SUNING Appliance Co., China’s second-largest electronics retail chain, plans to open as many as 180 new stores annually over the next five years.

“We plan to open 150 to 180 stores this year, and will keep this pace in the next three to five years,” company president Sun Weimin said on the sidelines of a business conference in Shanghai on Friday.

Suning opened 71 new stores in the first half of this year, and at the end of June, it had a total of 413 outlets across the mainland.

The Shenzhen-listed company said last Tuesday that its unaudited net profit would show a 111 percent rise year on year in the first half due to an expansion of its sales network.

Net profit at the company, which kicked off an aggressive expansion amid stiff competition from Gome Electrical Appliance Ltd., the country’s top home electronics retailer, is expected to have reached 578 million yuan (US$76.39 million) in the first half.

The figure compared with 275 million yuan in the same period last year, the company said. It estimated its turnover had risen 61 percent to 19 billion yuan in the first half of 2007.

Suning competes with Hong Kong-listed Gome Electrical Appliance Ltd. and other companies such as U.S.-based Best Buy in China’s electronics retail market.

Shares in the company, a favorite of institutional investors, have jumped 329 percent over the past year.

(SD-Agencies)