Luggage maker Samsonite International has decided to pursue a second stock listing in the United States, its single-biggest market by sales, to reach more investors and boost liquidity of the firm's shares.

Samsonite, which has been listed in Hong Kong since 2011, revealed that initiative in its interim results on Wednesday, ending months of speculation after initially mentioning the dual-listing plan in March.

"The company believes this dual listing will build on its strong investor support on the Hong Kong stock exchange and help the company continue to deliver on its value-creation goals," the company said in its filing. "The listing is also expected to increase liquidity of the company's shares and create an opportunity to reach investors in the US that is an important part of the company's global footprint and growth driver for its business."

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The company also announced a share buy-back programme of up to US$200 million.

Samsonite said its dual-listing plan would help the firm "continue to deliver on its value-creation goal". Photo: Shutterstock alt=Samsonite said its dual-listing plan would help the firm "continue to deliver on its value-creation goal". Photo: Shutterstock>

The company's plan reflects how Hong Kong's market valuation has cheapened through the past three years.

Hang Seng Index members are now trading at about 9.6 times forward earnings on average, according to Bloomberg data, versus about 13 times before the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020.

New stock offerings in Hong Kong hit the lowest in two decades in the first half of this year, putting the city at 13th place in a global ranking of initial public offering markets. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq ranked first and second, respectively, in the same period.

Samsonite on Wednesday reported a net profit of US$164.3 million in the first half of this year, up 7.7 per cent from the same period last year. Excluding foreign-currency effects, the increase was 16.1 per cent.

Net sales slipped 0.4 per cent to US$1.77 billion. Still, that amounted to 2.8 per cent on a constant currency basis compared to "a record first half in 2023 that was fuelled by strong travel demand and consumer spending, as well as large wholesale customers rebuilding their inventory levels", the company said.