By LU Yibei
Chinese low-cost retailer Miniso made 2.8 billion yuan (US$443 million) in Q4 last year, nearing pre-pandemic highs. Net profit increased 155 percent year-on-year, to 210 million yuan, hitting 7.7 percent. Shares were up 13.6 percent on March 4.
Both domestic and international businesses recovered strongly. Domestic sales increased 12 percent, driven by new store openings. Miniso is expanding out of big city markets and 63 percent of new stores in Q4 were in lower-tier cities. The company now has 3,168 stores in China, 1300 in lower-tier cities.
International business was more profitable but was worse hit by the pandemic. Sales grew 55 percent to 717 million yuan, and the number of overseas stores that remain closed halved in Q4, to 76 out of 1877. Gross margin improved as a result, from 28 percent to 31 percent.
In 2017, Miniso CEO YE Guofu planned to open 10,000 stores in 100 countries and make 100 billion yuan in 2019. The timeline was first pushed back to 2022 and with only 5,000 stores today, the target is as distant as ever.
Miniso launched another retail brand, Top Toy last year, driving up marketing and distribution costs. Top Toy now has 89 stores and accounts for 4.7 percent of total sales.
Miniso expects to make between up to 2.7 billion yuan in the upcoming quarter.
