New President of GOME Made His Debut

GOME Home Appliance released its annual report on the afternoon of March 28, when Zhang Dazhong, new president of the company, made his debut. Mr. Zhang announced his slight changes in GOME s development strategy for the next five years and said that he was not sure how long he would work as president. Bain Capital remained low key in the conference, where it did not want to comment on its investment into GOME.

The report showed that GOME s sales volume went up by 19.32% to 50.91 billion RMB in 2010; its profit attributable to equity holders rose 39.25% to 1.962 billion RMB; and the company opened 139 stores and closed 39 stores with declined performance. By the end of 2010, GOME has a total number of 826 stores.

In his eight-pronged adjustment to GOME s development plan, Mr. Zhang attached great importance to opening stores, especially in second- and third-tier cities, hoping that these stores would account for 60% of the total number. He also stressed improving sales of every store so that the total sales could scale a new high in the future.