Retail

Evergrande contagion tests Beijing’s generosity

26 February 2021

China’s $10 bln retailer Suning.com threw a financial lifeline to the troubled property developer. Its founder is now selling a controlling stake as the embattled group faces $5 bln of debt due this year. A government bailout, which may be imminent, would send the wrong message.

Capital Calls: Pharma, Volvo delay, Hotels

24 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Big Pharma’s new popularity could give it leverage in Congress; China’s Geely can profit from Volvo IPO delay; and boutique hotels feel the heat.

Capital Calls: Petrobras CEO, Kohl’s

22 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro nominates a former general to replace the oil group's market-friendly boss, tanking the shares; and U.S. department store Kohl’s has some unhappy shareholders.

Capital Calls: Petrobras

19 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Brazil's president becomes Petrobras' activist.

Capital Calls: Walmart, Buffett/Chevron

18 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Walmart gets an unfair ding from investors over its latest earnings report; and the Sage of Omaha takes another bet on the profit still to be made from fossil fuels.

Russian retail IPO offers crowded bet on misery

15 February 2021

Fix Price, the country’s biggest discounter, may list in London and Moscow. It’s growing rapidly, thanks to pressured incomes in its home market and resilience to online rivals. That could justify a price tag of $9 billion, so long as investors shrug off rising competition.

Capital Calls: Third Point, Kraft Heinz/Hormel

11 February 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Dan Loeb’s hedge fund gets a good start in 2021, while Hormel Foods buys peanuts, but pays anything but.

UK grocer’s $10 bln LBO just about fits in trolley

4 February 2021

The Issa brothers and TDR will put in only $1 bln to buy Asda. The deal makes canny use of generous debt and property markets. Borrowing, while high, looks manageable so long as the gas pump tycoons can manage the triple threat of discounters, Amazon and Brexit.

Amazon exposes flip side of tech’s governance ills

3 February 2021

Jeff Bezos built a $1.7 trln e-commerce firm without the dual-class shares or majority stakes that entrench founders at Alphabet and Facebook. So as he drops his CEO role, his remaining executive duties matter a lot. Microsoft offers some lessons that Amazon seems to have heeded.

Bezos steps aside after living high on the hog

2 February 2021

Amazon’s founder will shed his CEO title to the head of its cloud division just as fourth-quarter sales jumped 44%. But 2021 begins an era where the $1.7 trln giant will be benchmarked against a new normal. That includes regulatory scrutiny the next chief will have to address.

Pain of China’s bad holiday will be widely shared

29 January 2021

Fresh Wuhan-style lockdowns have been imposed ahead of the Lunar New Year break, a week-long spending boom. Less travel may reduce disruption for factory owners but it’s a blow for already weak consumption. A subdued getaway will exacerbate the imbalances of China’s recovery.

Breakdown: GameStop, a financial markets whodunnit

28 January 2021

Wild surges in so-called meme stocks have created big winners and rising concern about what happens when market bystanders get hurt. As in a detective thriller, there’s a weapon, an opportunity and a motive. There’s also a good chance that the punishment will outweigh the crime.

Viewsroom: Short squeeze craziness, Oz in the lead

28 January 2021

Something completely wacky is happening with GameStop and a few other stocks favored by short sellers, and it’s likely to end very poorly for some armchair traders, Breakingviews columnists discuss. Plus, a visit to our Melbourne bureau for tennis and Google lessons. 

GameStop turns short-bashing debate on its head

25 January 2021

An army of option-toting armchair investors turned the U.S. video-game retailer from uber-short to overbought, its shares quadrupling in a week. Regulators and executives often blast short-sellers for profiting from corporate misery. The opposite phenomenon is just as unhealthy.

Corona Capital: Food delivery, Video games

25 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Hedge fund Tiger Global gets a taste for food-delivery investments; and Jagex, developer of fantasy game “RuneScape,” is flipped to Carlyle less than a year after its last sale.

Couche-Tard may be impulse buyer after French fail

21 January 2021

Founders of the minimart empire, blocked from buying Carrefour, have a super voting share that expires in 11 months. After that they’d need investor support for a big purchase like German grocer Metro. The 13% drop in the Canadian group’s stock shows fears of a short-term spree.

Burberry is entering the M&A danger zone

20 January 2021

The UK maker of fancy trench coats performed worse than most peers during the pandemic. Despite some positive signs, investors are attributing little value to CEO Marco Gobbetti’s turnaround plan. A cheap valuation and lack of dominant shareholders could entice cash-rich peers.

Indian beauty shop all dolled up with places to go

20 January 2021

Nykaa makes it easy for millennials in far-flung cities to buy branded cosmetics online. The TPG-backed startup is growing fast without discounting deeply while keeping a lid on losses. That should help a mooted $3 bln IPO valuation – if it isn’t snapped up by a tech titan first.

Corona Capital: Bank of America, Halliburton, NBA

19 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Bank of America’s animalistic analogies; Halliburton sees a recovery that can’t come soon enough; The New York Knicks’ valuation has its top spot to lose.

Corona Capital: Inflation, Poshmark

14 January 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Breakingviews panel predicts the end of the free-money era; and Poshmark’s IPO looks overdressed.