Estee Lauder on Tuesday expanded its restructuring plan that would include up to 7,000 job cuts and posted smaller-than-expected drop in second-quarter sales. Shares of the company, which fell about 49% last year, were marginally down in premarket trading.
The company said that the expanded plan is to help Estee Lauder return to sales growth and restore a solid double-digit adjusted operating margin over the next few years along with the aim to “manage external volatility, such as potential tariff increases globally.”
As part of its turnaround efforts to drive profit recovery, the company has been implementing restructuring programs, which include a series of changes in the executive team after Stéphane de La Faverie took on the role of Chief Executive Officer in January.
Estee Lauder expects to take restructuring and other charges of between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion, before taxes, consisting of employee-related costs, contract terminations, asset write-offs, and other costs associated with implementing these initiatives.
The company’s sales fell 6% to $4 billion in the quarter, compared with analysts’ estimates of 7.3% drop to $3.97 billion, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Shares of Calvin Klein-owner PVH Corp and genetic testing company Illumina fell in U.S. premarket trading on Tuesday after China placed the two companies on its “unreliable entity” list, making them eligible for sanctions.
Companies added to the blacklist can be subject to fines and a broad range of other sanctions, including a freeze on trade and revocation of work permits for foreign staff. PVH had already been under scrutiny from Chinese regulators over “improper” conduct related to the Xinjiang region.
For Illumina, China accounts for about 7% of sales. Two of its Chinese rivals, MGI and BGI, were listed in a U.S. bill that aims to restrict business with several biotech companies on grounds of national security.
Shares of Intel also fell 1% to $19.20 in premarket trading after the Financial Times reported that Chinese regulators were also looking to launch a formal probe into the chipmaker. An influential Chinese industry group called for a security review late last year against Intel’s products sold in China.
The announcement was part of a string of measures by China in response to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. China also said it was investigating Alphabet.
However, Alphabet’s shares edged up nearly 1%, as some of its key products, including its Google search engine, are already blocked in China and its revenue from the country represents only about 1% of its global sales.
Illumina’s shares were down 4.1% at $125.71, while PVH’s stock fell 2.4% to $80.49 before the opening bell.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour revealed Tuesday she has no intention of retiring, as the fashion legend accepted her latest prestigious UK honour from King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
Wintour, 75 – already made a dame in 2017 – was this time made a companion of honour, joining a select group never numbering more than 65 recognised for major contributions in their field.
Renowned British artist Tracey Emin was also at the palace Tuesday to formally receive her damehood, after both women were named in Charles’ first birthday honours list in 2023.
“It’s wonderful to be back at Buckingham Palace and I was completely surprised and overwhelmed to be given this great honour,” said Wintour, who removed her trademark sunglasses to receive it.
British-born Wintour – who has helmed American Vogue for more than three decades – noted that when she was last honoured, by Queen Elizabeth II, “we both agreed that we had been doing our job a very long time”.
“Then this morning His Majesty asked me if this meant I was going to stop working and I said firmly, no,” she added, wearing an Alexander McQueen outfit.
“It makes me even more convinced that I have so much more to achieve.”
The Order of the Companions of Honour, founded in 1917 by King George V, is limited to 65 members at any one time.
Those who have made a long-standing contribution to arts, science, medicine or government can be appointed, with Judi Dench, Elton John, David Hockney current honourees.
Wintour, who was raised in the UK to a British father and an American mother, has edited Vogue in the United States since 1988.
Over the ensuing decades she has earned a reputation as one of the most influential and formidable figures in fashion.
Emin, 61, one of Britain’s best-known living artists, was made a dame for her services to art.
A leading figure in the provocative Young British Artists movement of the late 1980s and 1990s, she has battled cancer and has undergone major surgery in recent years.
Trent Ltd. erased $2 billion in stock market value over two days on concern Shein’s entry into India may challenge the Tata Group firm’s dominance of the domestic fast-fashion space.
Shares of Trent saw their biggest fall in three months, closing 6.3% lower in a second day of decline, following news on Monday that the China-founded company has made a comeback to India in partnership with Reliance Industries Ltd. Trent shares were among the worst performers on MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific companies on Tuesday.
With Singapore-headquartered Shein restarting its India operations with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s company, Trent’s market share in fast fashion will be challenged.
Trent — India’s fastest-growing apparel retailer — has so far successfully thwarted consumption slowdown in the country as its value-for-money Zudio brand continues to lure shoppers through brick-and-mortar stores, offering fast fashion for bargains of as low as INR500 ($5.7).
“Value fashion segment gets more competition with Shein’s entry,” said Karan Taurani, an analyst with Elara Securities India Pvt. Taurani expects Shein’s product pricing could be at par with Trent’s Zudio but younger consumers have shown a tendency “to prefer offline shopping for apparel.”
Shein’s mobile app and India website, Sheinindia.in, were launched without any fanfare last week by NextGen Fast Fashion Ltd. — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd.