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Tag: China

  • China sales help Armani bounce back from pandemic

    China sales help Armani bounce back from pandemic

    Sales at Giorgio Armani jumped 34% in the first half of 2021 as business in China and the United States helped the Italian fashion group bounce back, although it said it could be next year before it fully recovers from the pandemic.

    “The goal is to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, with… over 2 billion euros in direct consolidated revenues,” Chairman and CEO Giorgio Armani said on Sunday in a statement announcing 2020 results and the trend for January-June.

    The luxury group said consolidated net sales had fallen 25% last year to 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion), with most of the decline occurring in the first half of 2020.

    Luxury goods sales around the world fell sharply last year for the first time in years as the pandemic forced shop closures and brought international tourism to a virtual halt.

    “The drop in revenues in 2020 should be read not only as a consequence of the pandemic but also in line with Giorgio Armani’s own strategic principle of ‘less is more’,” said Armani Deputy Managing Director Giuseppe Marsocci.

    The Milan-based group did not give the value of total sales in January-June but said the positive sales trend so far this year pointed to a much better profitability scenario for 2021.

    For the whole of last year the group made a consolidated net profit of 90 million euros but an operating loss (EBIT) of 29 million euros.

    It also said on Sunday that its financial position improved significantly in the first half with net cash and cash equivalents of 1.088 billion euros “ensuring the financial resources necessary for the Group’s medium to long-term stability and growth”.

    Speculation about succession plans at Armani has come to the fore recently, especially after the 87-year-old designer said he could consider teaming up with another Italian company.

    Sources said earlier this month that John Elkann, scion of Italy’s Agnelli family, had explored a possible tie-up as part of plans to build a luxury conglomerate.

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  • Bally signs up Johnny Huang as brand ambassador

    Bally signs up Johnny Huang as brand ambassador

    Bally is underlining the strength of the Chinese consumer with its latest campaign as it has signed up Chinese actor and model Huang Jingyu, also known as Johnny Huang, as the campaign’s star and as its brand ambassador more widely.

    “The award-winning Chinese actor will reinterpret our pioneering spirit with his signature style and edge,” the company said. In its 170th anniversary year, it’s also planning plenty of major activities with the celebrity.

    The company has 60 stores in China and a dedicated webstore there, as well as a prominent presence on e-tail sites like Tmall and on local social media.

    Buit it’s not all about China, of course, with the actor also being known internationally. In fact, his appointment is the first time a Chinese personality has acted as global face for the label.

    The company said its new spokesmodel is “a formidable actor” with a “dynamic personality and modern sense of style” that works well with Bally.

    As well as fronting the AW21 campaign alongside model Zhao Jiali, he will continue as the brand’s ambassador for its SS22 imagery and will appear at Bally events such as store openings like that for the planned Bally Hike pop-up in Beijing. That store will feature a dedicated hiking clothing and accessories collection.

  • Jollibee plans to open Tim Ho Wan outlets in China

    Jollibee plans to open Tim Ho Wan outlets in China

    The Jollibee Group opened their third Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan branch in China on Sunday, July 11, in Shanghai’s Changning District, located at Nanfeng City Shopping Mall. The new store is located a few minutes away from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

    Customers can expect the usual mainstays of the famous Hong Kong dimsum restaurant – their famous baked BBQ pork buns, rice rolls, pan-fried radish cake, noodles, and more. The branch, which can accommodate up to 126 customers, boasts two floors and an al fresco dining area.

    The Jollibee Group plans to further expand within mainland China in the next four years with a target of 100 Tim Ho Wan branches. By September 2021, three more stores will be opening in Shanghai’s Hongkou, Jing’an, and Minhang Districts.

    The first Tim Ho Wan branch in mainland China was launched in September 2020 at Shanghia’s Jing’an Kerry Center. Tim Ho Wan’s Hong Kong branch in Sham Shui Po has been awarded a Michelin for 11 consecutive years.

    The Jollibee Group bought the master franchise holder of Tim Ho Wan in the Asia Pacific in 2018, entering into a joint venture agreement with the Tim Ho Wan Group to open restaurants in mainland China.

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  • Nokia secures first 5G contract in China

    Nokia secures first 5G contract in China

    Nokia secured a 5G RAN contract for China Mobile on Monday, making this the company’s first 5G contract in the country.

    Nokia was awarded a 10% share in one of three contracts tendered by China Mobile, while Ericsson obtained 9.6% of another contract. The total tender for all three contracts reached about $6 billion, with Nokia being awarded 4% of the overall tender. Comparatively, Ericsson was awarded 2%, dropping from about 11% last year.

    Together, Huawei and ZTE won the majority share in all three contracts to build 5G 700 MHz base stations for China Mobile and China Broadcasting Network. This is followed by a smaller local company Datang Corporation.

    China Telecom and China Unicom will also be disclosing awards of their respective 5G contracts.

    Currently, China is ahead of other countries in 5G deployments. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China had deployed 820,000 5G base stations by the end of March.

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  • Beyond Meat opens JD store, as Chinese remain wary of meat substitutes

    Beyond Meat opens JD store, as Chinese remain wary of meat substitutes

    Beyond Meat has launched an online store in China on e-commerce platform JD, as the plant-based meat maker aims to boost sales in the world’s biggest meat market, where consumer interest in meat alternatives is low.

    US-based Beyond Meat said the JD store will initially help expand the availability of its products in four major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and eventually in 300 cities across China.

    Its products are currently mainly available in China through its partnerships with Starbucks Corp, Yum China Holdings and Alibaba Group’s Freshippo markets.

    But expanding into the retail segment by selling on JD will help it reach a wider audience in the country, which is increasingly purchasing fresh food online.

    Online sales in China of fresh food, into which category Beyond Meat’s products fall, are expected to top US$46.4 billion this year, an increase of 18 percent from last year, according to consultancy iiMedia Research.

    Beyond Meat’s direct retail foray follows a similar move by Nestle in December, which launched a range of plant-based burgers, sausages, nuggets, and dishes suited to Chinese cooking.

    The push by global firms comes even as consumers in China are not exactly devouring plant-based meat.

    “Currently it is a solo dance by the manufacturers, the consumers are not joining the tango,” said Zhu Danpeng, an independent food industry analyst.

    A recent poll on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, found only 14 percent of 400 participants were willing to try plant-based meat.

    Chinese consumers are deterred by concerns over food safety as well as taste, said Zhu.

    Beyond Meat, which has set up its first manufacturing plant outside of the US in the eastern Chinese city of Jiaxing, near Shanghai, declined to comment on its sales in the market so far.

    A 454gm twin pack of plant-based beef will be sold at $32.50 on the company’s JD store. By comparison, 1kg of good quality domestic beef costs about $21.60 on JD’s fresh food platform.

    Beyond Meat is also adding Beyond Pork to its offering on JD, which has been created for the pork-loving Chinese market.

    It will also sell ingredients that are used in the cooking of local dishes such as stir-fry, dumplings, mapo tofu, zhajiang noodles and lion’s head meatballs to appeal to Chinese consumers.

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  • China Warns Against Stablecoins

    China Warns Against Stablecoins

    Beijing continues to express negative sentiments about cryptocurrencies, in the midst of a nationwide crackdown, this time with the central bank calling out stablecoins as a source of instability.

    Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People Bank of China, said stablecoins – a cryptocurrency usually pegged to a reserve asset like the U.S. dollar or gold – posed serious risks to the global financial system.

    Speculation of stable coins have threatened financial security and social stability while also being used as a payment for illegal activities and money laundering, Fan said at a press briefing yesterday.

    He added that the government had already taken some action to limit stablecoin growth in the country.

    In contrast, Fan underlined that the digital yuan did not have the same problems as stablecoins.

    He also highlighted that those interested can apply to join a «white list» at state-owned banks that distribute the digital currency with 10 million such users on the list.

    We have the confidence to continue increasing the scope of the trials,» said Fan, naming the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 as the location for the next key trial.

    While the promise of stablecoins is to act as a replication of fiat currencies, it is currently being largely used as a medium to park money on crypto exchanges for relative ease compared to cash.

    Alongside the broader crypto market, stablecoins have experience tremendous growth with the two largest coins – Tether and USDC – boasting a total market capitalization of over $100 billion, as of the end of May.

  • China Tightens Offshore Listing Rules

    China Tightens Offshore Listing Rules

    Chinese companies are set to face more even more pressures when listing abroad following a statement from the country’s cabinet that signaled tighter supervision.

    China will increase supervision over Chinese firms listed offshore, according to a statement from the State Council underlining a focus on cross-border data flows and security as well as illegal activities in the securities market such as fraudulent issuances, market manipulation and insider trading.

    The rule changes will empower domestic regulators to have influence over Chinese firms seeking to go public on foreign stock exchanges.

    The decision by Chinese authorities to revise listing rules follows ride-hilling giant Didi’s $4.4 billion market debut in New York last week.

    Shortly after Didi’s IPO, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched a probe against the firm and banned it from accepting new users during the review.

    Didi’s stock price has fallen by a around quarter to $12.49 from its post-IPO peak of $16.40.

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  • Tesla Sold 33,155 China-Made Vehicles In June

    Tesla Sold 33,155 China-Made Vehicles In June

    U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc sold 33,155 China-made vehicles, including those for export, in June, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Thursday.

    Tesla, which is making Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport-utility vehicles in Shanghai, sold 28,138 China-made cars in China and exported 5,017 cars in June.

    In May, Tesla sold 33,463 China-made cars.

    On Thursday, Tesla launched Model Y cars with a standard driving range in China, lowering the starting price for the vehicle to 276,000 yuan ($42,588) in the world’s biggest auto market.

    BYD sold 40,532 so-called new energy vehicles, which include battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, last month in China. General Motors Co’s venture with SAIC Motor sold 30,479 such cars.

    CPCA also said China sold 1.6 million passenger cars in June, down 5.3% from a year earlier.

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  • Paul Frank parent Futurity Brands names China CEO

    Paul Frank parent Futurity Brands names China CEO

    Futurity Brands Limited announced today the appointment of Mr. Zhu Jianshi, as Chief Executive Officer of Futurity Brands China. Stan Wan, Futurity Brands Chairman and Group CEO, said: “After a rigorous search, the Board concluded that Mr. Zhu’s expertise and considerable experience in the licensing, fashion and retail sector, along with his exemplary track record of achievements as a CEO and COO made him the outstanding candidate for the role.

    Mr. Zhu is an accomplished leader and has consistently demonstrated throughout his career the ability to innovate and introduce high-performance strategies in challenging environments yielding impressive growth and significant value creation. I look forward to his partnership in China to create a new chapter of success for the Futurity Brands Group.”

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  • Li & Fung reveals first private-label brands created for JD

    Li & Fung reveals first private-label brands created for JD

    Li & Fung Limited, the world’s leading supply chain solutions partner for consumer brands and retailers, today announced that as part of a strategic investment made by JD.com in 2020, it is partnering with JD.com to provide end-to-end digital supply chain management services for JD.com’s private brand initiatives.

    Together, they are creating a multi-category collection that includes homeware under the brands “Made by JD” and “Best Home”, and developing a pet product brand called “Jingmeng” (“Cute Pet”) to capture China’s burgeoning pet care market.

    Building on JD.com’s investment and strategic digital supply chain partnership with Li & Fung, focusing on private brands, the joint venture’s newest initiative will leverage the emerging C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) business model that is rapidly gaining momentum in Mainland China.

    C2M enables manufacturers to dramatically shorten the time from design to consumer from the industry average of 40 weeks to as little as two weeks, delivering high-quality, trend-responsive, products to the consumer. Products are tested in multiple SKUs of small quantities through e-commerce channels, providing more accurate data analysis of end-consumer preferences so that iterations can be made quickly and inventory can be adjusted in real-time.

    “JD.com can leverage Li & Fung’s 3D product design expertise and supply chain know-how to create and produce these new private label brands,” said Mr Wilson Zhu, newly-appointed head of C2M initiatives at Li & Fung.

    “By continuing to leverage the respective strengths of both companies we will deliver precisely what consumers are looking for – within their budget and at a much faster speed – through better forecasting, smarter production and maximum supply chain efficiency.”

    Mr Wang Xiaosong, Senior Vice President of JD.com and Head of JD.com’s private brands division said, “Li & Fung’s industry-leading 3D product design capabilities and wide-ranging product category expertise will greatly enhance our ability to create private-label brands that online consumers welcome and trust. The brand development process will also be informed by insights from our big data analysis”.

  • China’s Didi says app takedown may hurt revenue

    China’s Didi says app takedown may hurt revenue

    China’s biggest ride-hailing firm Didi Global said on Sunday that the removal of its “DiDi Chuxing” app from smartphone app stores in China is expected to have an adverse impact on its revenue.

    Earlier on Sunday, China’s cyberspace regulator ordered app stores to stop offering Didi’s app after finding that the company had illegally collected users’ personal data.

    “The company expects that the app takedown may have an adverse impact on its revenue in China,” the company said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, on Monday the cyberspace watchdog said it is investigating online recruiter Zhipin.com, and truck-hailing apps Huochebang and Yunmanman, ramping up its crackdown on the mainland’s tech companies amid tightened regulations on data security.

    The removal of Didi’s app, which does not affect existing users, comes days after Didi made its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange in an initial public offering that raised US$4.4 billion.

    In a June filing, Didi reported revenue of about 42.2 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) for the three months ended March 31. Of that, 39.2 billion yuan came from its China mobility division while about 800 million yuan came from its international business.

    Didi has a dominant position in the online ride-hailing business in China and operates in 4,000 locations across 16 countries.

    Didi said it will strive to rectify any problems, and will protect users’ privacy and data security.

    Since late last year, Chinese internet regulators have cracked down more sharply on the country’s tech giants for violations of rules.

    The Global Times, a tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, said in a Chinese-language commentary on Monday that Didi’s apparent “big data analysis” capability could pose risks to the security of individuals’ personal information.

    “No internet giant can be allowed to become a super database of Chinese people’s personal information that contains more details than the country, and these companies cannot be allowed to use the data however they want,” Global Times said.

    Didi gathers vast amounts of real-time mobility data everyday. It uses some of the data for autonomous driving technologies and traffic analysis.

    In its IPO prospectus, Didi said “we follow strict procedures in collecting, transmitting, storing and using user data pursuant to our data security and privacy policies.”

    A senior Didi executive said on Saturday that the company stores all China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is “absolutely not possible” that it passed data to the United States.

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  • H&M back to profit again, China sales hit by boycott

    H&M back to profit again, China sales hit by boycott

    Fashion retailer H&M’s global sales growth slowed in the second half of June and the Swedish company took a sales hit in China after its concerns over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang led to a social media-inspired boycott by shoppers.`
    The world’s second-largest fashion retailer aon Thursday reported a stronger-than-expected profit for its March-May quarter, after a loss in the same quarter last year.

    In China, sales were down 23% in local currencies when H&M was wiped off Tmall and domestic phone makers app stores in March after the retailer expressed concerns about the alleged Xinjiang human rights abuses.

    “With regards to China the situation remains complex. Beyond that we refer to what we have said before,” Chief Executive Helena Helmersson said, as H&M quantified for the first time the impact of the China boycott, which started on social media.

    H&M in late March said in a statement it was dedicated to regaining the trust of customers and partners China and that its commitment to the country remained strong.

    Helmersson said H&M was closely following the situation in Bangladesh – another main supplier – after a spike in coronavirus cases prompted the country to enforce a strict lockdown, although garment factories remain open.

    Group sales for June 1-28 were up a quarter year-on-year but 4% lower than in pre-pandemic 2019 as growth slowed from mid-June, highlighting a patchy recovery from the pandemic.

    Helmersson, speaking to analysts and reporters, attributed the easing in the second half of June to a combination of factors, including tough year-ago and 2019 comparisons, cold weather last week in some European markets, and how coronavirus restrictions were being eased.

    “We see signals of a strong recovery also in June, and that customers appreciate our collections,” she said.

    Analysts said the figures implied sales were down 9% on 2019 in the latter two weeks of June, and noted that rival Primark has also said trading was currently very volatile from week to week.

    “Recent weeks of trading highlight a mixed demand rebuild,” said Jefferies analyst James Grzinic.

    Quarterly pretax profit was 3.59 billion crowns ($419 million) against a year-earlier loss of 6.48 billion.

    “As more and more people are vaccinated and restrictions are eased, the world is gradually opening up and customers can once again visit our stores,” Helmersson said. “Online sales have continued to develop very well even as the stores have opened.”

    H&M said 95 of its 5,000 stores globally remained temporarily closed, against 1,300 at the start of March.

    Chief Financial Officer Adam Karlsson said the company was not unaffected by rising freight rates due to a global shipping backlog but it expected to mitigate them.

    H&M said prospects of paying a dividend for 2020 in the autumn were now very good after it failed to propose one at its annual general meeting in May.

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  • Alibaba Co-Founders Pledge Shares for Loans

    Alibaba Co-Founders Pledge Shares for Loans

    Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai are reportedly pledging their shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant in exchange for significant loans from global banks.

    The two tech billionaires have pledged their shares to banks including UBS, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs, according to a «Financial Times» report citing company documents.

    The shares pledged were made by offshore companies controlling more than half of Ma and Tsai’s stake in Alibaba – 5.8 percent as of December valued at $35 billion – through the documents did not disclose the number of shares pledged.

    The share-backed loans mark a stark contrast with Jack Ma’s positioning just nine months ago when he was originally due to be a beneficiary of Ant’s listing before Beijing stepped on the brakes for what would have been the world’s largest IPO in history.

    Since then, regulators have ordered heavy restructuring for Ant while Alibaba saw its share prices drop one-third alongside a $2.8 billion fine in April over monopolistic practices.

    Ma and his affiliates currently do not have any loans outstanding collateralized by the company’s shares. Tsai’s outstanding share-backed loans were easily manageable with prudent loan-to-value ratios to provide a substantial cushion against a potential margin call.

  • SoftBank-backed Dingdong raises US$95.7 million in downsized US IPO

    SoftBank-backed Dingdong raises US$95.7 million in downsized US IPO

    Chinese grocery app Dingdong, backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, raised about $95.69 million in its US initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday after slashing the size of the IPO to almost a fourth of its earlier target.

    Dingdong sold more than 4 million American depositary shares (ADSs) priced at $23.5 apiece, the lower end of its indicative price range.

    The company had earlier planned to raise up to $357 million in its IPO by selling 14 million ADSs priced between $23.5 and $25.5.

    Established in 2017 and also backed by Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, Dingdong operates mainly in China’s first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou.

    Rival online grocery company Missfresh Ltd, which is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, slumped in its Nasdaq debut last week. It was trading almost 17 percent below its IPO price until Monday’s close.

    Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, and Credit Suisse were the IPO’s lead underwriters.

    Dingdong’s ADSs are set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange later in the day under the ticker symbol “DDL”.

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  • China Bond Bankers Flee HSBC

    China Bond Bankers Flee HSBC

    HSBC has reportedly lost four bankers in its debt capital markets team covering Chinese state-owned enterprises as the business faces pressure from the Huawei incident and stressed relations with the U.K.

    Managing directors John Hai and Jiang Song have left HSBC in recent weeks, according to a report citing unnamed sources, with plans to join competing firms after more than a decade with the British lender.

    Hai and Jiang led client coverage of Chinese investment-grade issuers including state-owned enterprises (SOE).

    Two other bankers on HSBC’s China investment grade team have also left.

    The Chinese investment-grade bond team has 12 employees and the overall debt capital market (DCM) unit has about 20.

    According to the sources, HSBC has been missing out on dollar bond deals from Chinese SOE clients following the U.S. probe of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

    Dealmaking was also affected by U.K.-China tensions over political freedoms in Hong Kong.

    Despite the headwinds, HSBC continues to concentrate resources in Asia with reduction or exits from unprofitable operations in the U.S. and Europe.

    In addition to the transferal of three of HSBC’s most senior executives from London to Hong Kong, the bank has also made managing director-leveled hires in global co-head of capital financing Matthew Ginsburg and head of consumer and retail Heidi Chan.

    We continue to invest in our mainland China business – both onshore and offshore – and have seen recent strong momentum for our China DCM business, particularly in [the] public sector, FIG and high yield, said an HSBC spokesperson. As the leading foreign bank in mainland China, we are proud of our track record, and confident and optimistic about our ability to serve the financial and banking needs of our Chinese clients.

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