Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited ("Chow Tai Fook" or the "Company"; collectively with its subsidiaries, the "Group"; HKEx Stock Code: 1929), the world's largest jeweller by market capitalisation, today was pleased to announce that the Group celebrates its 85thAnniversary this year.
With 2014 marking the Group's 85th Anniversary, Chow Tai Fook is proud to have already accomplished several key objectives and initiatives from the very beginning of the year, such as the opening of its 2,000th point of sale, and the signing of exclusive agreements with existing and new business partners. The Group has also achieved substantial progress on several milestone projects, including the opening of its new headquarters and the commencement of production at the Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Park later this year.
In January, the Group's extensive retail network welcomed its 2,000th point of sale in Wuhan, achieving its expansion target well ahead of schedule. This 2,000th point of sale was also the first to introduce an interactive experiential shopping model to the industry, highlighting the brand's pioneering spirit and digital competence with impactful O2O synergy. In February, leveraging on its superior design and craftsmanship as well as its excellent sales and marketing endeavours, Chow Tai Fook was appointed by Disney as the exclusive distributor of Disney licensed products in the Greater China region, and was authorised to open the world's first and only in-store Disney jewellery corner in a Chow Tai Fook point of sale at iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
In a celebratory media luncheon organised on the occasion of the announcement, Dr. Henry Cheng, Chairman of Chow Tai Fook said, "Building on our 85 years of heritage, our business will move forward according to our established strategy. Most importantly, we intend to carry on in our efforts to nurture the talent of our craftsmen, ensure the quality of our products, improve our management system and streamline our company structure. By embracing new technology, we also look forward to systematically enhance our operations, so that our network may grow to over 4,000 points of sales in another ten years' time."
Looking ahead, Chow Tai Fook has also embarked on a number of major projects to further support the Group's sustainable growth and development. The Group's new Mainland China headquarters in Shenzhen will become operational by September, further enhancing its administrative and operational functions to cope with the Group's expansion in the Mainland China market. More importantly, the Group has also kick-started the construction of a 600 mu-large Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Park in Wuhan, a mega project of the utmost importance to the Group's future long term development blueprint in the coming decades. Construction work on the first phase of the Park has already picked up pace, allowing it to begin production as soon as September this year.
Across two centuries of operations, Chow Tai Fook has become the industry leader and a preferred jewellery brand for its unparalleled strengths and solid foundations. In February, Chow Tai Fook's prominent role in the industry earned the Group its appointment as the official global partner of the China Pavilion at the 2015 Expo Milano in Italy. Besides warranting the design and manufacture of exclusive limited edition jewellery products for this big international event, the partnership will most importantly provide Chow Tai Fook the chance to host a jewellery show at the China Pavilion, an invaluable opportunity to showcase the brand's excellence in jewellery design and craftsmanship to the world.
Having celebrated its latest accomplishments, the Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group now looks to leverage on its 85 years of heritage to cross yet more milestones, and carry on creating the finest jewellery and providing the most innovative shopping experience to its customers.