BUSINESS & MARKETS
The Economy as you take a Coffee Break.
The Window Was Open, the Kitchen Was Not Ready
Shein listed in Hong Kong on 1 September. Four weeks later it published its first set of results as a public company, and the market read them in a single morning. Adjusted net profit for the second quarter was 228 million dollars, down 67 per cent on the year before. The net margin fell from 6.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent. Revenue grew 0.9 per cent. Jefferies calculated that earnings had landed more than 10 per cent below the bottom of the range...
One Cough and the Whole Aisle Catches It
Nike reported its fiscal first quarter on 1 October. Revenue was 11.21 billion dollars, down 4 per cent on the year and down 5 per cent on a currency-neutral basis. Net income was 712 million dollars against 727 million. Greater China revenue fell 26 per cent, and operating profit in the region came in around 250 million dollars against expectations closer to 310 million. North America went the other way, at 5.13 billion dollars, slightly ahead...
The Recovery Plan Tells You How Far It Fell
BMW spent two days at the end of September laying out how it intends to get its profitability back, first in Munich and then at the company's Gut Schwaerzenbach retreat in Bavaria. The headline number is an automotive division margin of 3 to 5 per cent by 2028. The longer ambition is 8 to 10 per cent by the early 2030s. Read those two targets together and the second one does the talking. The most recent automotive margin was 2.3 per cent. The...
When a Company Stops Forecasting
Volvo Cars issued a profit warning on 2 October, telling the market to expect a significant negative impact on earnings as Chinese sales fell, and scrapping its full-year guidance in the process. The shares fell about 4 per cent on the day. The second part matters more than the first. A profit warning says the number will be worse than we told you. Withdrawing guidance says something colder: we no longer believe we can tell you the number. One...
Two Announcements, One Press Release
On the morning of 30 September, Greggs told the market two things. Sales in the thirteen weeks to 26 September were up 7.7 per cent, 3.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis, and the company now expected a modestly improved profit for 2026 rather than the broadly flat outcome it had previously guided to. It also proposed closing four manufacturing sites, with around 740 jobs at risk over the next two and a half years. The reaction was split in the...