Net Profit Up 15.2% At China's Sun Art

China's largest hypermarket chain by market capitalization, the Sun Art Retail Group Ltd, today said…

China's largest hypermarket chain by market capitalization, the Sun Art Retail Group Ltd, today said that net profit for 2013 was up 15.2%, with its growing store count helping to counteract the negative affect of an economic slowdown.

Net profit at Sun Art rose to 2.78 billion Yuan (€330 million), up from 2.41 billion a year earlier.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to maintain steady new store expansion by leveraging the opportunities arising from accelerating urbanization and prudently selecting the location of new stores to ensure their quality," chief executive officer Bruno Robert Mercier said in a statement.

The retailer plans to add as many as 60 hypermarkets this year mostly in the third and fourth-tier Chinese cities, Mercier said at a media briefing today.

Sales surged 10.7% to 86.20 billion yuan. Gross profit margin increased 0.9 percentage points to 21.6%.

Sun Art, a joint venture between Taiwan conglomerate Ruentex Group and privately held French retailer Groupe Auchan SA , also competes with Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer that bought control of Chinese online store Yihaodian in 2012.

The company says that it has secured 160 which it plans to open hypermarkets in over the next three years.