Besides its contribution to Hong Kong's continued economy recovery, the Individual Visit Scheme has also shown its impact on the Hong Kong stock market since its launch last July.

Some listed companies, especially those in retail sector have boosted their share price as well as profit due to the influx of travelers from Chinese mainland.

The share price of luxury goods retailer Dickson Concepts surged 330 percent, from 2 HK dollars (0.26 US dollars) to around 8.5 HK dollars (1.09 US dollars) in the past 52 weeks.

The share price of Sa Sa International, the chain stores for cosmetics was more than tripped, from around 0.9 HK dollars (0.12 US dollars) of last July to the present 3.1 HK dollars (0.4 US dollars), besides twice dividends split.

The gold and jewelry seller Hangfung Gold Technology doubled itself share price with the last 52 weeks.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index, the key barometer of Hang Kong stock market rose 20 percent, far behind those retail companies.

Amid shining performance in the stock market, these companies have greatly enhanced their profits thanks to the inflow of affluent mainland visitors under the scheme.

For the year ending March 31, 2004, net profit of Dickson Concepts nearly doubled to 120.3 million HK dollars (15.4 million US dollars). The net profit of Sa Sa International jumped 121 percent in the financial year ended in March 2004.

"The visitors from mainland are big buyers now," a shop assistance in Sa Sa said. Figures from the company show that the average purchasing amount of mainland shoppers has already surpassed that of local shoppers.

Spokesman of Hang Fung Gold Technology said, 70 percent of its customers are mainland visitors.

Stock analysts are optimistic of the retail sector, especially companies in jewelry, electronics and brand apparels business since these are mainland buyers' favorites. They say that with the Individual Visit Scheme expanding to another nine cities in three mainland provinces from July 1, 2004, Hong Kong retail sector will continue to get impetus.

Analysts from CLAS said they expect retail companies, such as Sa Sa International and Dickson Concepts to continue to beat the market for a period.

Source: Xinhua