BEIJING, July 28 (TMTPost)— Shein disclosed some financial results and marketing progress as news about China-based online fast fashion giant’s listing in U.S. swirled.

Credit：Visual China

In his letter to investors on Wednesday, Donald Tang, Executive Vice Chairman of Shein, said the company’s profit hit record high in the first six months of the year, highlighting improvement in business expansion.  “We recorded the highest first half net profit in the company’s history, compared to a near break-even during the same period in 2022,” Tang wrote. “In particular, our continued momentum in the U.S. reinforces our leading position in the market.”

Shein first introduced its global integrated marketplace Shein Marketplace in April in Brazil, then in U.S. a month later. The marketplace is designed to host local and international third-party sellers on the Shein site alongside Shein-branded apparel products. Tang told investors the marketplace in Brazil now boasts 6,000 active sellers and the company has nearly tripled its gross merchandise value (GMV) in the country to nearly $100 million since the beginning of the year. The behemoth planned to expand goods categories on its marketplace to others including home appliances and other home products, according to Tang.

Shein’s disclosure came right after news triggered more speculation on its blockbuster initial public offering (IPO).

Reuters report in late June that Shein has confidentially submitted its IPO registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), choosing a popular way for private companies with less than $1 billion in revenue to pursue an IPO, and the deal could take place by the end of this year.

A confidential filling allows a company to privately file a Form S-1 registration statement for an IPO with the SEC for review, delaying the public filing until much closer to the actual IPO date. The company can take advantage of the period of secrecy to withhold sensitive information from competitors, or even to withdraw a registrations statement without alerting the public. Shein later denied the report. Its spokeperson called it “rumors”, without elaborating.

Shein is working with at least three investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and has been discussing with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq about its possible IPO, another Reuters report cited unanimous sources in the start of this month. Shein has reportedly not finalized timeline of IPO and the deal may not take place in the near future.

If Shein did proceed with the reported plan and launch IPO, it would be the most valuable Chinese company listed in the United States since 2021. Shein was valued at about $66 billion after it raised around $2 billion in a new founding round in May, shrinking more than a third from its valuation peak in April 2022. A funding round of $1 billion in April that year brought Shein a valuation of $100 billion. The fast fashion retailer accordingly entered into the top three most valuable private companies in the world, behind another TikTok parent ByteDance and the aerospace unicorn SpaceX, according to CB Insights, a global startup database and business analytics platform.

IPO can meaningfully strengthen Shein’s capability to raise funds, which is helpful to meet its urgent needs for new powerhouse as the retailer’s sales has slowed down since the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald cited analysts earlier this month. The development of IPO attempt remains to be seen given the U.S. scrutiny on Shein for a long time and tightening environmental regulations on imported products from U.S. and the European Union, the paper added.

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