Strong Gold Prices Dent Chow Tai Fook Revenue

Group revenue at Chow Tai Fook fell 18% for the full fiscal year amid escalating gold prices and waning consumer demand for luxury goods. 

Sales declined to HKD 89.66 billion ($11.42 billion) for the 12 months that ended March 31, the company said last week. The continued rise in outbound travel from Hong Kong, as well as a shift in Chinese consumer spending patterns, also hurt sales, Chow Tai Fook noted. However, the company’s transformation strategy, which includes opening new locations in high-end shopping malls and focusing on branded products, helped improve revenue in the latter part of the year. Profit for the period slipped 9% to HKD 5.99 billion ($763 million). 

“Revenue fell…due to macro-externalities and elevated gold prices weighing on consumer sentiment,” the company said. “However, the same-store sales decline continuously narrowed quarter by quarter as the benefits of our brand transformation materialize.” 

Same-store sales — in branches open at least a year — fell 19% for fiscal 2025 in mainland China and 26% in Hong Kong and Macau. While group sales of gem-set, platinum and gold jewelry all declined, revenue from diamond inlaid gold products proved popular, growing more than 100% during the full year. 

As of March 31, Chow Tai Fook operated a total of 6,274 points of sale in China and 87 locations in Hong Kong and Macau. 

Since the close of the fiscal year, group revenue at Chow Tai Fook slid 1.7%. Same-store sales for the April 1 to May 31 period fell 2.7% in mainland China, but rose 1.3% in Hong Kong and Macau, the company added. 

Image: A Chow Tai Fook store in Shenzhen, China. (Shutterstock)