Osim International, Asia’s biggest maker of massage chairs outside of Japan, plans to acquire Asian health and lifestyle brands and bring them into China to increase its presence in the country.

The growing affluence of young female Chinese customers is a potential market for Osim’s so-called specialty retail products, founder and Chief Executive Officer Ron Sim said in an interview yesterday.

 

“Women in their 20s and 30s are very strong buyers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia,” Sim said. “Over time, this segment in China will catch up.”

 

Osim aims to increase its stores in China to between 500 and 600 in five years from about 200 now, Sim said, reiterating a target given in March. Osim, which owns Chinese nutrition supplement retailer RichLife, said July 20 that second-quarter net income more than doubled to $12.1 million, with sales rising 12% to $131 million.

 

Sim spoke in an interview after Osim presented a new logo and branding strategy at a press briefing in Singapore yesterday.

 

Osim has gained 89% this year in Singapore stock exchange trading, after a sevenfold surge last year made it the best performer on the FTSE ST All Shares Index. The stock rose 3.1% to S$1 as of 11:13 a.m. today.

 

The company’s performance in the first half of 2010 can be sustained in the next five to 10 years, said Chief Financial Officer Peter Lee in an interview.

 

“Organic growth will be strong because we’re growing the Osim brand in China,” he said. “We’re looking at adding more brands and plugging them into our network of partners in the major cities.”

 

Osim’s business in north Asia, which includes China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, grew 15% last year and accounted for 54% of total revenue. In the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, the sales contribution from the region had grown to 59% of the total.