Lifestyle Int'l 1H net down 7% to HK$1.02bn; div HK24.8 cts

    Lifestyle International (01212) said its profit attributable to owners for the six months ended 30 June 2014 dropped 7.2% year-on-year to HK$1,017.8 million, largely due to absence of an one-off disposal gain of HK$107.7 million upon disposal of a subsidiary that owned an investment property in Tianjin as recorded in the first half of 2013.
  Its basic and diluted earnings per share were HK62 cents.
  The turnover was HK$2,877 million, an increase of 0.9% from a year earlier. Net sales proceeds remained flattish at HK$6,601.1 million, with the Hong Kong operations contributing HK$4,769.1 million and PRC stores HK$1,832 million, respectively accounting for 72.3% and 27.7% of the Group's sales proceeds. 
  Gross profit margin as a percentage of net sales proceeds was 26.3% for the first half of 2014, compared with 25.6% for the same period in 2013. Gross profit rose 2.4% to HK$1,735.7 million. Gross profit margin as a percentage of turnover increased to 60.3% from 59.5% in 2013. The improvement in margin was mostly a result of the increase in the Group's average concessionaire rate which edged up from 22.4% to 23%. 
  The proposed interim dividend is HK24.8 cents (2013: HK26.4 cents) per share, payable on or about 27 August.