HONG KONG—GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd., China’s largest electronics retailer by revenue, Wednesday said its January-September net profit fell 39%, though sales started to improve as the financial crisis eased.
The Hong Kong-listed company said its net profit for the nine months ended Sept. 30 totaled 964.6 million yuan (US$141.3 million), down from 1.59 billion yuan a year earlier.
Revenue fell 14% to 31.43 billion yuan from 36.4 billion yuan.
However, the company said sales have improved recently. Sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, rose 2.1% in the third quarter after an 8.3% decline in the second quarter.
Chen Xiao, chairman of GOME, told reporters during a conference call that he expects a double-digit percentage rise in same-store sales in the fourth quarter.
GOME, which is based in Beijing and operates under two major brands, GOME Appliances and China Paradise, closed 158 stores and opened 41 stores in the year’s first nine months, cutting the company’s total number of stores to 772. The retailer plans to close 13 stores in the fourth quarter.
Mr. Chen expects GOME’s same-store sales and number of stores to increase next year, boosting the company’s revenue.
GOME said it shifted its operational focus from increasing revenue to making individual stores more profitable after Bain Capital LLC invested in GOME’s operations.
In August, GOME completed a deal in which it raised HK$2.95 billion (US$380.6 million) from a convertible-bond issue to Bain and an offering of new shares, giving the private-equity firm the equivalent of a 10% stake in the retailer.
 
