M

atahari Department Store (MDS), the nation'€™s largest department store retailer of fashion apparel, beauty and home products, has launched an enlarged store at Artha Gading Mall in Jakarta as part of the company'€™s store expansion plan this year.

MDS Artha Gading Mall has expanded to twice its original size of 5,451 square meters (sq. m) to 11,056 sq. m, making it one of the largest MDS stores in Jakarta, the company said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

'€œ[MDS] continuously upgrades its performance, not only in terms of finances but also in expanding its store network, as well as refurbishing existing stores,'€ MDS wrote.

The publicly listed company plans to open 10 to 12 new stores this year to add 69,000 sq. m to an 83,000 sq. m space to its store portfolio, along with 10,000-18,000 sqm of existing store expansions, according to the company'€™s presentation submitted to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

That compares with an additional nine new stores of last year.

'€œThe expansion area of MDS Artha Gading Mall shows MDS'€™ commitment to always improving the shopping experience for its customers,'€ the company said in the statement.

MDS Artha Gading Mall is also expanding its premium brand choices such as Disney Corner, Lee and Levi'€™s, in addition to other brands such as Logo, Tira Jeans, The Executive and The Royal Sporting House. The company did not disclose the amount of funds spent on the store expansion, as well as the overall capital expenditure planned for this year.

Its parent company, Multipolar, is part of business conglomerate the Lippo Group.

MDS is one retailer in Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy that has benefitted from the increased purchasing power of the middle-class.

'€œWe continue to have a positive outlook on trading for the year, seeing continued strength in top line growth driven by increased disposable income in our targeted customer segment,'€ said Michael Remsen, CEO and vice president director of MDS.

MDS, which targets the middle-class segment, booked a 12.9 percent sales growth in the first quarter of this year to Rp 2.68 trillion (US$232.43 million) year-on-year (y-o-y), 30 percent contributed by both the Greater Jakarta and Java areas, while the remaining 40 percent came from sales outside Java.

The company has 125 stores in operation located in 61 cities across Indonesia. Net revenue rose 19 percent to Rp 1.48 trillion during the first three months of this year from the January-March period last year, while net profit jumped 50 percent to Rp 123.1 billion.

Indonesia'€™s 5 to 6 percent economic growth in the past five years has made companies and individuals earn and spend more.

The country'€™s economy, which is more than 50 percent formed by domestic consumption, has seen its economic growth slow recently due to weaker exports, while consumption remains stable.

Shares in MDS, traded on the IDX under the code LPPF, have risen 30.5 percent so far this year, easily outperforming the broader Jakarta Composite Index'€™s (JCI) 16.4 percent gain.

The company, which has a total market capitalization of Rp 41.87 trillion, saw its shares close at 2.05 percent lower on Friday at Rp 14,350 apiece.