Chow Tai Fook Jewellery 1st Half Net Profit Up 46% at HK$1.78 Billion

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. (1929.HK) reported a 46% rise in net profit for the first half ended September, as retail spending continued to pick up amid a recovery in tourist arrivals in Hong Kong and Macau.

Hong Kong's largest luxury jeweler said after markets closed Tuesday that its first-half net profit rose to 1.78 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$227.8 million) from HK$1.22 billion a year earlier. The results were largely in line with the HK$1.73 billion net profit forecast in a poll of analysts by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

First-half revenue rose 15% to HK$24.75 billion from HK$21.53 billion a year earlier, the retailer said, with core operating profit rising 40.3% to HK$2.40 billion during the period.

It registered 10.3% growth in same-store sales in mainland China during the first half, while growth in its main markets--Hong Kong and Macau--rose 9.5% higher during the period.

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, which went public in December 2011, is controlled by the family of late Hong Kong tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, who died last year. The company's chairman, Henry Cheng, said in a statement that he expects the retail jewlery industry to return to stable and sustainable growth in this fiscal year ending March.

The jeweler declared an interim dividend of 12 Hong Kong cents a share, putting the dividend payout ratio at 67.4% in the first half.

Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2017 04:30 ET (09:30 GMT)