MS-Laopu Gold 1H25 interim result-GPM compressed deeper than thought...-20250820

Upcoming events and what to watch our for:

1. Results briefing (10:30am BJT in Beijing, webcast available; click here forregistration details)

• Management tone on 2H25 outlook: We expect management to beconfident as demand trend remains strong. Rapid increase in inventory levelalso suggests the company is preparing for strong sales growth. Averagesales (tax-inclusive) per mall was Rmb459mn in 1H25. This excludes salesfrom the newly opened stores in May and June (Grand Gateway and IFC inShanghai, and MBS in Singapore, all are better located luxury malls). Hence itis possible that sales per mall could be >Rmb1bn for 2025 if same-store-salesmaintain sequentially.

• Brand's position and strategy: The company said there's 77% overlapbetween its customers and five leading international luxury brands (LV,Hermes, Cartier, BULGARI, Tiffany). Given such a high overlap rate, what's thecompany's strategy to gain further consumer wallet share.