INTERVIEW-Sofa maker Man Wah sees 50 pct rise in China sales
SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Chinese sofa maker Man Wah Holdings MANW.SI said it expects sales from mainland China to increase at least 50 percent in fiscal year 2008, driven by the property boom and rise in spending power there.
"Our conservative estimate for growth in sales from China is at least 50 percent," Man Wah's Managing Director Wong Man Li told Reuters in a telephone interview conducted in Mandarin.
Hong Kong-based and Singapore-listed Man Wah -- which has a stock market value of $90 million -- sold about HK$111 million
($14 million) of its mid- to high-end sofas in China in FY2007, which ended in March.
Man Wah earns almost 40 percent of its revenue in North America, 25 percent in Europe, 13 percent in China and 11 percent in Hong Kong.
Wong said the appreciation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar, as well as a reduction in export tax rebate for furniture from July, meant it made more sense to focus on its domestic market instead of export sales.
He said Man Wah is expanding its retail network in China with "new stores opening every day". At the end of March, the company had 154 retail stores there selling its "Cheers" brand of sofas.
Man Wah earned HK$90.7 million in fiscal year 2007 on the back of HK$852.5 million in revenue.
((Reporting by Chua Baizhen, baizhen.chua@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: baizhen.chua.reuters.com@reuters.net; +65 64035658))
($1=7.786 Hong Kong Dollar)
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