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Magazines Archives - 2008 March
Esprit looks to enter luxury
market
Story 4
ESPRIT HOLDINGS LTD, a Hong
Kong-based fashion and accessories retailer, plans to acquire
premium brands to launch into the luxury-apparel market. “The
first thing is to buy a company with a good name, because it
takes forever to build a name,” said chairman and CEO Heinz
Krogner.
John Poon, deputy chairman of the group, added: “Premium brands
traded at high value just a short time ago [but] valuations are
trending down and we are ‘strategy’ buyers. We want to buy a
company to develop and keep.” The group is also looking to
become a “major player” in the US and is expecting a 30% annual
US sales growth over the next decade, said Krogner. In Asia,
Esprit plans to expand its presence by opening an additional 80
outlets in India over the next year and a half. The decision
resulted from the tripling in the group’s business in the
country for the first half of its fiscal year.
The group has also set up a joint venture with China Resources
Enterprise Ltd to open 800 outlets in China by June this year.
It also intends to open more outlets in Hong Kong, which it
calls the “window for the Asian world” |
