Luk Fook Sales Rise, but Diamonds Still Slow

Hong Kong-based jeweler Luk Fook enjoyed a sharp jump in quarterly sales as strong gold demand outweighed a weaker performance in the diamond segment.

Retail sales value — at self-operated and licensed shops and on e-commerce platforms — grew 24% year on year for the fiscal first quarter that ended June 30, the company reported last week. This reflected the recovery of the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese economies following 2022’s Covid-19 lockdowns.

Sales surged 92% in Hong Kong and Macau as the reopening of the mainland border earlier this year enabled an influx of Chinese tourists. Sales on the mainland rose 21%.

However, retail sales of diamond products slipped 27% in mainland China, the retailer noted. Sales of fixed-price gold products gained 20%.

“The group will continue to actively promote non-diamond fixed-price jewelry products, especially fixed-price gold products, in order to mitigate the impact of the soft demand in diamond products,” management said.

Same-store sales — at self-operated shops that were open a year earlier — climbed 62% for the group as a whole, with 75% growth in Hong Kong and Macau and 3% on the mainland. However, the metric excludes most of the mainland business, as 97% of the market’s sales were in licensed stores.

Image: A Luk Fook store in Hong Kong. (Shutterstock)