(Yicai) Feb. 27 -- RT-Mart has opened 12 new stores in Chinese cities over the past month, according to a source at its operator Sun Art Retail Group, while the hypermarket chain has shuttered 13 others since the start of the year.

The newly opened shops, which include RT-Mart stores, RT-Super mid-sized superstores, and M-Club membership outlets, are located in 11 Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing, and Jilin, the person told Yicai yesterday, adding that the closed stores were in part shut as a result of strategic adjustments.

RT-Mart’s stores in Hunan, Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan, and many other provincial-level regions have shut or publicly announced their closure this year.

The new M-Club outlets were revamped and upgraded from RT-Mart stores, the source said.

Sun Art will likely open 16 stores in the fiscal year 2025, including RT-Mart and RT-Super outlets, and finish the 2.0 version restructuring of 90 existing RT-Mart stores, according to the source. M-Club will add five stores in the fiscal year and 15 over the next three years, the person said.

The increasing speed of RT-Super and M-Club store openings, which are responsible for the second growth wave, does not mean a contraction in RT-Mart outlets, Lin Xiaohai, chief executive of Sun Art, has said previously. On the contrary, RT-Mart will also open new stores in China, he said. 

Sun Art had swung into the black with a net profit of CNY78 million (USD10.8 million) as of the end of last March. Operating profit was CNY1.2 billion (USD163.5 million) on revenue of CNY83.7 billion (USD11.6 billion). But revenue likely tumbled 10 percent in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to the firm’s mid-term forecast for the fiscal year 2024.

Shares of Sun Art [HKG: 6808] closed 2.3 percent lower at HKD1.30 (17 US cents) each in Hong Kong today. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose almost 1 percent.

Editor: Martin Kadiev