In today’s briefing:
- Giordano’s Acceptances Just Short of the 50% Voting Threshold; Offer Period Extended
- Fast Retailing – Downside Risk Mounts as Xinjiang Cotton Controversy Takes Centre Stage Yet Again
- Beneunder (蕉下) Pre-IPO: Popular Sun-Protection Brand, But in Competition with Apparel Producers
- Giordano (709 HK): Cheng’s Have 44.98%. Offer Extended
- Starbucks Corporation: CEO Change
- Skechers USA: Collaboration With Tokidoki & Other Drivers
Giordano’s Acceptances Just Short of the 50% Voting Threshold; Offer Period Extended
- The offeror and acceptances reached 44.98%, just short of the 50% minimum acceptance condition. The closing date has been extended to 13 September.
- If the offer is declared unconditional on or before 8 September, Giordano International (709 HK) shareholders who accept the offer will get HK$1.88 but not the dividend of HK$0.085.
- The offeror likely remains confident that it will hit the 50% threshold. At the last close, the gross and annualised spread for 17 Sep payment is 1.1% and 37.2%, respectively.
Fast Retailing – Downside Risk Mounts as Xinjiang Cotton Controversy Takes Centre Stage Yet Again
- Last week, The UNHR Office published a carefully worded report saying that the actions of the Chinese Government in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular, crimes against humanity”.
- Meanwhile, apparel brands in the US seem to be exploiting loopholes in the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act with Xinjiang’s clothing exports rising to a 2-year high in July 2022.
- With pressure mounting on US customs to increase oversight, Fast Retailing (9983 JP)’s newest growth pillar (the US) could be about to meet major setbacks in the near term.
Beneunder (蕉下) Pre-IPO: Popular Sun-Protection Brand, But in Competition with Apparel Producers
- Beneunder has large sales volume on Chinese e-commerce platforms and has a large physical store chain.
- However, outdoor brands and apparel brands compete with Beneunder and some brands’ prices are close to Beneunder.
- Beneunder has to keep physical stores and control online advertising budget.
Giordano (709 HK): Cheng’s Have 44.98%. Offer Extended
- Late last night, Giordano International (709 HK) announced the Offeror – the Cheng Family – had 44.98% in the bag after 20.41% of shares out had been tendered.
- The Offer has been extended for one week, until the 13 September.
- Whether investors receive the Offer consideration AND the interim divided is still up for debate.
Starbucks Corporation: CEO Change
- Starbucks has recently been in the news for its big CEO announcement with Laxman Narasimhan taking over the reins of the company from Howard Schultz.
- In this quarter, Starbucks continued to extend its coffee leadership, bringing and innovating further elements of premiumization and customization to the total coffee category, which includes plat-based, handcrafted, and cold coffee beverages.
- The demand for premium tailored cold coffee all over the world is enormous and this is bound to help the company.
Skechers USA: Collaboration With Tokidoki & Other Drivers
- Skechers had a solid quarter and surpassed Wall Street expectations in terms of revenues with strong growth that was distributed geographically and is evident in both its Direct-to-consumer and wholesale segments in spite of Covid-19 headwinds in various markets.
- During the quarter, the wholesale business of the U.S. increased because of improvements in categories and genders, including accessory and apparel lines.
- In the quarter, Skechers opened 46 stores owned by the company, which included 15 large box shores in the US.
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