Car makers adjust to virus turmoil; Uniqlo, Burberry take hit
In this July 16, 2015, file photo, Chinese women take a selfie outside the Uniqlo flagship store in Beijing. Fast Retailing Co., parent of Uniqlo fashion chain, said it has temporarily closed about half of its 750 outlets in mainland China due to the outbreak of a new virus. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
BEIJING — Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo has reported that half of its shops in China are closed, as automakers were considering whether to reopen factory lines in China and counting the costs from the virus outbreak in China.
Here is a look at the latest developments on how the virus is affecting global business:
AUTOMAKERS
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. said Friday that sales in China in January by the company and its local partners fell 11.8% from a year earlier to 118,143 vehicles due to the virus outbreak and the extension of the Lunar New Year holiday. Nissan said earlier it was considering reopening most of its factories in China on Monday but would wait until at least February 14 for facilities in and around Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak. Toyota said it was keeping its factories in China closed for an extra week, through February 16, and will decided then whether to resume production. Toyota Motor Corp. has 12 plants in China, including four vehicle assembly plants. Honda Motor Co. said its three auto-assembly plants in Wuhan would stay closed through February 13.
RETAILING
Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo Co. said it has closed 350 stores, or about half, of its 750 stores in China, to comply with shutdowns of public transportation by various local governments and closures of malls where the shops are located. Parent company Fast Retailing said about 20% of its sales come from China.
Meanwhile, British firm Burberry, which gets about 40% of its revenue from China, said the impact has been significant. It shut 24 of 64 stores in China, and told the FT footfall had dropped as much as 80%. The impact in Hong Kong is bigger than from the protests, which had halved sales there in the last quarter.
COSMETICS
L’Oreal joined the growing list of beauty product brands expressing concern over the potential blow to sales due to travel restrictions that are vastly reducing demand from travels shopping at duty-free shops. The company said it expected a “temporary impact” on Asia’s beauty market, but that past experience suggests that “after a period of disturbance, consumption resumes stronger than before.”
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