Gome Electrical Appliances Holding reported a 65.8% jump in earnings and set September 28 for a special shareholders’ meeting to try to thwart a challenge by jailed founder Huang Guang-yu, who is trying to wrest back control of the company. In May, Huang was sentenced by a Beijing court to 14 years in prison after being convicted on charges of bribery, insider trading and illegal operations. Huang was replaced by Chen Xiao as Chairman after being detained in 2008. Huang’s wholly-owned Shinning Crown Holdings on August 4 sent a letter to Gome’s board proposing a special general meeting to vote on Chen’s removal and the cancellation of a mandate to issue new shares. Chen said that capital was of vital importance to the sustainable long-term development of Gome, but added the board had made no decision on issuing additional stock at the moment. When Huang was detained “he left the company almost on the verge of bankruptcy,” Bloomberg quoted Chen as saying. Chen holds a 1.38% stake in Gome. It is widely anticipated that to dilute Huang’s 34% stake in the company, Chen and his team will issue new stock, the South China Morning Post reports.

By the end of 2014, the number of stores is expected to be doubled from 726 at the end of last year to more than 1,400, focusing mostly on China’s second and third-tier cities. The company plans to open about 100 new stores in the second half. Gome’s first-half profit rose by 66% to CNY962.3 million on strong consumer demand, enabling it to post its best performance since 2008. According to Thomson Reuters, Gome has 180 institutional shareholders, with JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Fidelity Fund accounting for 21% of the company’s institutional shareholders.