US luggage maker Samsonite says its net profits have leapt 18.6 per cent, but despite strong worldwide sales its expansion in China has been hit by an official crackdown on corruption.
The firm says its 2013 annual profits reached $US176.1 million ($A195.22 million), up from $148.4 million in 2012, with net sales hitting a record $US2.04 billion, up 15 per cent from the previous year.
However, China sales only grew 5.3 per cent after years of "stellar" growth, in part due to the official crackdown on corruption, group chairman Timothy Charles Parker said.
"Clearly, the slackening in the overall growth rate and official policy on gift-related purchases have had an impact on demand," he said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Since taking over as head of the Communist Party last year, President Xi Jinping has imposed an austerity drive on party and military officials as a means of reining in graft which has aroused public anger.
The leadership has issued a raft of bans ranging from fancy banquets to expensive gifts, affecting businesses that sell luxury goods from exotic foods to jewellery.
Asia, where sales in most markets grew by double digits for the reported period, is Samsonite's most important region in terms of revenue.
"There is no sign of any let-up in the global appetite for travel and tourism, especially in developing markets," Parker said.
Shares in Samsonite, which operates the luggage brands of American Tourister, High Sierra, and Hartmann, ended up 9.42 per cent at $HK22.65 ($A3.24), against a broadly weaker Hong Kong market.
Samsonite raised more than $US225 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in June 2011. Last year, it said it may acquire up to $US1 billion worth of Chinese and Asian brands in the next two to three years to diversify its product range.
By listing in Hong Kong, the luggage maker joined a slew of Western brands seeking to use the southern Chinese city to boost their presence in fast-growing Asian markets.
