At the behest of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shanghai, the Shanghai Bailian Group has announced plans to acquire two retailers, Shanghai Join Buy and Shanghai New World, to integrate into its retail businesses in the city.

Hong Kong-based New World Department Store has published its annual report for its 2008-2009 fiscal year, showing that its net profit was HKD547 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.8%.

New World Department Store China has announced plans to invest CNY100 million to implement an image renovation in its 33 stores across China over the next two years.

According to the International Shopping Mall in Taizhou, Zhejiang, Hong Kong-headquartered New World Department Store has formally entered the shopping mall, starting operation on January 15, 2009.

New World Department Store China has acquired a real estate project for CNY287.540 million in Shenyang, Liaoning Province and plans to develop the project into its fourth directly-owned department store in the city.

New World Department Store says that it will open two new department stores — in Wuhan and Beijing.