(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- Luckin Coffee, which only emerged from bankruptcy proceedings in April, posted a 72.4 percent leap in revenue in the second quarter from a year ago, despite the setbacks caused by a recent string of Covid-19 outbreaks, and the Chinese coffee house chain continues to open new outlets.

Luckin Coffee reported revenue of CNY3.3 billion (USD493 million) in the three months ended June 30, according to its latest financial report released yesterday. Although the company posted operating income of CNY241.6 million, this turned to a net loss of CNY114.7 million (USD17 million) under generally accepted accounting principles due to expenditure on litigation and taxes.

Luckin Coffee opened 615 new stores in the second quarter, bringing the total to 7,195. The Xiamen, southeastern Fujian province-based company has 4,968 self-operated outlets and 2,227 franchises.

The chain entered 14 new smaller cities in the three months ended June 30, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Guo Jinyi. Eleven were through franchises and three through self-operated stores. The profit margin for its self-operated outlets is more than 30 percent, he added.

“We successfully launched 34 new products during the second quarter and sold over 24 million cups of our ‘Coconut Cloud Latte’ from the time of its launch in April through to the end of June,” Guo said.

The coffee house chain did not escape the Covid-19 outbreaks unscathed, however. Every day around 900 outlets were closed in April and May, but this figure dropped to 152 in June and 96 last month as the flare-ups came under control, the report said.

Luckin Coffee named An Jing, former CFO at local services platform 58 Daojia, as its new chief financial officer yesterday. An takes the place of Reinout Hendrik Schakel who will still focus on his duties as chief strategy officer.

Luckin Coffee was discharged from the US Chapter 15 insolvency code in April after fully resolving its legal issues. The firm was fined USD180 million in December 2020 by US regulators for faking sales.

Luckin Coffee was brought low by a short seller’s report in January 2020 that accused it of fraud. It since confessed to inflating its 2019 revenue by as much as CNY2.1 billion (USD332.8 million) and its costs and expenses by CNY1.3 billion. It was expelled from the Nasdaq in June that year, ending a 400-day listing.

Editor: Kim Taylor