Britain’s business secretary said a London listing set a “gold standard” in terms of environmental, labour and tax regulation, countering any risk of moral hazard, when asked about Chinese online retailer Shein‘s intention to float.
Reuters
Jonathan Reynolds’ signal of support for the IPO came after London was dealt a blow when Unilever chose Amsterdam for the main listing of its ice cream business on Thursday. Shein confidentially filed papers with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in June last year, sources have told Reuters. But it has taken longer than typically expected for the regulator to sign off on a listing that could value the company at $50 billion.
Reynolds said the FCA made decisions about listings so he was speaking in abstract terms. “Our aspiration should be if there’s a business doing a lot of business in the UK, the gold standard for us is regulating from the UK,” he told reporters after a speech on Thursday. Shein has faced allegations that it uses cotton from China’s Xinjiang province, where the United States has accused the Chinese government of human rights abuses. Beijing denies any abuses.
It has also been accused of damaging the environment and avoiding tax, prompting some UK lawmakers to question its suitability for going public in the UK. Shein refutes these allegations.
Reynolds said: “If we have any concerns about any company, the best way to make sure we don’t have those concerns in the future is to regulate them here in the UK. “So I don’t see (a listing) as a moral hazard or controversial.”
Reynolds said he had wanted Unilever to opt for London, where it has its main listing. “We do a lot of work talking to a range of businesses to make sure they understand the political desire for them to come to the UK,” he said.
Pension reforms were one example of the steps the government was taking, he said. “But I feel we will not maybe turn around some of the sentiment until we’ve got some of those high profile success stories,” he said. “I would have liked Unilever in the UK.”
HanesBrands announced on Thursday fourth-quarter sales that surpassed expectations, coinciding with the news that its CEO, Steve Bratspies is stepping down from his post by year-end.
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The American apparel firm said sales from continuing operations rose 4.5 percent to $888 million, with U.S. sales increasing 3 percent over driven primarily by innerwear innovation. Internationally, quarterly sales gained 2 percent, as sales grew in Australia, the Americas, and Asia.
However, net losses for the quarter ending December 28 reached $12.9 million, including a $58.5 million loss from discontinued operations, thanks to the sale of the company’s struggling Champion which wrapped up in September.
“We delivered a strong quarter and full-year with results across all key metrics exceeding our expectations as the benefits of our transformation strategy are clearly working,” said Bratspies.
“We enter 2025 as a new company. We are a more simplified, focused business with a powerful asset base and significant competitive advantages. We believe we are well positioned to build on fourth quarter’s momentum and deliver positive sales growth, additional margin expansion, strong cash generation and continued debt reduction, providing us multiple levers to create additional shareholder value in 2025 and beyond.”
In a separate release, HanesBrands announced that Steve Bratspies will depart from the role of chief Executive officer of the company at the end of 2025, or upon the appointment of his successor.
Bratspies will step down from the North Carolina-based firm’s board of directors inline with the end of his tenure as CEO. He will stay on in an advisory role once a new CEO is named to support a smooth transition, according to a press release.
In light of the upcoming departure, HanesBrands said it has enlisted executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help with the search for the company’s next CEO.
“Having reached a positive and important inflection point in executing our strategy and looking ahead to the next leg of the company’s journey, the board, in concurrence with Steve, has decided that now is the right time to initiate a search for our next CEO. We are actively searching for the next leader who will continue building on our momentum for the next chapter of the company’s growth. We will provide updates as appropriate,” said Bill Simon, chairman of the HanesBrands board.
“On behalf of the entire board, we deeply appreciate the transformative leadership Steve has demonstrated throughout his tenure as CEO to make HanesBrands a new and better company. Steve led HanesBrands through a turbulent period in our industry, overhauling the company’s operating model, completing the sale of the Champion business and positioning HanesBrands as a global powerhouse in basics and innerwear. Under Steve’s leadership, the company has narrowed its focus and is now on track to deliver even stronger performance and increased shareholder returns in the coming years.”
HanesBrands extensive portfolio of apparel and innerwear includes Hanes, Playtex, Bali, L’eggs, Just My Size, Barely There, Wonderbra, Maidenform, Berlei, and Bonds.
Speed and efficiency are the cornerstones of successful fulfilment and THG looks to be ahead of the game on both counts.
THG Fulfil, its Ingenuity division’s fulfilment and courier management solutions ops, upgraded 10 million customer orders to next day delivery (NDD) in 2024. And at no extra cost to its customers, the division has been “helping to drive a 4-6% increase in customer retention rates”.
The comes as THG Fulfil said it’s “reaping the benefits of its enhanced warehouse automation capabilities” in both its Icon facility in Manchester, and its Omega facility in Warrington.
The former facility spans 780,000 sq.ft, featuring 380 robots and over 1.1 million SKU locations, “enabling THG Fulfil to manage up to one million outbound units daily”.
It noted real-time data analytics “have played a pivotal role” in its operational strategy. According to its own data, more than 82% of all NDD orders are placed after 2pm and 27% are placed after 10pm, “offering a clear incentive for both customers and retailers to extend NDD order periods as late as possible”.
It also said this insight has led to the extension of cut-off time for Next Day Delivery orders to 1am seven days a week, noting Fulfil’s extensive courier network is paramount to enabling this, and it currently has 200-plus courier integrations, delivering to 195 destinations across the globe.
“THG Fulfil is the only solutions provider in the UK that enables brands to offer such a late cut-off for next-day deliveries”, it claims.
It notes too that customers are increasingly shopping later, with a 7% rise in orders placed between 10pm and 1am compared to last year. But they are also increasingly opting for faster shipping, with 77% of its customers “rating speed of delivery as most important, resulting in an 8% rise in customers selecting NDD as an option”.
French beauty giant L’Oréal Groupe announced on Thursday the appointment of Ali Goldstein to the role of president of acquisitions for L’Oréal USA.
Ali Goldstein – Courtesy
Goldstein succeeds Carol Hamilton, who will be retiring from L’Oréal after a 40-year career with the Paris-based company.
In her new role, Goldstein will be responsible for identifying U.S. beauty brands and services for potential acquisition or investment across all four L’Oréal Divisions — mass market, luxury, dermatological and professional beauty. She will report to David Greenberg, CEO of L’Oréal USA and president of the North America zone.
Joining L’Oréal in 2001, Goldstein has served in leadership roles across L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, and Garnier. She then served as senior vice president, strategy & business development for the consumer products division (CPD), where she was responsible for identifying new business opportunities, including acquisitions and helping to develop the growth plan of the division in the U.S.
Since 2019, Goldstein has served as U.S. President of L’Oréal Paris, the largest brand in L’Oréal USA’s portfolio.
“Ali Goldstein’s unmatched knowledge of the industry and the American beauty market, her sensitivity to spotting emerging trends and scouting new business opportunities, and her decades-long experience of building powerful brands and setting them on a course for growth make her the perfect candidate to lead our company’s brand acquisition strategy into the future,” said Greenberg.
Earlier this month, L’Oréal said it had acquired a minority stake in Jacquemus, forging an “exclusive beauty partnership” with the independent French fashion label.