Despite a cooling economy, China's largest hypermarket chain, Sun Art Retail Group, has posted a 75 per cent increase in first-half net profits.
According to Reuters, the group’s profits have been assisted by effective cost controls and an expanded sales network.
China’s economy has been cooling for six consecutive quarters leading many companies to post weak earnings, the news service reported.
“The slowdown in domestic economic growth and uncertainty in the international economy considerably impacted domestic consumers' confidence in the short term," Chief Executive Officer Bruno Robert Mercier said in a statement.
In the second half of 2012, the group will continue to press ahead with the opening of new stores as planned, while developing resources for further new stores in the future, Mercier added.
Sun Art is a joint venture between Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex Group and French retailer Auchan and operates hypermarkets under the Auchan and RT-Mart banners.
It reported a first-half net profit of Rmb1.37bn yuan (US$215.52m), close to double its net profits of Rmb784Rmb in the previous year.
Sun Art predicted same-store sales growth of its retail stores to ease this year after enjoying growth of 8.8 per cent last year, down from 11.4 percent in the previous year.
According to Reuters, the group would continue to build new outlets buoyed by US1.1bn in capital raised through an initial public offer in Hong Kong last July.
It plans to expand into smaller cities as they become more affluent, the news provider reported.
Sun Art has opened 10 hypermarkets during the first half of the year taking the total number of hypermarkets it operates in mainland China to 240.
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