Ajisen China, a chain restaurant operator, will increase its number of outlets, expanding its chain network to 320 restaurants by the end of this year.

Currently the restaurant chain has 71 branches in Shanghai, 31 in Hong Kong, and 20 in Beijing.

Chairman and chief executive officer Daisy Poon said the company will continue its network expansion in the first-tier cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and further step into other second and third-tier cities steadily.

"We will expand our chain restaurant network, in particular focus on southern and eastern regions, and increase our pace in entering the untapped markets," Poon said.

Meanwhile, Ajisen will also expedite the construction work of four new production facilities in Shanghai and Chengdu, which will start operating in the third quarter of 2009. Its production facilities in Dongguan and Tianjin will be operational in the second and fourth quarter of 2009 respectively.

"Upon the completion of the four new major food manufacturing facilities, their designed capacity is estimated to support approximately 1,500 chain restaurants," Poon added.

Ajisen has established 11 food processing and distribution centers on the mainland, including two newly-built logistic centers in Kunming and Guiyang.

Chief financial officer Alan Zheng said capital expenditure of Ajisen amounted to HK$157 million in the first half, which was spent mainly to operate new restaurants, new production centers and to purchase new area for logistics plans.

(HK Edition 09/23/2008 page2)