Kappa supports Dongxiang success

China Dongxiang's (3818:HKG) strength lies in a couple of nudes. The company has exclusive rights to design, develop and market Italian fashion sportswear brand Kappa – famous for its logo featuring a naked man and woman sitting back to back – in China, Macao and now Japan. Today, Kappa is the leading fashion sportswear brand in China with 22% of the market, according to sports industry research house ZOU Marketing. Sales of its products, which accounted for 84.3% of Dongxiang's total sales last year, helped boost the company's revenues 94.2% year-on-year to Rmb 3.32bn ($486m, €351m, £305m) in 2008. Its gross profits also leapt 94.3% to reach Rmb 1.9bn.

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