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RAPAPORT... Kingold Jewelry reported that its sales rose 20 percent year on year to $201.4 million during the fourth quarter that ended on December 31. The company's cost of sales increased 17 percent to $189.7 million. Profit surged 133 percent to $7.4 million or 14 cents per share. Fiscal-year sales improved 16 percent to $915.7 million and profit rose 25 percent to $32.7 million, or 60 cents per diluted share. The gold jewelry manufacturing firm processed 37.8 metric tons of 24-karat gold products during the year, representing an increase of 26 percent from 2011, and expanded its business reach into new geographic regions across China. Additionally, by the end of 2012, Kingold had signed agreements with four major Chinese banks and widened the geographic reach of its investment gold business to make products available at 366 retail bank branches across eight provinces in China. Zhihong Jia, the CEO of Kingold, said, "The last several months have been a strong period in our company's history, as we finished 2012 by reporting solid financial results and strengthened our financial position considerably through the closing of our recent financing and securing new sources of gold. Kingold beat its previously announced volume guidance by over 7 percent and achieved year-over-year growth in volume, net sales, gross profit margin and net income. We believe that gold design and processing companies like Kingold, with our developed distribution network, attractive designs and reliable product quality, are well-positioned to expand our brand and capture an increasing share of China's growing gold jewelry and investment market."
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