Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1353
Tencent’s major shareholders reduce their holdings by 20.1 billion yuan this year
Since July this year, Tencent’s largest shareholder, South African Newspaper Group (Naspers), has reduced its holdings of Tencent by at least about 72.4 million shares through its Prosus. According to Tencent’s average share price of HK$301.43 during the period, Prosus reduced its holdings by about HK$21.82 billion (about 20.1 billion yuan).
The official website of Prosus shows that as of October 20, 2022, they hold about 2.6922 billion shares of Tencent, worth about 79.7 billion US dollars (about 577.3 billion yuan), and the number of shares held is 72.4 million shares less than at the end of June.
Currently, Tencent still accounts for 95.1% of Prosus’ total foreign equity investment. During the period, Prosus sold the 132 million shares of JD.com that Tencent distributed to it, which was worth $3.9 billion (about 28.2 billion yuan) at the end of March.
At the end of June this year, Prosus and Naspers announced that they would start an indefinite buyback, so they would sell small amounts of Tencent shares “on a regular and orderly basis” to raise the funds needed for the buyback.
At about the same time, Tencent launched the third round of repurchase during the year, which was suspended due to the 30-day silence period before the release of the quarterly report on August 17, restarted on August 19, and was suspended for the same reason on October 14 (announced on November 16). quarterly report). This year, Tencent has repurchased a total of 21.1 billion yuan, which is similar to the reduction of major shareholders.
Repurchase has limited support for the stock price. Tencent’s stock price has fallen by 36.22% since June 30. During the silence, Tencent’s stock price may come under more pressure.
Because the silent period of Hong Kong stock earnings reports only restricts companies and executives from buying, Prosus and other shareholders’ selling will not be affected. A stock sale at a foreign brokerage tells us that Prosus sells stock daily through programmatic trading, with no restrictions. If these selling orders drive down Tencent’s share price, Prosus passively sells more shares in order to maintain the established reduction amount, and larger selling orders may further lower the share price. (Gong Fangyi)
Musk and Twitter’s soap opera gets another season
The relationship between Musk and Twitter ushered in a new change. On Tesla’s latest quarterly earnings call, Musk said he was excited about acquiring Twitter, despite the price tag, because the long-term potential of the company is much higher than its current value.
The two were at a standoff in court earlier this month, and now advisers hired by both sides have stepped away from the lawsuit to try to broker a deal by Oct. 28, which is set by the court. But this Silicon Valley soap season could run for a few more seasons, with WaPo tweeting that Musk plans to lay off 75% of Twitter’s workforce.
Musk is said to have told potential investors in the takeover plan that he intends to downsize Twitter within months of the acquisition, reducing its current workforce of 7,500 to around 2,000. WaPo also pointed out that Twitter management has decided to cut $800 million in wages by the end of next year and slash infrastructure investment. This means that Twitter will face layoffs regardless of whether Musk takes over or not.
However, Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett said in a memo to employees that the cost-saving discussions occurred earlier this year, and that previous cost-cutting discussions have been put on hold since the merger agreement was signed. Confirmation of SK layoff plan. (Qiu Hao)
L’Oreal outperforms the domestic market, other foreign brands are not so good
According to L’Oreal Group’s latest financial report, they achieved a total of 27.94 billion euros in sales in the first three quarters of this year, an increase of 20.5% year-on-year in absolute terms and 12.4% in constant exchange rate terms. L’Oréal said in its earnings release that its performance far exceeded the global beauty market average, with all business divisions and regional markets achieving growth.
Among them, North Asia, which is dominated by China, achieved a 7.4% growth in performance over the same period, and L’Oreal said that the market share of the high-end cosmetics department once again broke a record. However, the overall sales volume is much less than that. In September, Tmall and JD.com’s beauty and personal care sales were about 14.294 billion yuan and 5.319 billion yuan, down 7.9% and 6.23% year-on-year, respectively.
Among skin care brands, several leading domestic brands, such as Proya, Marubi, Megajing, Natural Hall, and Winona, returned to double-digit growth in GMV in September. Among foreign brands, Shiseido’s monthly sales from June to September all fell year-on-year, Lancome’s year-on-year decline narrowed to 1% in September, and Estee Lauder’s growth was zero. (Gong Fangyi)
Truss on his back with a “golden parachute”
Truss’ short 45-day tenure as prime minister will not affect her future eligibility for an annual allowance of up to £115,000.
According to the British government website, Truss’s subsidy comes from a government compensation scheme called the “Public Service Cost Allowance”, which is used to pay the outgoing prime minister “due to his special status in public life”. salary.
Some British politicians want the government to refuse to pay the money, arguing that Truss has caused an economic catastrophe for which ordinary people are hurt. Fiscal stimulus policies such as Truss tax cuts and weakened regulations have made global investors doubt the next fiscal situation in the UK, and British stocks, bonds and sterling have all fallen sharply. For the first time in nearly 40 years, the British pound was nearly equal to the dollar.
But this does not affect the reward that Tras can get after he leaves. Just like what Wall Street often does to executives: give you a sum of money and let you go. This practice has a nice name, “golden parachute”.
An HBR article said the practice began during the U.S. merger boom in the late 1970s to ensure shareholders’ interests in M&A deals and to allay concerns about executives being fired after a merger. But later on, executives who leave because of competence issues or simply because of scandals can also receive millions of dollars in “rewards.” (Gong Fangyi)
OTHER NEWS
Pien Tze Huang’s third-quarter net profit increased by 18% from the previous quarter.
On the evening of October 21, Pien Tze Huang disclosed its third-quarter results. During the period, revenue was 2.193 billion yuan, down 3.08% year-on-year; net profit was 738 million yuan, down 17.64% year-on-year. Under the influence of the low base in the second quarter, Pien Tze Huang’s revenue and net profit in the third quarter both increased month-on-month, of which net profit increased by about 18% month-on-month.
Fosun Tourism’s revenue from overseas resorts in the third quarter was four times that of the same period last year.
According to the financial report disclosed by Fosun Tourism, the turnover in the third quarter was about 4.811 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65%. Among them, the Club Med business of resorts and hotels continued the recovery trend since the first half of the year, and its revenue increased to 3.397 billion yuan, which is the same as last year. 4 times over the same period.
Taking the initiative to give up some overseas business, Perfect World’s third quarter revenue and profit both declined year-on-year.
In the third quarter, Perfect World’s revenue and net profit both fell by about 30% year-on-year to 1.788 billion yuan and 304 million yuan. The announcement stated that it was mainly due to the sale of European and American subsidiaries at the beginning of the year. The related profits are no longer included in the scope of consolidation. If the revenue of the same period last year also excludes related overseas studios, Perfect World’s revenue will achieve single-digit growth.
Adidas China’s third-quarter revenue fell by double-digit year-on-year.
According to preliminary estimates of Adidas, sales in the third quarter increased by 11% year-on-year to 6.408 billion euros, and net profit fell 62.6% to 179 million euros. Among them, revenue in Greater China has declined by double digits for three consecutive quarters. In addition, Adidas once again lowered its full-year performance forecast for this year. The full-year net profit is expected to be about 500 million euros, compared with the previous expectation of 1.3 billion euros, and the revenue growth rate has been lowered from mid- to high-single-digit growth to mid-single-digit growth.
Snap’s third-quarter growth was sluggish, and it did not provide performance guidance.
The US social platform Snap’s revenue in the third quarter was US$1.13 billion, and the growth rate of 5.7% was the lowest since its listing in 2017. Snap said it canceled its performance guidance for the next quarter due to the uncertainty of the operating environment, and the market interpreted that its growth rate may continue to slow down. Apple’s new iOS privacy regulations and the current macroeconomic adjustment have hit the advertising business of Meta, Snap and other platforms. Snap’s shares fell more than 20 percent after the market closed.
India’s antitrust authorities fined Google $162 million.
India also asked Google to stop incentivizing mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install Google search services. The allegations allege that Google used Android’s search and app store to protect the dominance of its own services such as Chrome and YouTube. India is the second largest smartphone market in the world, and 97% is Android.
CATL is considering suspending investment in North America.
According to market rumors, CATL is concerned that U.S. restrictions on the origin of raw materials for power batteries will increase the company’s procurement costs, so it is considering suspending its plans to build factories in the U.S. and Mexico. In August this year, the United States passed the “Inflation Reduction Act”, which stipulates that power battery raw materials and “key minerals” must come from the United States or regions that have free trade agreements with the United States in order to receive subsidies. Given the current upstream supply pattern of power batteries, U.S. subsidies may not be enough to offset the increased procurement costs in the CATL era.
YMTC denied participating in the closed-door support meeting.
According to market rumors, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened executives such as YMTC and Sugon to discuss behind closed doors how to deal with U.S. chip export control regulations. YMTC issued a statement denying it, emphasizing that the company adheres to the “philosophy of globalization, marketization and compliance operations.”
In a deserted market, U.S. food delivery company Instacart delayed its IPO.
It is reported that Instacart, which submitted its filing secretly this year, has postponed its IPO due to the deserted market. They are scheduled to release financial information this week to advance the IPO. Instacart said that its business has never been stronger than it is now, with revenue increasing by 40% year-on-year in the third quarter and net profit doubling year-on-year.
Hermès saw strong growth across the board in the third quarter.
Hermes’ third-quarter revenue increased by 32.5% to 31.36 euros; all businesses increased significantly, sales in Greater China rebounded, and Asia (excluding Japan) revenue increased by 47%. On the same day, Gucci’s parent company Kering Group also released its third quarterly report, with revenue increasing by 23% to 5.137 billion euros, and Gucci’s revenue increasing by 18% year-on-year to 2.581 billion euros.
Kuaishou and Taobao resumed e-commerce cooperation.
After more than half a year of “disconnection”, Kuaishou announced that it will gradually restore the external links of Taobao Alliance products from October 28, and fully restore it on the 31st. At that time, Kuaishou’s live broadcast shopping cart, short video shopping cart, and business detail page will be able to send related products or services. Link. For Taobao, there is undoubtedly an additional traffic portal used by hundreds of millions of people every month, and for Kuaishou, it is an additional advertiser.
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