Gome closed 31 unprofitable stores during the nine months and opened 50 new stores taking the total to 847.

China – China’s largest retailer of CE and electrical appliances, Gome Electrical Appliance Holdings, has reported a 38% increase in net profit for the nine months to September 30, 2008.

The company’s profit was 1.74 billion yuan (A$370 million) after sales of 36.4 billion yuan (A$8.2 billion), an increase of 20% on the previous corresponding period. Same store sales increased by 3.1%.

Chairman under investigation  
Trading in Gome's shares was suspended last week amid reports that its chairman, Huang Guangyu, reputed to be one of the richest men in mainland China, is under investigation for stock market manipulation.

Gome said in a separate statement that it was in the process of verifying the accuracy of the news about its chairman and that it would make a formal announcement after the matter is clarified. Noting the "fine" results in the first three quarters of this year, the statement said that Gome's management is confident about future growth.

Gome CEO Chen Xiao described the outlook for the Chinese appliance retail sector as “challenging”. He said the global market had a seen a slowdown and China was no exception.