Gome H1 profit up 115%

Chinese electronics retailer Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd said on Monday that net profit for the first half of the year climbed 115.2 percent as a successful move toward e-commerce helped the firm stretch its net profit margin.

The firm posted a net profit of 693 million yuan ($112.7 million), up from 322 million yuan in the same period a year earlier, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. Its net profit margin doubled to 2.38 percent from 1.19 percent.

Like its main rivals, Gome has been pushing increasingly online to help turn around flagging offline sales that dragged the firm into the red in 2012. Gome ompetes in China with firms like Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, but online rivals such as JD.com Inc are becoming a challenge.

Gome, backed by private equity firm Bain Capital, saw first-half revenue climb 7.4 percent to 29.1 billion yuan.

The firm's shares were closed at HK$ 1.36 on Monday with 3.03 percent growth, outflanking the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which was up 0.22 percent.