PARIS — Shiseido stock closed down at a 16-year low in Tokyo on Monday after the company reduced its profit guidance for 2023 on the back of a weakness in China and travel retail in the third quarter.
The Japanese beauty giant’s stock ended the day Monday at minus 14.3 percent, at 4,185 yen, or $27.57.
The company on Friday released third-quarter results, citing negative growth in the three months to Sept. 30. That was especially due to consumer pullback on Japanese products in China and travel retail because of Japan’s release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean.
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This summer, Japan began a controversial discharge of treated waste water from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Japan has maintained the treated water is safe, and the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed the plan.
Shiseido’s net profit in the third quarter declined 29.4 percent to 20.5 billion yen. The company’s sales were down 5.3 percent to 722.4 billion yen.
In the period, Shiseido’s sales in China retreated 9 percent on a like-for-like basis versus third-quarter 2022.
The group noted restricted marketing activities overall, such as the suspension of streaming on KOLs and new product campaigns, after the treated water was released in late August.
Shiseido also said negative growth widened in the travel retail channel, with sales down 25 percent in like-for-like terms, in the third quarter partially as Chinese consumers distanced themselves from Japanese products in light of the wastewater issue.
Due to the changing market environment in China and travel retail, Shiseido revised its outlook for full-year 2023. The company now expects net profit to be down 47.4 percent to 18 billion yen, whereas it had in February given guidance of 28 billion yen. Sales are expected to reach 980 billion yen, representing an 8.2 percent decline, versus the previously outlined 1 trillion yen.
