(Reuters) – Major global firms ranging from banks to chipmakers are taking a largely cautious stance on their China business amid a frail recovery at the world’s second-largest economy from a pandemic slowdown.
Following are comments from firms on their China business during the latest reporting season:
Commentary
Company
Procter & Gamble The Tide detergent maker reported an overall volumes fall of
1% in its fourth quarter, mainly due to weaker demand in the
Greater China region.
Intel “The China market, I think, has been well reported, hasn’t
come back as strongly as people would have expected
overall,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.
AbbVie Inc The Botox maker said it has seen rates for aesthetics
treatments in China fully recover to pre-COVID levels and
continues to anticipate strong growth through the rest of
the year in the country.
Mastercard Inbound cross-border travel to China stood at nearly 50% of
2019 levels, while outbound travel was nearly 70%, the
company said.
Anglo American The global miner said it has been surprised by how slow the
reopening of China has been but believed a recovery was
underway.
L’Oreal The Chinese market is “really picking up,” although “not at
the speed everybody had hoped for,” L’Oreal CEO Nicolas
Hieronimus told Reuters.
Mobileye Global Saw weak demand for its driver-assistance
technology in China.
Coca-Cola The company saw strong demand for some juice business in
China but also flagged destocking activity in the second
quarter.
Seagate The computer hardware maker said its fourth-quarter
Technology performance was impacted due to the uneven pace of the
Chinese economic recovery.
LG Energy Company warned it faces weaker EV demand in China than
Solution previously expected.
Thermo Fisher The company witnessed significantly slower economic activity
Scientific in China during the second quarter. “We think it’s
appropriate to assume that this condition remains in place
for the remainder of the year,” said CFO Stephen Williamson.
Visa “Looking at Mainland China specifically, cross-border travel
continued to improve but remains well below 2019 levels,”
CFO Vasant Prabhu said.
LVMH The French luxury giant logged a strong rebound in China
during the second quarter.
3M Co The industrial conglomerate flagged continued weak appetite
for consumer electronics demand in China.
GE Healthcare The company saw improved demand for medical equipment in the
region in the recent quarter and that is expected to
continue as China prioritizes improved healthcare access
following the end of the pandemic.
Dow Inc The chemical maker said the anticipated rebound following
the end of pandemic curbs has yet to fully materialize.
EssilorLuxottica The luxury eyewear maker continued to benefit from a
recovery in China during the second quarter.
NXP The chipmaker said China’s export curbs on certain gallium
Semiconductors and germanium products did not impact the company.
ABB The engineering firm witnessed fewer new orders from China
in the quarter and said some customers were shifting
investments to other parts of Asia due to geopolitical
tensions.
Citigroup The lender called it the “biggest disappointment” as growth
decelerated after an initial post-reopening pop.
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Niket Nishant, Granth Vanaik, Aditya Soni and Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Eileen Soreng and Maju Samuel)
