(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Shanghai Jahwa United hopes to achieve double-digit growth in revenue this year, after a stellar first-quarter when the Chinese cosmetics giant returned to profit after a dismal 2022 due to the fallout from the pandemic, Securities Daily reported today.

Jahwa plans to do more marketing from the second quarter to achieve double-digit growth in earnings throughout the year, the report said, citing a performance meeting held yesterday.

Jahwa’s share price [SHA:600315] closed up 4.6 percent at CNY28.50 (USD4.12) today. However, the stock has lost nearly 10 percent of its value since the beginning of this year.

As the pandemic wanes, footfall in brick-and-mortar stores has increased significantly and e-commerce promotions launched by major brands during International Women's Day have also helped the recovery of the beauty industry, according to industry insiders.

Jahwa logged a 15.6 percent surge in net profit in the first three months from the same period last year to CNY230 million (USD33.2 million), the highest in four years, according to the firm’s annual and quarterly financial reports released yesterday. In 2022, net profit plunged 27.3 percent year on year to CNY472 million.

However, revenue slumped 6.5 percent in the three months ended March 31 to CNY2 billion (USD289 million), and last year it tumbled 7.1 percent to CNY7.1 billion.

Another industry leader, Proya Cosmetics, also achieved growth in the first quarter. Its net profit soared 31.3 percent to CNY208 million (USD30 million), while revenue surged 29.3 percent to CNY1.6 billion, according to the Hangzhou-based company’s financial report released on April 21.

The total retail sales of consumer goods in China jumped by 5.8 percent in the first quarter from a year ago to CNY11.5 trillion (USD1.67 trillion), according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Of this, the retail sales of cosmetics soared 5.9 percent to CNY104.3 billion (USD15.1 billion), a big turnaround from last year’s dive of 4.5 percent which was the first decline in nearly a decade.

Editor: Kim Taylor