China's GOME says Jan-Sept net loss at 686.7 mln yuan

HONG KONG Nov 19 (Reuters) - GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd, China's No.2 home appliance retail chain operator, posted a 686.7 million yuan ($110.13 million) loss for the first nine months of 2012 due to lower sales, rising costs and a loss at its e-commerce business.

GOME, which is backed by private equity firm Bain Capital, recorded 1.79 billion yuan profit for the nine months ended in September a year earlier.

Its net loss amounted to 185.6 million yuan for the July-September quarter, compared with a 539 million profit the same period a year go, according to Reuters' calculations.

In October, GOME warned that it expected to report a net loss for the January-September period of between 600 million yuan and 700 million yuan due to a drop in sales revenue, higher staff and rental costs and a loss at the company's e-commerce business.

($1 = 6.2356 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Matt Driskill)