Introduction: Online fashion giant Shein to file prospectus for London float
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.
Online fashion giant Shein is heading closer towards floating on the London stock market – a boost for the City, after the company’s efforts to list in New York hit a snag.
Shein, which was recently valued at $66bn (£52bn), is planning to file a confidential prospectus with the City regulator this month, according to several reports this morning.
This would take it a step closer to a London listing, and let it list more quickly if it decides to take the plunge – perhaps this summer, or in the autumn.
Sky News reported last night that the confidential filing could take place as soon as the coming week, although it could yet take place later this month.
Shein had initially aimed for a Wall Street float, but those ambitions have been rocked by political opposition as tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated.
Shein, which launched as SheInside in 2011 in Nanjing, China, has taken the fashion world by storm, offering a very wide range of very affordable clothing.
As my colleague Nicole Lipman explained in April:
On today’s “New In” page, there are 8,640 items (yesterday there were 8,760). The most expensive dress of the nearly 9,000 new arrivals – a floor-length, long-sleeved, fully sequinned plus-size gown, available in five sparkly colours – is $67. The cheapest – a short, tight piece of polyester with spaghetti straps, a cowl neckline and an all-over print of Renaissance-style flowers and cherubs – is $7.
I can buy casual dresses, going-out tops, workout leggings, winter parkas, pink terry-cloth hooded rompers, purple double-breasted suit jackets with matching trousers, red pleather straight-leg pants, cropped cardigans with mushroom embroidery, black sheer lace thongs and rhinestone-trimmed hijabs. I can buy a wedding dress for $37. I can buy clothes for school, work, basketball games, proms, funerals, nightclubs, sex clubs. I see patchwork-printed overalls and black bikinis with rhinestones in the shape of a skull over each nipple designated as “punk”. I can buy Christian-girl modesty clothing and borderline fetish wear.
In the grid of product listings, a yellow rectangle indicates if a product is trending: “Trending-Plazacore”, “Trending-Western”, “Trending-Mermaidcore”, and “Trending-Y2K” tags all appear in the new arrivals….
But, Shein’s high-octane ‘test and repeat’ model – in which it churns out thousands of new products a day – is also controversial, and seen the company dubbed “the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion”.
Shein has also been accused of using forced labour to produce its low-cost garments. In 2022, Bloomberg discovered that garments shipped to the US by Shein were made with cotton from the Xinjiang region, where China is accused of “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghur Muslim people.
But that probably won’t deter the City from embracing Shein, given the well-documented concerns that the London market is in crisis as some firms shift their listings across the Atlantic.
Also coming up today
It’s a busy day for economic news, with new surveys of factory bosses across the world giving a healthcheck on global manufacturing.
Traders are digesting yesterday’s Opec+ meeting, where oil producers agreed to extend their production cuts into 2025.
Tensions are rising in South Wales, where union leaders are preparing to ramp up industrial action at two steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue.
And in France, the government has been stung by a credit rating downgrade by S&P Global on Friday night, from AA to AA- with a stable outlook.
S&P Global cited France’s rising debts and lower-than-expected growth – a blow to Emmanuel Macron’s stewardship of the economy…
The agenda
-
7am BST: Russia’s manufacturing PMI for May
-
9am BST: Eurozone manufacturing PMI for May
-
9.30am BST: UK manufacturing PMI for May
-
3pm BST: US manufacturing PMI for May
Key events
Elsewhere in the business world, Frasers – the company behind Sports Direct – has appointed Sir Jon Thompson, the chair of the HS2 high-speed railway, as a non-executive director.
Thompson is an experienced hire – he has previously worked as the former CEO of the Financial Reporting Council, as the CEO of HMRC, and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
Frasers says hiring Thompson is part of its plan of “elevating its board and its confidence in its long-term growth strategy.”
Michael Murray, chief executive officer of Frasers Group (and son-in-law of founder Mike Ashley) told the City this morning:
“I am pleased to welcome Sir Jon to the Board at a very exciting time for Frasers Group. His appointment reflects the progress we have made to date on Frasers’ transformation and Elevation Strategy, as well as our ambitions for the future.
Sir Jon’s expertise in corporate governance and major project management will be invaluable as we enter the next phase of our strategy.”
Frasers has been on a drive to improve its practices, and its image, since the Guardian reported in 2015 that temporary workers at Sports Direct were receiving effective hourly rates of pay below the minimum wage.
Ashley – who we learned in 2017 would challenge subordinates to extreme drinking competitions, which once ended with him vomiting into a fireplace – handed over the running of Frasers to Murray in 2022. He still owns over 70% of the company, though.
Frasers has also recently appointed the boyfriend of Ashley’s youngest daughter to the company’s board.
Labour ‘holds talks with Shein’ over potential London float
The Labour Party has held talks with the boss of Shein to try to persuade the Chinese-founded fast-fashion company to opt for a blockbuster London float, The Times reports this morning.
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, Sarah Jones, the shadow minister for industry, and Chris Bryant, the shadow minister for creative industries, are understood recently to have met Donald Tang, the executive chairman of Shein, to discuss a potential initial public offering in London.
Sources told The Times that Labour, which could come to power after the general election in July, was “very supportive” of Shein listing in the UK.
As Shein was valued at around $66bn in a recent fundraising, it could be London’s biggest ever float….
The Financial Times agrees that landing a flotation of Shein’s size would be “a coup” for the “faltering” UK stock exchange.
The company hit a record of more than $2bn in profits for 2023, surpassing the $700mn of net income it generated in 2022 and $1.1bn in 2021.
By comparison, rivals H&M and Zara owner Inditex reported net profits of SKr8.7bn ($820mn) and €5.4bn ($5.8bn), respectively, in their most recent fiscal years.
Introduction: Online fashion giant Shein to file prospectus for London float
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.
Online fashion giant Shein is heading closer towards floating on the London stock market – a boost for the City, after the company’s efforts to list in New York hit a snag.
Shein, which was recently valued at $66bn (£52bn), is planning to file a confidential prospectus with the City regulator this month, according to several reports this morning.
This would take it a step closer to a London listing, and let it list more quickly if it decides to take the plunge – perhaps this summer, or in the autumn.
Sky News reported last night that the confidential filing could take place as soon as the coming week, although it could yet take place later this month.
Shein had initially aimed for a Wall Street float, but those ambitions have been rocked by political opposition as tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated.
Shein, which launched as SheInside in 2011 in Nanjing, China, has taken the fashion world by storm, offering a very wide range of very affordable clothing.
As my colleague Nicole Lipman explained in April:
On today’s “New In” page, there are 8,640 items (yesterday there were 8,760). The most expensive dress of the nearly 9,000 new arrivals – a floor-length, long-sleeved, fully sequinned plus-size gown, available in five sparkly colours – is $67. The cheapest – a short, tight piece of polyester with spaghetti straps, a cowl neckline and an all-over print of Renaissance-style flowers and cherubs – is $7.
I can buy casual dresses, going-out tops, workout leggings, winter parkas, pink terry-cloth hooded rompers, purple double-breasted suit jackets with matching trousers, red pleather straight-leg pants, cropped cardigans with mushroom embroidery, black sheer lace thongs and rhinestone-trimmed hijabs. I can buy a wedding dress for $37. I can buy clothes for school, work, basketball games, proms, funerals, nightclubs, sex clubs. I see patchwork-printed overalls and black bikinis with rhinestones in the shape of a skull over each nipple designated as “punk”. I can buy Christian-girl modesty clothing and borderline fetish wear.
In the grid of product listings, a yellow rectangle indicates if a product is trending: “Trending-Plazacore”, “Trending-Western”, “Trending-Mermaidcore”, and “Trending-Y2K” tags all appear in the new arrivals….
But, Shein’s high-octane ‘test and repeat’ model – in which it churns out thousands of new products a day – is also controversial, and seen the company dubbed “the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion”.
Shein has also been accused of using forced labour to produce its low-cost garments. In 2022, Bloomberg discovered that garments shipped to the US by Shein were made with cotton from the Xinjiang region, where China is accused of “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghur Muslim people.
But that probably won’t deter the City from embracing Shein, given the well-documented concerns that the London market is in crisis as some firms shift their listings across the Atlantic.
Also coming up today
It’s a busy day for economic news, with new surveys of factory bosses across the world giving a healthcheck on global manufacturing.
Traders are digesting yesterday’s Opec+ meeting, where oil producers agreed to extend their production cuts into 2025.
Tensions are rising in South Wales, where union leaders are preparing to ramp up industrial action at two steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue.
And in France, the government has been stung by a credit rating downgrade by S&P Global on Friday night, from AA to AA- with a stable outlook.
S&P Global cited France’s rising debts and lower-than-expected growth – a blow to Emmanuel Macron’s stewardship of the economy…
The agenda
-
7am BST: Russia’s manufacturing PMI for May
-
9am BST: Eurozone manufacturing PMI for May
-
9.30am BST: UK manufacturing PMI for May
-
3pm BST: US manufacturing PMI for May
