Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Limited's revenues for the year ended Sept. 30 rose 21.7 percent year $7.04 billion, while net profit decreased by 6.2 percent year to approximately US$449.8 million. Basic earnings per share at 27.28 cents, decreased by 6.2 percent compared to last year's figure.

 
Footwear manufacturing activity for the Group maintained momentum  in volume and turnover, but continued to experience profit margin pressure mainly due to rising raw material costs and factory wages.
Sales to the Group's largest geographic market, Asia, grew at moderate pace of 26.2 percent compared to last year. In its second largest market, the U.S.A., sales rose 17.7 percent. The European market managed to grow at 30.6 percent compared to last year. South America had sales growth of 6.2 percent.
Total Turnover by Geographical Market
 
Sales of athletic shoes, the key product category for the Group, grew by 20.1 percent year on year. The category with the strongest sales momentum, casual outdoor shoes, grew by 31.4 percent year on year. Leading brand name customers in both categories were able to launch a series of new models with innovative designs to capture consumer attention and boost sales. Retail sales were also up year on year as China had solid GDP growth and consumers in China continued their purchases of well known brand name athletic footwear and apparel.
 
Total Turnover by Product Category
 
At the end of September 2011, the total number of directly operated counters/stores in China under the Group stood at about 3,055 and there were 3,357 sub-distributors in the Greater China region.
 
During the year under review, the Group increased the number of production lines by 16.7 percent to 537. Most of these new lines were allocated among its three key production bases: China, Indonesia and Vietnam. The pairs of shoes made by the Group during the year amounted to 326.6 million, an increase of 14.0 percent.
 
Looking Forward
For the two months ended November 2011, the Group turnover stepped up by around 15 percent year-on-year to approximately $1.2 billion.
 
The global economic environment in 2012 will still be volatile as the economic recovery is only gradually building momentum. Countries in the developed world that are grappling with significant budget deficits, will continue to generate negative headline news on a recurring basis so that consumers in those countries may be reluctant to spend and would rather increase their savings. However given the occurrence of the European Cup in June 2012 and the Olympics in August 2012, consumers should still be inspired to purchase athletic footwear and sports apparel.
 
If consumer purchasing power in China continues to grow in the coming year, then the Group may see further sales growth in its retail operations.