Strong growth driven by business expansion & acquisitions - Li & Fung

21 Mar '07

3 min read

Li & Fung Limited announced strong full-year results for 2006. 2006 is the second year of the Group's current Three-Year Plan 2005-2007. The Group has made good progress in line with the Plan's target of achieving a turnover of US$10 billion by the end of 2007.

Group turnover was HK$68,010 million (US$8.7billion), 22% higher than 2005. Profit attributable to shareholders increased by 23% to HK$2,202 million. Earnings per share were 67.1 HK cents, compared to 55.6 HK cents in 2005 (adjusted for effect of a Bonus Issue in May 2006).

The Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of 39 HK cents per share (2005 final: 32.3 HK cents, adjusted for effect of a Bonus Issue in May 2006). Together with an interim dividend of 16 HK cents, total dividend per share for 2006 was 55 HK cents (2005: 45.5 HK cents, adjusted for effect of Bonus Issue).

Mr. William K. Fung, Group Managing Director of Li & Fung Limited, commented, "2006 was a year of solid growth for Li & Fung. The Group has continued to grow organically and gain market share in the markets in which it operates."

"The strong results also demonstrated that the Group has a very scalable business in which growth rates have not slowed down despite achieving a very high turnover."

The Group's core operating profit rose by 26% to HK$2,344 million during 2006. In addition, the steady progress of the US onshore business strategy followed a restructure of the branded and wholesale business into one business unit that resulted in a more cohesive approach to the market and allowed the Group to leverage the resulting synergies.

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