(22 July 2015 – Hong Kong) New World Department Store China Limited (“NWDS” or the “Company”; Hong Kong stock code: 825), one of the largest owners and operators of department stores in Mainland China, is pleased to announce that the Company achieved record-breaking results of 13 Awards in 2014 LACP Vision Awards Annual Report Competition with its FY2014 Annual Report and Sustainability Report. The Company’s FY2014 Annual Report received seven awards including the Platinum Award in the category of “Consumer Services — Other”, the Bronze Award in the category of “Retailing - Multi-line Retail”, the Silver Award of the “Best Letter to Shareholders Worldwide” and the Platinum Award of the “Best Letter to Shareholders Asia-Pacific Region”. On the other hand, the Company’s first Sustainability Report published at the end of the previous year also garnered six awards including the Platinum Award in the category of “Sustainability”, the Silver Award of the “Most Improved Report Worldwide” and the Gold Award of the “Most Improved Report Asia-Pacific Region”. Furthermore, both reports topped the Asia-Pacific and Worldwide rankings, showcasing the Company’s seamless communication with its stakeholders on business and sustainability development issues.

The Company’s FY2014 Annual Report is themed on O2O user experience. The digitally-inspired graphics on the cover highlight the Company’s utilization of technology to integrate consumption, leisure and lifestyle, representing the Company’s business move with the times to customer liking. Besides, the Company’s FY2014 Sustainability Report has adopted a colorful watercolor design and a clover graphic on the cover to symbolize the equal importance of the four sustainability initiatives, namely community services, environmental protection, staff benefits and development, and operating practices. The content is mainly delivered by reader-friendly text and graphs to enhance its readability. Both of the reports embrace the Company’s sustainability belief and are produced with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper and soy ink to mitigate the possible impacts to the environment.

The Vision Awards Annual Report Competition was organized by LACP and it is one of America’s most recognized annual report competitions in recognition of outstanding annual reports produced each year. The 15th Vision Awards drew nearly 1,000 organizations from 24 countries in the competition and made the competition exceptionally intense. The judges evaluated the reports with eight categories, namely first impression, report cover, letter to shareholders, report narrative, report financials, creativity, message clarity and information accessibility, to have a comprehensive screening of outstanding annual reports.

The Company’s reports received full marks in most of the judging categories and the highest total score attained is 99. The judges commented that the reports are very creative, manage to deliver the Company’s strategies and goals clearly, and the content in letter to shareholders is exceptionally well done. As a result, the Company’s FY2014 Annual Report received seven awards including the Platinum Award in the category of “Consumer Services — Other”, the Bronze Award in the category of “Retailing-Multi-line Retail”, the Silver Award of the “Best Letter to Shareholders Worldwide”, the Platinum Award of the “Best Letter to Shareholders Asia-Pacific Region”, and ranked 22nd in the “Top 100 Annual Reports Worldwide”, ranked 9th in the “Top 50 Annual Reports in the Asia-Pacific Region”, and becomes the “Top 40 Chinese Annual Reports of 2014”; also, the Company’s FY2014 Sustainability Report garnered six awards including the Platinum Award in the category of “Sustainability”, the Silver Award of the “Most Improved Report Worldwide”, the Gold Award of the “Most Improved Report Asia-Pacific Region”, and ranked 27th in the “Top 100 Annual Reports Worldwide”, ranked 13th in the “Top 50 Annual Reports in the Asia-Pacific Region” and becomes the “Top 40 Chinese Annual Reports of 2014”.

Mr. Philip Cheung, Managing Director and Executive Director of NWDS, said, “NWDS always strives to maximize its transparency and deliver complete, accurate and the most updated corporate information to our stakeholders through the annual reports. We feel very encouraged for us to receive a recording-breaking amount of awards in this year’s LACP Vision Awards Annual Report Competition and this for sure would motivate us to further excel so as to enhance our communication with stakeholders and to boost their confidence about the Company.”

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