BELLE Shoe Industry Slipped And Bogged Down

Recently,

International Holdings Limited issued a profit warning, saying that net profit in the 2015-2016 fiscal year ended February 29th was 35% to 45% lower than that in the previous fiscal year.

BELLE international attributed the main reason for the decline in profits to 2015 points: first, the continued weakening of the footwear business performance, and the further decline in the same store sales in the whole fiscal year, especially in the second half of the year, resulting in a larger impairment loss for some goodwill and other intangible assets related to footwear business.

In addition, in fiscal year 2015-2016, the income and gross profit margin of the footwear business of the company decreased compared with the same period of last year, and the cost continued to rise.

In the past, the group's Belle (BELLE) and Teenmix (

), Staccato (

And other brands once monopolized women's shoe counters in major department stores in China.

Industry continued to slack, coupled with the impact of the electricity supplier on the offline business, BELLE from the beginning of fiscal year 2013, the same store sales decline and other issues.

In the second half of 2015, BELLE's brand closed its stores in Hongkong and pulled out of the Hongkong market as a result of its worsening financial position and widened performance to double digits.

In view of BELLE's performance, major investment banks have lowered target prices.

UBS reported that BELLE's footwear sales in the 30 third quarter ended November 2015 down 10.4%, compared with a further decline in the two quarter, reflecting a further contraction in the sales volume of footwear business.

Therefore, UBS believes that the downward trend in the first half of the fiscal year will continue in the next few years. It is expected that the sales of BELLE footwear will drop by 10% in the next three years.

In order to make up for the rapid decline of footwear industry, BELLE international is expanding its sports and apparel business.

BELLE is Nike's largest agent in China. It is also the main agent of Adidas, Puma, Cat and other sports and outdoor products brands in China.

The sustained growth of China's sports industry provides opportunities for BELLE to make profits in this field.

In the three quarter, the group increased 278 stores, of which 272 were sports and clothing stores. The fourth quarter was more rapid expansion. 315 of the 367 sales outlets that were net increased were sports and clothing businesses.

According to the fourth quarter results released by BELLE international in fiscal year 2015-2016, the same store sales in mainland China dropped by 16.5% in the three months from December 2015 to February 2016, but the same sales volume of sports and clothing business increased by 6.2%.

In addition, BELLE is adjusting its clothing brand portfolio.

Not long ago, BELLE International announced the acquisition of Fashion Box SpA 29%, the parent of Italy denim brand Replay, which will set up a joint venture to manage Replay brand development in the Greater China market.

Nomura believes that BELLE needs to close more shoe sales outlets to stabilize its sales in the same store, but due to the increasing popularity of sports and outdoor activities, it is expected that BELLE sports and clothing sales will be maintained at the same time.