Europe supports Kingmaker growth
There has not been much talk of the furore over Europe’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese produced footwear in recent times, but it appears that the measures imposed by the EU have been far from forgotten by manufacturers with production facilities in the affected countries.
For the first six months of 2007, ended September 30, Hong Kong shoe manufacturer Kingmaker Footwear Holdings Limited, which supplies brands such as Skechers, Clarks, Stride Rite, Elefanten, and G-star, posted improved results “despite the ongoing anti-dumping investigations initiated since early 2005 by the European Commission for factories in China and Vietnam, which have resulted in market and industry uncertainties and caused delays in orders for most name-brand footwear”.
Turnover for the first half grew 21.07% year-on-year to reach HK$712 million ($91.3 million), which the company mainly attributed to diversifying its market portfolio and by achieving early penetration of European markets.
Ironically, having mentioned the uncertainties over selling into Europe, sales to the region also increased and accounted for 42.17% of total turnover, compared with 41.9% in the same period of the prior year. The company stated: “Support from European customers has not only driven revenue growth, but also enabled the group to maintain a more balanced geographical customer spread conducive to continued healthy development.” However, sales to the US market declined slightly to account for 52.43% of total turnover, down from 52.58%.
Turnover growth was also assisted by a 3% increase year-on-year in average selling price.
Kingmaker currently operates 38 production lines in China, Vietnam and Cambodia.
