Suning.com, one of China’s leading retailers with both online and offline presences, predicts its net profit range in the first six months of the year will fall to between RMB 2.1 billion (USD 305.6 million) and RMB 2.3 billion (USD 334.7 million), in a filing with Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
That would represent a 61.7% to 65% decrease compared with the same time period last year.
The main reason for this sharp drop was with the one-off profit gain in the first half of 2018. Suning sold its stake in Alibaba for RMB 5.6 billion.
Suning said in this filing that its net profit could fall as low as between RMB 870 million to RMB 1.07 billion if both the operational loss of convenience store business Suning Xiaodian and the net gain from selling it to Suning Smart Life Holding are factored in.
Suning also acquired 37 Wanda department stores in the first half of this year. How this deal affects its balance sheet will be seen in the company’s financial report later this year.
Suning had announced in late June that it has entered into an agreement to buy an 80% stake in Carrefour China Holding N.V at RMB 4.8 billion (nearly USD 700 million). This deal will further affect its full year balance sheet.