(Yicai Global) March 29 -- Shares in Pop Mart International Group jumped 7.58 percent today after the Chinese toy retailer and the country’s largest seller of mystery boxes said profit surged 69.6 percent last year from the year before and that it is expecting overseas revenue to as much as triple this year.

Pop Mart’s share price [HKG:9992] finished at HKD33.35 (USD4.26). It will be good news for investors as the stock has lost 28 percent of its value so far this year.

Pop Mart logged adjusted net profit of CNY1 billion (USD157 million) in 2021, the Beijing-based company said in its latest financial report released yesterday. Revenue surged 78.7 percent to CNY4.5 billion.

Earnings from outside mainland China soared 85.2 percent year on year to CNY137.4 million (USD21.5 million) thanks to strong international business expansion and brand marketing, it said.

This year, overseas revenue should be between double and triple that of last year, a senior executive said at the earnings call. The firm will open two types of stores abroad - one with Chinese features and another with local characteristics.

And in future, overseas revenue should make up half of total revenue, Chief Executive Wang Ning said.

Online sales nearly doubled to CNY1.9 billion (USD298 million), making up 41.8 percent of total revenue, while sales at its brick-and-mortar outlets surged 67 percent to CNY1.7 billion, accounting for 37.3 percent of all earnings, the report said.

“The latest Covid-19 wave has created great challenges to the firm’s brick-and-mortar businesses this month, including the supply chain, warehousing and retail stores,” The Paper reported, citing a senior manager. “Some shops in Shanghai and Shenzhen are semi-closed, but the supply chain and warehouses have reopened,” he added.

The toy maker opened 106 new stores on the Chinese mainland last year, bringing the total to 288.

Editor: Kim Taylor