stock market affects every decision I make.”
Consumers have long griped about merchandise being out of sync with the weather — lots of corduroy in the summer. And while the industry had made some inroads in offering more timely fashions in recent years, it didn’t have much incentive to make big changes because shoppers kept buying. Retailers also liked getting items into stores early because the preseason sales helped them gauge how much to reorder for the season.
‘A big problem’
The recession is forcing retailers to rewrite the rules. For one thing, the pullback by consumers has forced retailers to slash prices at an unprecedented rate to move merchandise.
That has slashed profits. For the fourth quarter of 2008, retailers’ profits dropped 26.6 percent compared with a year earlier, according to Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. First-quarter profits are forecast to be down almost 22 percent.
The new consumer mind-set is expected to dampen sales again — and expedite the shift in what stores put on their shelves.
"This was a big problem for a long time, and it took a disaster for people to reassess what was wrong,” said David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, which advises stores on apparel buying.
Department stores are taking cues from so-called fast-fashion rivals, said Michael Londrigan, chairman of the fashion merchandising department at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in Manhattan. Stores such as H&M and Zara are known for constant deliveries of styles that can be worn right away.
The strategy does require a big balancing act for stores: keeping the selling floor feeling new and fresh while keeping fashions in sync with the weather.
by the associated press
Now, Americans worried about the recession are buying only what they need today. This new frugality has merchants and suppliers overhauling every aspect of their businesses, from window displays to the fabrics they choose to purchase.
It’s changing some of the rules of retail.
Joan Danehy, a 63-year-old retired teacher from Cazenovia, N.Y., would always get a head start on spring, buying summer clothes for her grandchildren when it was still chilly in March. She would put her purchases aside and give out the items a few months later when the weather turned warm. This year, she passed by the colorful assortment at Lord & Taylor without buying.
"A year ago, I knew I was going to have money, but now there is this feeling that you are going to need it for something else, paying a bill or buying tires,” said Danehy, whose retirement funds have lost half their value. "Not that we were rich, but I didn’t worry about tomorrow. Now, the stock market affects every decision I make.”
Consumers have long griped about merchandise being out of sync with the weather — lots of corduroy in the summer. And while the industry had made some inroads in offering more timely fashions in recent years, it didn’t have much incentive to make big changes because shoppers kept buying. Retailers also liked getting items into stores early because the preseason sales helped them gauge how much to reorder for the season.
‘A big problem’
The recession is forcing retailers to rewrite the rules. For one thing, the pullback by consumers has forced retailers to slash prices at an unprecedented rate to move merchandise.
That has slashed profits. For the fourth quarter of 2008, retailers’ profits dropped 26.6 percent compared with a year earlier, according to Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. First-quarter profits are forecast to be down almost 22 percent.
The new consumer mind-set is expected to dampen sales again — and expedite the shift in what stores put on their shelves.
"This was a big problem for a long time, and it took a disaster for people to reassess what was wrong,” said David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, which advises stores on apparel buying.
Department stores are taking cues from so-called fast-fashion rivals, said Michael Londrigan, chairman of the fashion merchandising department at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in Manhattan. Stores such as H&M and Zara are known for constant deliveries of styles that can be worn right away.
The strategy does require a big balancing act for stores: keeping the selling floor feeling new and fresh while keeping fashions in sync with the weather.
by the associated press
Fed chief predicts will recover in 2009
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave his most optimistic prediction yet Tuesday about the end of the recession, saying he expects the economy to start growing again this year — although the comeback could be weak and more jobs will disappear even after a recovery takes hold.
The Fed chief told Congress’ Joint Economic Committee that he saw hopeful signs, including firmer home sales, a revival in consumer spending and some improvement in lending conditions for banks, businesses and individual borrowers.
"We continue to expect economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year,” he said.
Previously, Bernanke has suggested the recession could end this year if the government managed to stabilize the financial markets. This time, he said not only that he expects an end to the recession this year end but also a return to growth.
For that to happen, he said, the banking system must continue to stabilize.
"A relapse in financial conditions would be a significant drag on economic activity and could cause the incipient recovery to stall,” Bernanke said.
Job losses expected
Barring such a setback, Bernanke suggested the worst of the recession — for lost economic activity — has passed. Economists say the recession started in December 2007, then hit with force in the fall of last year when the financial crisis intensified.
He suggested that even in a recovery, economic activity would probably still be below normal, which some economists say is around a 2.5 percent growth, and "only gradually gain momentum.”
More than 5 million jobs have vanished in the recession, and the Fed chief predicted "further sizable job losses” in the coming months. The unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent in March, a quarter-century high.
By year’s end, some economists believe the jobless rate could hit 10 percent, but the Fed stops short of that figure. Bernanke said the unemployment rate would probably climb somewhere in the 9 percent range.
Among signs cited by Bernanke that the recession may be loosening its grip: The housing market has shown some signs of bottoming, and consumer spending, which collapsed in the second half of last year, came back to life in the first quarter.
"Bernanke is sending the message that things are looking better,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight. "At the same time that he’s saying, ‘We’re coming out of this,’ he also is cautioning, ‘Let’s not make the mistake of being too optimistic that we lose momentum on efforts to stabilize the financial system.’”
by the associated press
The Fed chief told Congress’ Joint Economic Committee that he saw hopeful signs, including firmer home sales, a revival in consumer spending and some improvement in lending conditions for banks, businesses and individual borrowers.
"We continue to expect economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year,” he said.
Previously, Bernanke has suggested the recession could end this year if the government managed to stabilize the financial markets. This time, he said not only that he expects an end to the recession this year end but also a return to growth.
For that to happen, he said, the banking system must continue to stabilize.
"A relapse in financial conditions would be a significant drag on economic activity and could cause the incipient recovery to stall,” Bernanke said.
Job losses expected
Barring such a setback, Bernanke suggested the worst of the recession — for lost economic activity — has passed. Economists say the recession started in December 2007, then hit with force in the fall of last year when the financial crisis intensified.
He suggested that even in a recovery, economic activity would probably still be below normal, which some economists say is around a 2.5 percent growth, and "only gradually gain momentum.”
More than 5 million jobs have vanished in the recession, and the Fed chief predicted "further sizable job losses” in the coming months. The unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent in March, a quarter-century high.
By year’s end, some economists believe the jobless rate could hit 10 percent, but the Fed stops short of that figure. Bernanke said the unemployment rate would probably climb somewhere in the 9 percent range.
Among signs cited by Bernanke that the recession may be loosening its grip: The housing market has shown some signs of bottoming, and consumer spending, which collapsed in the second half of last year, came back to life in the first quarter.
"Bernanke is sending the message that things are looking better,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight. "At the same time that he’s saying, ‘We’re coming out of this,’ he also is cautioning, ‘Let’s not make the mistake of being too optimistic that we lose momentum on efforts to stabilize the financial system.’”
by the associated press
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)