HONG KONG, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Esprit Holdings Ltd (0330.HK), the second-most valuable apparel retailer in the Asia Pacific, said on Thursday its total sales in the three months ending in September fell 9 percent due to weak European demand.

Esprit

Stripping out the foreign exchange impact of its local operations, revenues in the period were down 2.6 percent.

Wholesale revenue was down 12.8 percent in local currency terms but retail revenue was up 10.8 percent for the three-months of the quarter - the first of its fiscal year ending in 2011.

Esprit, which competes with the likes of Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMb.ST), Inditex SA (ITX.MC), and GAP Inc (GPS.N), posted HK$8.51 billion ($1.10 billion) in sales from July to September down from HK$9.37 billion a year earlier, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Europe, which accounted for more than 80 percent of its total sales, saw a 14.5 percent revenue decline in Hong Kong dollar terms. But Asia Pacific sales were up 28.5 percent and North America and other sales rose 4.8 percent.

Same-store sales for the quarter were down 0.1 percent.

The company did not provide any commentary with the data, which was unaudited.

In September, Esprit posted a worse-than-expected 19 percent fall in second-half profit amid slower sales growth and euro weakness and said the wholesale market will remain challenging to the end of calendar 2010.

The stocks were down 17.9 percent so far this year compared to an about 6 percent rise in the broader market .HSI. (US$1=HK$7.76) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)