Shein’s British business made 1.55 billion pounds ($2 billion) in revenue in 2023, a filing by the online fast-fashion group showed on Tuesday, as it prepares for a hotly debated listing in London.

The annual revenue from the UK, Shein’s third-biggest market, was 38% more than it had previously reported for a 16-month period to the end of 2022.

The group’s rapid growth, fuelled by its low-cost business model of sending parcels to customers worldwide straight from factories in China, has disrupted the budget fashion industry and put pressure on incumbents such as Sweden’s H&M and London-listed Asos and Boohoo.

Shein, valued at $66 billion in a fundraising last year, is set to hold informal investor meetings in the coming weeks for a planned London initial public offering, sources said last week, as the group awaits UK regulatory approval.

A multibillion-dollar IPO would be a boost for London, which has struggled to attract big company listings in the wake of Brexit. But lawmakers have also called for scrutiny of Shein’s supply chain. The company has repeatedly said it is committed to respecting human rights.

Shein Distribution UK Ltd previously reported sales of 1.122 billion pounds over the 16 months from Sept. 6, 2021 to the end of 2022. It did not give a figure for the calendar year 2022.

The UK business booked a pretax profit of 24.4 million pounds in 2023, doubling from 12.2 million pounds over the previous 16 months.

Shein, which sells $5 tops and $10 dresses, does not publicly report its global results, but Coresight Research estimates it made $32.2 billion in sales worldwide in 2023, and that it could hit $50 billion in sales this year. By comparison, fast-fashion giant Inditex, which owns Zara, made 35.9 billion euros ($39.39 billion) in sales in its 2023 financial year.

Britain was Shein’s third-largest market in 2023 after the United States and Germany, according to GlobalData estimates.

However, Shein’s footprint in the country is small: the British unit hired an additional 19 people in 2023 for a total of 33 employees by the end of the year. The company’s 2023 wage bill was 2.5 million pounds, and it paid 5.7 million pounds in tax.

In the filing, Shein said 2023 milestones included pop-up shops all over Britain, and opening an office in Manchester, northwest England.

Shein’s business in Britain, the European Union and the United States benefits from customs duty exemptions on low-value parcels that allow it to send goods from China to shoppers’ doorsteps largely tariff-free.

Some competitors say this gives the company an unfair advantage, and politicians have called for the exemption to be scrapped. Shein has said it wants to work with policymakers to review the customs frameworks.

As it tries to win over decision-makers in the UK and Europe, Shein in July pledged to invest in the region.

Almost all of Shein Distribution UK’s revenue ñ or 1.39 billion pounds of it last year – are paid to its Singapore-based parent Roadget Business Pte Ltd. for purchases of the goods sold in the UK, the accounts show.

Shein Distribution UK Limited is a fully-owned subsidiary of Roadget Business Pte Ltd, and the ultimate controlling party is Elite Depot Limited, a company registered in the Cayman Islands, the filing shows. — Reuters

BEIJING/TAIPEI – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is escalating tensions with “sinister intentions”, China’s government said, ahead of a keynote speech Lai will give in Taipei that could set off a Chinese military response.

Lai, who took office in May after winning election in January, is detested by China which calls him a “separatist”. Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a view Lai and his government reject.

Responding late on Tuesday to comments Lai gave at the weekend on how it is “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said he was confusing right from wrong.

Lai continues to peddle a theory that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are two separate countries, it said in a statement.

“Lai Ching-te’s Taiwan independence fallacy is just old wine in a new bottle, and again exposes his obstinate stance on Taiwan independence and his sinister intentions of escalating hostility and confrontation,” it added.

Lai will give his main national day speech on Thursday, which marks the overthrow of the last Chinese dynasty in 1911 and the ushering in of the Republic of China.

The defeated republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name.

Taiwan’s China policy making Mainland Affairs Council said it was an objective fact that since 1949 the People’s Republic of China had never ruled the island.

“The Taiwan Affairs Office’s remarks have made Taiwan’s people see clearly that the Chinese communists regard themselves as the sole legitimate government of China and simply do not allow any room for the survival of the Republic of China,” it said.

China is likely to launch military drills near Taiwan in response to Lai’s speech as a pretext to pressure the island to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials say.

CHINESE DRILLS
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said they could not speculate on what China would or would not do.

“However, it is worth emphasising that using routine annual celebrations or public remarks as a pretext or excuse for provocative or coercive measures undermines peace and stability,” the spokesperson said.

China’s defence ministry on Wednesday reiterated its objections to U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, after the Biden administration approved $567 million in further defence support.

“What needs stressing is that arming Taiwan is encouraging Taiwan independence, and Taiwan independence means war,” the ministry said, echoing previous language it has used.

China’s military operates on an almost daily basis around Taiwan and regularly stages what Taiwan refers to as “joint combat readiness patrols”, most recently on Sunday.

China has also been carrying out a series of other drills in recent weeks, including operations with Russia in the Western Pacific and test firing an intercontinental ballistic missile last month.

Taiwan’s defence ministry told Reuters in a statement that China has been using various reasons to “legitimise its targeted military drills”.

“We continue to monitor and analyse the training dynamics of the Chinese communists around the Taiwan Strait in order to anticipate the situation,” the ministry added.

Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed.

China staged “punishment” war games around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s May inauguration.  — Reuters

BRASILIA – Brazil’s Supreme Court cleared X to resume service in the country on Tuesday, after the social media platform reversed course and started complying with court rulings billionaire owner Elon Musk had previously vowed to resist.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who had been locked in a months-long feud with Musk, gave X the green light to resume operations in Latin America’s largest country effective immediately.

In the decision, Moraes said X had met all the necessary requirements to start operating again in the country.

The platform formerly called Twitter had been suspended in Brazil, one of its largest and most-coveted markets, since late August after not complying with court orders related to hate speech moderation and failing to name a legal representative in the country, as required by law.

Musk, who had denounced the orders as censorship and called Moraes a “dictator,” started to reverse his position in recent weeks, with his social media network blocking accounts flagged by the court, tapping a local representative and paying pending fines.

Moraes, in his Tuesday decision, ruled that Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Anatel must work to allow X to come back online within 24 hours. Users in Brazil were still unable to access the platform as of 7 p.m. local time.

Through its Global Affairs account, X said it was proud to return to Brazil, adding that it “will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law” in the countries where it operates.

The Brazil dispute was one of a series of recent face-offs between Musk, who views himself as a champion of free speech, and governments including Australia and the United Kingdom seeking to prevent the spread of online misinformation.

Brazil’s communication minister said on Tuesday that X’s decision to pay the fines and comply with court orders was a “victory for the country.”

“We showed the world that here our laws should be respected, by whomever it may be,” Juscelino Filho said in a statement.

JUDICIAL BATTLE
X’s suspension initially came after an individual ruling by Moraes, who has spearheaded a local crusade against perceived attacks on democracy and the political use of disinformation.

His ruling was later unanimously backed by a five-member panel of the Supreme Court and its chief justice.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also voiced support for the move, saying that people with businesses in Brazil must follow local laws and the world was “not obliged to put up with Musk’s far-right ideology just because he is rich.”

Justices flagged at the time, however, that they would be open to reconsidering the suspension if X complied with rulings. The social media company initially said it would not abide by them because they were “illegal.”

Brazil is X’s sixth-biggest market globally and as of April had about 21.5 million users, according to data platform Statista. During the suspension, many users migrated to rival platforms such as Bluesky and Meta Platforms -owned Threads.

X had legal representation in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices in the country due to the orders from the court, which it dubbed “censorship orders,” without naming someone to assume legal responsibilities for the firm locally.

That eventually triggered the suspension, in a judicial battle that also affected another prominent business controlled by Musk, satellite Internet provider Starlink, whose accounts Moraes temporarily froze in order to cover fines imposed on X.

A new X representative, lawyer Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao, was tapped in late September, when X also said it had started to block accounts ordered by the court.

Earlier this month, the firm paid pending fines it had previously disdained, opening the door for reinstatement in the country.

With the suspension, X remained out of service in Brazil during the final month of the country’s municipal elections, which occurred on Sunday.

In many cities, however, including Sao Paulo – Latin America’s largest city – mayoral elections will head to run-offs on Oct. 27. — Reuters