Shein’s revenues surged in the UK in 2023 as the Chinese e-commerce giant prepares for a London IPO.
The firm posted turnover of £1.6bn for the year, a jump of around 40% compared to the previous 16-month reporting period of September 2021 to December 2022, or a near doubling when adjusting for the length reporting reports. Profits during the year more than doubled to top £24m.
The sales figures propel Shein to among the biggest e-commerce players in the UK, positioning the firm for bumper growth and raising hopes that it could fetch a huge eleven-figure valuation if it proceeds with plans to list on the London Stock Exchange.
In accounts filed to Companies House this week, Shein said it had deepened its presence in the UK with the opening of a new office in Manchester. The company also underscored the presence of women among its staff, pointing out that 25 of its 33 UK employees were women, as well as both of its two directors and all four of its UK managers.
Shein is set to hold informal investor meetings in the coming weeks for its planned London IPO, as it pushes ahead with preparations, according to a report by Reuters. The flotation has yet to have been granted UK regulatory approval.
The fast-fashion business had originally planned a US IPO, it has been reported, but decided to swap a New York listing in favour of London amid hostility from lawmakers in Washington. Shein is understood to be eyeing a valuation of £50bn in London, which would comfortably make it the biggest-ever tech IPO in the UK.
The company’s business and employment practices have also come under scrutiny in the UK. Liam Byrne, a Labour MP and head of parliament’s business and trade committee, said the UK should introduce new legislation to increase scrutiny of supply chains that may include products made in the Xinjiang region of north-western China.
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “With Shein’s prices so low the London Stock Exchange needs to ask itself, whose suffering is subsiding those prices?”
“A company which has failed to make full disclosures about its supply chains as required by UK law, and where there are grave concerns about its factory working conditions has no place in London.”
A report by Wired last month found evidence of Chinese gig workers posting videos highlighting its allegedly precarious working conditions.