“The strength and resilience of our business model has enabled the Group to continue to flourish amidst a backdrop of uncertainties in the market with threats posted by rising interest and energy costs. Uncertainties such as changes to the global trade regulatory environment for textile products and the delinking of renminbi and US dollar proved to be positive for the Group's business as more and more retailers and brands look to adopt a flexible approach to product sourcing by using our services.”
The strong increase in turnover was also partially attributable to sales contributions from several businesses that were acquired at the end of 2004 and the first half of 2005. Excluding these, turnover still enjoyed a healthy growth of approximately 16%.
Since the end of 2004, the Group has launched shipments for two more brands under license: Royal Velvet and Levi's Red Tab. Despite some initial startup operational challenges, the business saw generally good response with leading retailers.
Mr Bruce Rockowitz, President of Li & Fung (Trading) Limited, commented, “The removal of textile quotas as of January 2005 has caused changes and created uncertainties in sourcing, such as the anti-surge safeguard measures and embargoes imposed on Chinese exports by United States and the European Union. These developments were fully anticipated by the Group and we have been well prepared. The Group's diversified sourcing and comprehensive global sourcing network proved invaluable to our customers in these situations.”
marketing@alchempro.com
