Online fashion group Shein expected to file prospectus for London listing soon – business live | Business
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Introduction: Online fashion giant Shein will file a prospectus for London
Good morning and welcome to our ongoing coverage of business, financial markets and the global economy.
Online fashion giant Shane is moving closer to a float on the London stock market – a boost for the City after the company’s efforts to list in New York hit a snag.
Shanewhich was recently valued at $66bn (£52bn), plans to file a confidential prospectus with the City regulator this month, according to several reports this morning.
That would take it one step closer to listing in London and let it list more quickly if it decides to make the move – perhaps this summer or autumn.
Sky News said last night that the confidential filing could happen as soon as next week, although it could happen as late as this month.
Shane initially sought Wall Street involvement, but those ambitions have been shaken by political opposition as tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated.
Shanewhich started 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:
There are 8,640 items on today’s New In page (yesterday there were 8,760). The most expensive dress of the nearly 9,000 new arrivals—a floor-length, long-sleeve dress all over sequins, available in five sparkling colors—costs $67. The cheapest—a short, tight polyester one-piece with straps, a 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 jumpsuits, purple double breasted jackets with matching pants, red leather straight leg pants, cropped mushroom embroidered vests, black sheer lace thongs and hijabs embellished with crystals. 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 jumpsuits and black bikinis with skull-shaped rhinestones above each nipple labeled “punk.” I can buy modest clothing for Christian girls and borderline fetish clothing.
In the product listings grid, a yellow rectangle indicates if a product is trending: the tags “Trending-Plazacore”, “Trending-Western”, “Trending-Mermaidcore” and “Trending-Y2K” appear in new arrivals….
But, to Shane the high-octane ‘test and repeat’ model – which produces thousands of new products a day – has also been controversial, and the company has been called ‘the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion’.
Shane has also been accused of using forced labor to produce its cheap clothing. In 2022, Bloomberg found that garments shipped to the US from Shane are made with cotton from Xinjiang a region where China has been accused of “serious human rights violations” against the Muslim Uyghur people.
But that is unlikely to stop the City from embracing Shane, given well-documented concerns that the London market is in crisis as some firms move their listings across the Atlantic.
Also due today
It’s a busy day for economic news, with new surveys of factory bosses around the world taking stock of the state of global manufacturing.
Traders are digesting yesterday’s OPEC+ meeting, where oil producers agreed to extend output cuts until 2025.
Tensions are rising in South Wales, where union leaders are preparing to step up strike action at two steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over the loss of almost 3,000 jobs that threatens to become a major issue in the general election.
And in France, the government was 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 management of the economy…
The agenda
-
7am BST: Russia May Manufacturing PMI
-
9am BST: Eurozone manufacturing PMI for May
-
9.30am BST: UK Manufacturing PMI for May
-
15:00 BST: US manufacturing PMI for May
Key events
Everywhere else in the business world, Frasers – the company behind Sports Direct – appointed Sir John ThompsonChairman of HS2 High Speed Rail, as a non-executive director.
Thompson is an experienced officer – having previously worked as the former Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council, as Chief Executive of HMRC and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.
Frasers says hiring Thompson is part of its plan to “elevate 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 delighted to welcome Sir John to the Board of Directors at a very exciting time for Frasers Group. His appointment reflects the progress we have made to date on Frasers’ transformation and upliftment strategy, and our ambitions for the future.
Sir John’s expertise in corporate governance and large project management will be invaluable as we enter the next phase of our strategy.”
Frasers has sought to improve its practices and image since the Guardian reported in 2015 that temporary workers at Sports Direct were being paid effective hourly rates below the minimum wage.
Ashley – who we learned in 2017 would challenge his subordinates to extreme drinking contests that once ended with vomiting in a fireplace – handed the reins of Fraser to Murray in 2022. However, he still owns over 70% of the company.
Frasers also recently appointed Ashley’s youngest daughter’s boyfriend to the company’s board.
Labor ‘in talks with Shane’ over potential London release
The Labor Party has held talks with Shein’s boss to try to convince the China-based fast fashion company to pick up a hit London store. The times reports this morning.
Jonathan Reynolds, shadow business secretary, Sarah Jones, shadow minister for industry, and Chris Bryant, shadow minister for creative industries, are understood to have recently met Donald Tang, executive chairman of Shein, to discuss a potential primary public offering in London.
Sources told The Times that Labour, which could come to power after July’s general election, was “very supportive” of Shane’s inclusion in the UK.
Since Shein was valued at around $66 billion in a recent fundraising, this could be the biggest London trade ever….
The Financial Times agrees that an IPO of Shein’s size would be a “coup” for the UK’s “wobbly” stock market.
The company hit a record of over $2 billion in earnings for 2023, surpassing the $700 million in net revenue generated in 2022 and $1.1 billion in 2021.
By comparison, rivals H&M and Zara owner Inditex reported net profits of 8.7 billion Swedish crowns ($820 million) and 5.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion), respectively, in their most recent fiscal years.
Introduction: Online fashion giant Shein will file a prospectus for London
Good morning and welcome to our ongoing coverage of business, financial markets and the global economy.
Online fashion giant Shane is moving closer to a float on the London stock market – a boost for the City after the company’s efforts to list in New York hit a snag.
Shanewhich was recently valued at $66bn (£52bn), plans to file a confidential prospectus with the City regulator this month, according to several reports this morning.
That would take it one step closer to listing in London and let it list more quickly if it decides to make the move – perhaps this summer or autumn.
Sky News said last night that the confidential filing could happen as soon as next week, although it could happen as late as this month.
Shane initially sought Wall Street involvement, but those ambitions have been shaken by political opposition as tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated.
Shanewhich started 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:
There are 8,640 items on today’s New In page (yesterday there were 8,760). The most expensive dress of the nearly 9,000 new arrivals—a floor-length, long-sleeve dress all over sequins, available in five sparkling colors—costs $67. The cheapest—a short, tight polyester one-piece with straps, a 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 jumpsuits, purple double breasted jackets with matching pants, red leather straight leg pants, cropped mushroom embroidered vests, black sheer lace thongs and hijabs embellished with crystals. 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 jumpsuits and black bikinis with skull-shaped rhinestones above each nipple labeled “punk.” I can buy modest clothing for Christian girls and borderline fetish clothing.
In the product listings grid, a yellow rectangle indicates if a product is trending: the tags “Trending-Plazacore”, “Trending-Western”, “Trending-Mermaidcore” and “Trending-Y2K” appear in new arrivals….
But, to Shane the high-octane ‘test and repeat’ model – which produces thousands of new products a day – has also been controversial, and the company has been called ‘the unacceptable face of throwaway fast fashion’.
Shane has also been accused of using forced labor to produce its cheap clothing. In 2022, Bloomberg found that garments shipped to the US from Shane are made with cotton from Xinjiang a region where China has been accused of “serious human rights violations” against the Muslim Uyghur people.
But that is unlikely to stop the City from embracing Shane, given well-documented concerns that the London market is in crisis as some firms move their listings across the Atlantic.
Also due today
It’s a busy day for economic news, with new surveys of factory bosses around the world taking stock of the state of global manufacturing.
Traders are digesting yesterday’s OPEC+ meeting, where oil producers agreed to extend output cuts until 2025.
Tensions are rising in South Wales, where union leaders are preparing to step up strike action at two steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over the loss of almost 3,000 jobs that threatens to become a major issue in the general election.
And in France, the government was 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 management of the economy…
The agenda
-
7am BST: Russia May Manufacturing PMI
-
9am BST: Eurozone manufacturing PMI for May
-
9.30am BST: UK Manufacturing PMI for May
-
15:00 BST: US manufacturing PMI for May
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