HONG KONG, CHINA. The share price of China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation Limited (China Tourism Group/CTG) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange surged by +8.03% today to close at HK$274.40.
Hong Kong trading resumed today after the three-day Lunar New Year holiday. At one point in the day the CTG stock reached an all-time high of HK$275.60.
The share price has surged +73.7% since CTG, the parent company of China Duty Free Group (CDFG) – the world’s biggest travel retailer by sales – began trading in Hong Kong on 26 August last year.
CTG’s primary listing is on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. There, its stock has risen by +19.8% in the same period, easing slight today to CNY230.50.
One of CTG’s key areas of strategic focus outlined in its secondary listing application was international expansion. As revealed by The Moodie Davitt Report yesterday, CDFG is one of ten international travel retailers to have expressed interest in presenting bids for the world’s largest duty free retail tender by turnover, covering 27 airports in AENA’s Spanish network.
CDFG also appeared at a pre-bid meeting this month for the Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 and 2 tenders, the only purely offshore player to attend.
Pre-pandemic the Korean duty free market – historically the world’s largest – was heavily reliant on Chinese buyers, though to a lesser extent at the airport. In pre-pandemic 2019, Chinese shoppers overtook Koreans as Incheon International Airport Terminal 1’s leading spenders by total sales, representing more than 46% of revenues. At T2, home to Korean Air, 31.7% of sales were to Chinese with Koreans the leading contributors.
Well-funded, deeply ambitious, and needing to show a growth story, CDFG is well-placed to leverage its power offshore as Chinese outbound tourism begins to recover after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The market seems to agree. ✈
