China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Reports Third Quarter 20...( SHENZHEN China Nov. 26 Asia-FirstCall...),Health

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd. (NYSE: NPD) ("Nepstar" or "the Company"), the largest retail drugstore chain in China based on the number of directly operated stores, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.

    Financial Highlights

    For the quarter ended September 30, 2008:

    -- Revenue increased by 26.6% to RMB613 million (US$90 million) from
       RMB484 million for the same period in 2007
    -- Gross margin increased to 48.6% from 47.1% for the same period in 2007
    -- Net income was RMB36 million (US$5 million)
    -- Net cash flow from operations was RMB59 million (US$9 million)

"We are pleased to have achieved same store sales growth of 0.5% for the quarter and expanded sales in September, even with substantially decreased customer traffic in our stores for much of the quarter due to the Olympics and Paralympics Games that took place in China in August and September. We believe this sales growth was partially attributable to the effectiveness of our sales staff training initiative that we implemented in late July 2008. By strengthening our store staff's knowledge of both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products, we were able to enhance our customers' overall shopping experience, increase our customers' average purchase value per store visit and increase repeat customer visits," commented Mr. Jiannong Qian, Chief Executive Officer of Nepstar.

Third Quarter Results

Revenue for the third quarter of 2008 increased by 26.6% to RMB613 million (US$90 million) from RMB484 million for the same period in 2007.

Same store sales (for stores opened before December 31, 2006) for the third quarter of 2008 increased by 0.5% from the same period in 2007. Same
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