In the three months to the 31^st of March, Stella's unaudited consolidated revenue was down by 25.8% from the same period last year, totalling 284.6 million US dollars. The company added that shipment volumes in the first quarter of the year decreased by 31.4%, year-over-year, to 9.6 million pairs of shoes “due to a high base effect with the group's manufacturing business running at a full utilisation rate during the corresponding period of last year” as well as the need of some of its customers to clear excess inventory. The average selling price per pair in this period stood at 28.8 US dollars, increasing by 7.5%, on a comparable basis to the same quarter of last year.

However, Mr. Chi Lo-Jen, Chief Executive Officer of the group, said that despite the revenue decline recorded in the first quarter of 2023, “profit after tax was in line with our expectations due to better customer mix and operational efficiencies”. He added that Stella expects its “order book in the first half of the year to be impacted, as some of our major customers deal with inventory challenges”, but is hopeful about the positive impact on its ordering activity for the second half of 2023 due to the removal of COVID-19 restriction in China from late 2022.

Therefore, Stella International remains confident of achieving the medium-term goals of its Three-Year Plan - an operating margin of 10% and low-teens annualised growth rate on profit after tax - by the end of 2025.