Esprit Holdings shuts all Asian stores outside China

The 56 stores contributed to less than 4% of its 9M FY2020 revenue.

Clothing retailer Esprit Holdings is closing all of its 56 stores across Asia outside mainland China as part of its restructuring, the company announced in an HKEX filing. These stores are located in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

The closure is expected to be completed before the latter half of the year. With this, the company plans to focus its resources and recalibrate its operations in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

After the closure, the group will continue its joint venture business in China as well as its wholesale and license business in Asia, and focus on its core markets in Europe.

Based on a preliminary assessment by its management, the closure is expected to cause exceptional one-off costs for store closures, impairment of assets and inventories and staff severance payments around $19-25m (HK$150-200m).

For the nine months ended 31 March 2020, the 56 stores contributed about $34.45m (HK$267m) to the group’s revenue, which represents less than 4% of its total revenue over the same period.