Time to shop at Parkson?

Parkson Holdings Bhd saw a positive run, closing at its 3-month high of 30 sen recently.

In the past year, the departmental store chain operator saw a jump of 87.5%, having touched a 38 sen in August last year from a low of 14 sen.

However, after the year-high, the counter succumbed to profit taking but managed to stay around the 20 - 30 sen level.

WIth the recent good run, signs point to further upside on the back of high trading volume.

Follow-through buying may lift prices towards the next resistances at 31.5 sen and 33 sen next.

The counter may not be something investors may want to touch given its loss making position.

However, it managed to see some improvements in its financial results.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023, the company reduced its net loss to RM20.5 million from RM109.7 million in the previous year.

It chalked in higher revenue of RM3.1 billion in FY23 versus RM2.9 billion in the previous year.

Perhaps things are looking better for Parkson.

Its retailing operations in Malaysia experienced a marginally higher stores' footfall resulting in a 2% increase in revenue to RM769 million for the FY2023.

The operations, however, reported a lower operating profit of RM189 million as compared with RM209 million a year ago, attributed primarily to the increase in operating costs.

In December 2023, Parkson Malaysia opened Parkson Summer Mall , the first store in Kota Samarahan in Sarawak.

As at 31 December 2023, the Group has 37 Parkson stores in Malaysia.

For the FY23, Parkson China registered a commendable revenue growth of 8% to RM2.3 billion compared with RM2.1 billion a year ago.

This growth was credited to the resurgence of shopper traffic at its retailing stores following the full lifting of COVID-19 related prevention and control measures since end of 2022, coupled with the additional rental income source from an investment property in Beijing.

The higher revenue, together with the ongoing efforts in optimising operating efficiencies and stringent cost control measures, have resulted in Parkson China achieving an impressive operating profit of RM317 million for the current financial year-to-date.

In the 4th quarter, Parkson China launched its fourth Parkson store in Jiangxi Province. As at 31 December 2023, the Group has a network coverage of 43 stores in 29 cities across China

Recently, Parkson said its Hong Kong-listed unit Parkson Retail Group Ltd had inked a 15-year agreement to lease 18,004 sq m of commercial space in the city of Guiyang, China.

The space will be used for a shopping centre, service projects, offices, warehouses and other projects under the “Parkson” trademark.

Under international financial reporting standards, the tenancy agreement will be treated as the acquisition of right-of-use assets, which Parkson booked at about 57.1 million yuan (RM37.1 million), it noted.

The rental payable, including tax, under the tenancy agreement is 3.33 million yuan for the first year, and eight million yuan per year from the second year onwards, Parkson said.

PGRL’s indirect 60%-owned subsidiary Guizhou Shenqi Parkson Retail Development Co Ltd has been operating Parkson’s department store in China under a previous tenancy agreement of 20 years.

Surely, the latest tenancy agreement would positively impact its future development and something investors have taken note of.