BELLE, China's Largest Female Shoe Retailer, Has Officially Entered The International Market.

China's largest women's footwear retailer BelleInternationalHoldingsLimtied. (1880.HK) BELLE (BELLE store) International Holdings Limited has officially entered the international market. The group, through the BaroqueJapan Barok Japan acquired in 2013, has brought the group's women's shoes brand Staccato Staccato into the Japanese market.

In July, Xiao Yiping, director of investor relations at BELLE, told reporters that BELLE's Staccato shoes brand will enter the Japanese market at the end of August, and plans to open 50 stores in the Japanese market, hoping that the market will bring 10 billion to 20 billion yen (about 613 million to 1 billion 226 million yuan) sales to the group. BELLE plans to sell women's shoes at a price of 15 thousand to 20 thousand yen (919~1225 yuan) in Japan, and then gradually open the market for men's shoes and sports shoes after opening the market.

In August 27th, Staccato Staccato held the first shop opening celebration in Tokyo (Beijing store) AndazTokyo hotel. According to HiroyukiMurai, chief executive officer of Staccato Staccato BaroqueJapan, Staccato Staccato will open 100 stores in the Japanese market in the next 5 years. It is reported that next month, 2 and 1 new stores will open in Tokyo and Nagoya.

BaroqueJapan Baroque Japan is mainly engaged in the retail business of clothing and accessories in Asia. It is the parent company of Japanese clothing brands such as Moussy, Sly, RodeoCrowns, Shelter, Black and Rienda. BaroqueJapan formerly known as Fakedelic, the company started with Moussy brand and opened its first Moussy store in 2000. In 2007, Fakedelic was bought by CLSASunriseCapital and L.P., renamed as Baroque Baroque, and became a retail group of 350 stores in 2012, earning 59 billion 800 million yen.

In September 2013, BELLE bought a total of 31.96% of its total share capital of BaroqueJapan Baroque, Japan, through its wholly owned subsidiary, crown crown limited, at $93963022 (about HK $732911572) from CLSASunriseCapital, L.P., the largest shareholder of Japanese clothing retailer BaroqueJapan Baroque Japan Limited. One of BELLE's shareholders, CDH investment, also acquired 23% stake in BaroqueJapan Baroque Japan.

BELLE said it will set up a series of joint ventures through its wholly owned subsidiary Cheng Zhuo Co. and Baroque Baroque to develop garment and accessories business in China. The total investment and joint venture investment will not exceed HK $924 million.

BELLE's profit in the 2013 fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 was 4 billion 491 million 800 thousand yuan, an increase of 3.2% over the 4 billion 352 million 300 thousand yuan in fiscal 2012, and the annual revenue increased 10.3% to 36 billion 249 million yuan from 32 billion 859 million yuan in the 2012 fiscal year. Footwear business revenue, which accounted for 61% of the total, increased 5.9% to 21 billion 45 million yuan, but the same store sales growth slowed to 2%. While the sports apparel business including Nike Nike, Adidas Adidas (Adidas store) and Converse CONVERSE and other brand agency business surged 18.3% to 13 billion 971 million yuan under the promotion of the new acquisition BigStep, and the same store sales also recorded a 5% increase. Gross margin increased 95 basis points to 57.55%, footwear business and sportswear business gross margins increased by 120 and 260 basis points to 68.7% and 39.7% respectively.

In the first quarter of 3-5 fiscal year 2014/2015 2014, sales of BELLE footwear business in the same store decreased by 1.8%, while the sales of sports and clothing businesses increased 15.3%. As of May 31st, the group's direct retail outlets in China increased by 425 to 19602, of which 13573 were footwear stores and the rest 6029 were sports and clothing stores.