Bosideng’s logo at a Shanghai store. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Shares in Bosideng International Holdings, China’s biggest home-grown down jacket brand, slid by 1.2% to a more than two-week low at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today after the company posted relatively small gains in profit and sales during the six months ending on September 30.
Sales for the period increased by 1.4% from a year earlier to 8.9 billion yuan, or $1.2 billion, helping to lift profit by 5.3% to approximately 1.2 billion yuan, the apparel maker said after the close of trade on Thursday. By contrast, sales in the six months ending Sept. 30, 2024 rose by nearly 18% year-on-year, and net profit increased 23%.
“The intricate and complex international environment, coupled with geopolitical tensions and frequent adjustments to international trade policies, has introduced numerous uncertainties into the external landscape,” Bosideng said in a statement. On the upside, Bosideng said it “has seized the opportunities arising from the consumer market’s growing emphasis on personalization, quality and diversity, continuously (deepening) its open and innovative strategies in a customer-centric way’”
Bosideng’s stock has gained nearly 18% in the past year, though closed at a two-week low of HK$4.96 today. Its year-to-date rise compares with a 33% jump in Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index during the same period.
Gao Dekang, Bosideng’s CEO, has a fortune worth $6.2 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today. Rivals include Canada Goose, Decathlon, Arc’teryx and Moncler.
Revenue gains this year were led by its own Bosideng brand apparel, which grew by 8.3% to 5.7 billion yuan. Ladieswear sales and OEM business shrank. The “OEM management business faced considerable challenges amid uncertainties arising from tariff policies, geopolitical issues and sluggish overseas consumer demand,” Bosideng said.
In the six months to September this year, Bosideng recorded a loss to its proportionate shareholding in joint ventures and associates, a group that includes Bogner of Germany and Moose Knuckles of Canada, totaling approximately 46.6 million yuan.
After the latest six-month reporting period ending on Sept. 30, Bosideng had some potentially good news: a collaboration with designer Kim Jones to launch a premium product line, Bosideng AREAL, in October.
Gao set up his first apparel business with a team of 11 villagers in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province when Chairman Mao was still alive, back in 1975, after learning how to sew from his father.
As business grew, the group’s factory — called the Kangbo Arts and Crafts Fashion Factory — was formally set up as a collective in 1991. In 1994, the business was restructured into Bosideng Corp. with Gao as the driving force. A big early success: getting space to sell his jackets into department store industry that was dominated by state-owned companies.