China Nepstar Chain Q1 Net Loss Narrows On Higher Comps

(RTTNews) - China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd. (NPD), a retail drugstore chain in China , reported Tuesday that its first-quarter net loss decreased to 3.4 million Chinese yuan or $0.5 million from a net loss of 18.2 million yuan last year.

Loss per ADS was 0.03 yuan or $0.006, compared to loss per ADS of 0.18 yuan.

Revenue increased 11.9 percent to 759.1 million yuan or $122.5 million from 678.3 million yuan last year. Same store sales increased 13.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014.

The increases in revenue and same store sales were mainly due to increased in-store promotional initiatives and marketing of pharmaceutical products, the company said.

During the first quarter of 2015, the company opened 26 new stores and closed 37 stores. As of March 31, 2015, the Company had a total of 1,969 directly operated stores.

Looking ahead, Simin Zhang, Chairman of Nepstar, said, "We are excited by the momentum in our business development in the first quarter of 2015 and will continue to focus on maintaining growth, managing expenses and improving margins. We believe that our strong store network, optimized product offerings and proactive steps to improve customer experience and loyalty, will continue to drive store traffic and revenue in the near term."