Daily sales of its duty-free stores are in the mid-3 billion won range this month, estimated analyst Lee Ji-yeong, crediting the store openings of international luxury brands. The revenue began the upturn when Tiffany and Bulgari unveiled their boutiques in the latter half of last year, and Burberry and Tod’s opened this month, with Chloe and Celine scheduled to join next month.
When all the brands complete opening their stores in the first half of this year, the daily revenue could reach 4 billion won, pushing it past the break-even point and raising the expectation for improvement in profit structure, said the analyst.
The retailer’s current stock price reflects only the value of its department stores and the time has come to re-evaluate its duty-free business as its annual revenue is expected to exceed 1 trillion won and likely to reach BEP, noted Lee.
By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)