Property conglomerate Wharf (Holdings) reported an 11% increase in core earnings to HKD3.28 billion, but expects home sales in China to slow down in the second half. Turnover was up 13% to HKD9.74 billion and net profit including revaluation gains was up 31% to HKD14.3 billion. For the year-to-date Wharf said it generated CNY8.7 billion in property sales, or 58% of its annual target of CNY15 billion for this year. Director Lawrence Lee said the company had spent CNY13 billion on land acquisitions in the first half, raising its total land bank to 12.4 million square meters. It bought two development sites in Hangzhou, one in Suzhou and one in Changsha, and also acquired 50% stakes in four residential projects in Foshan. The company said property sales in China rose by 271% to CNY6.3 billion in the first half. Housing completions in the period came to 160,000 sq m, and another 400,000 sq m would be completed in the second half. Wharf’s holding company, Wheelock and Co, said its underlying profit amounted to HKD3.82 billion, up 72% from a year earlier as turnover rose 10% to HKD13.75 billion.

McDonald’s wants to open more franchised stores in western China in a bid to expand in a faster and more cost-efficient way. McDonald’s China issued its first “developmental licenses, a form of franchising, to a catering enterprise in Yunnan province last week. With the license, the franchisee will take over the operation of the existing 11 McDonald’s restaurants in the province and has the right to open new ones across Yunnan. Globally, more than 80% of McDonald’s 33,000 stores are run by franchisees. In China, however, the group only has six conventional franchised outlets and runs the other 1,300-plus stores itself. Under the developmental license, McDonalds will collect a royalty based on restaurant sales. The company was also looking for franchise partners in other inland provinces, but would continue a self-run business model in first- and second-tier cities in coastal regions. McDonald’s is trying to catch up with major rival KFC, owned by Yum! Brands, which runs more than 3,000 restaurants in China, more than double the number run by McDonald’s.

Sportswear maker Li Ning plans to open 56 so-called “factory outlets” to clear mounting inventory after reporting a 49.5% plunge in net profit for this year’s first half to CNY294 million. Sales through factory shops and other inventory clearance channels amounted to 11% of total sales in the first seven months this year and would climb to 15% by the middle of next year, Chief Executive Zhang Zhiyong said. Merchandise offered in such outlets is usually half the price of new stock. Li Ning earmarked CNY300 million this year to buy back distributors’ stock and plans to spend up to CNY300 million doing so next year. Revenue dropped 4.8%  to CNY4.3 billion. Li Ning’s share price has fallen 65% during the past year. Zhang said the profit decline in the first half of the year was mainly due to a drop in revenue, increases in advertising expenses and a dramatic rise in rents and labor costs. He expected the gross profit margin would still be under pressure in the second half despite falling prices of raw materials since July. The company plans to focus more on high-end products, such as sports shoes priced at CNY400 or higher. As of the end of July, Li Ning operated 8,163 shops across the country. The total number is expected to reach 8,300 by the end of this year, and climb to 8,650 and 9,000 in the years 2012 and 2013, the South China Morning Post reports.

Ikea Group plans to have 17 stores and triple staff numbers across the country by 2015, according to Gillian Drakeford, Ikea China’s Retail President. After 13 years in China, Ikea now operates nine stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Dalian and Shenyang. The retailer has a global network of 324 stores in 38 countries, and the Asian market only contributed 6% to its global revenue. The rapid expansion will make China one of Ikea’s top 10 markets by 2015. During the company’s 2011 fiscal year, which will end on August 31, Ikea China’s business has grown 20% to CNY4.9 billion from a year earlier. “We’ve also seen year-on-year growth of 27% in visitor numbers to more than 32 million during the past fiscal year,” Drakeford said. “We see huge potential in the future, even when China’s real estate sector slows down, as more Chinese people pay attention to lifestyle and always want to improve and change their life at home,” she told China Daily.

A groundbreaking experiment to find answers about the origins of the universe has begun at the Daya Bay nuclear plant in Guangdong province. After eight years of preparation, two detectors began measuring subatomic particles, or neutrinos, which are a by-products of nuclear reactions. The USD136 million project is being conducted by 200 scientists, led by experts from China and the U.S.