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Appliance giant's profits soar, chairman investigated

By Tuo Yannan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-24 17:50

Gome Electrical Appliance Holdings, the largest electric appliance vendor on the mainland, today said its profit for the nine months to September 30, 2008 had surged more than 110 percent from a year earlier. It stood at 1.64 billion yuan after sales of 36.4 billion yuan, up 20 percent.

In its quarterly report, the company said its gross margin in the same period widened by 1.57 percent to 16.75 percent.

Trading in Gome's shares was suspended yesterday morning amid reports that its chairman, Huang Guangyu, reputed to be one of the richest men on the mainland, is under investigation for stock market manipulation.

Gome said in a separate statement that it was in the process of verifying the accuracy of the news about its chairman and that it would make a formal announcement after the matter is clarified. Noting the "fine" results in the first three quarters of this year, the statement said that Gome's management is confident about future growth.

The statement also specified a list of the company's suppliers, including nearly all the major electrical appliance brands on the mainland market, which it said have indicated their ongoing support to the company.