Pedestrians walk past a branch of Chow Tai Fook in Hong Kong, China, October 12?2013. [Photo / dfic.cn]

Interim results from jewelry giant Chow Tai Fook show profits soared in the first half of the fiscal year until Sept 30, largely due to the "gold rush" earlier this year when the gold price slumped.

Chow Tai Fook has seen turnover surge to over HK$ 37.7 billion ($4.9 billion) in the first half of the fiscal year, up 48.5 percent year-on-year. Its net profit reached HK$3.5 billion, up 92.3 percent year-on-year. Gross profit was HK$9.97 billion, up 48.8 percent.

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The gold price dropped significantly between April and June this year. As a result, Chow Tai Fook’s sales saw robust growth during this period, largely due to the huge demand of the Chinese mainland market.

Chow Tai Fook has seen its sales in the Chinese mainland increase 38.3 percent to reach HK$19.4 billion in the first half of the fiscal year, taking up 51.4 percent of the company’s total sales.

The company said that deals paid via UnionPay or in renminbi took up about 59.6 percent of sales in Hong Kong and Macao.

Therefore, with the sales on the Chinese mainland market combined with those in Hong Kong and Macao, Chinese mainland buyers have contributed a total of HK$30.3 billion in the first half fiscal year, taking up 80.4 percent of the company’s total sales.

Chow Tai Fook has been further exploring the Chinese mainland market.

Up till the end of September, Chow Tai Fook had 1,261 directly-managed shops on the Chinese mainland, 52 more than last year. The number of franchise shops is up 8.7 percent to reach 473.