Top French luxury goods companies L'Oreal and Kering reported strong third quarters as a rebound in demand in their key Chinese markets helped offset the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cosmetics giant L'Oreal said its three months to September sales were down only 2.0 percent at 7.04 billion euros and on a directly comparable basis actually showed a gain of 1.6 percent.

For the nine months to September, sales were up 8.6 percent from the same period last year at 20.11 billion euros as the company benefited from the rebound in China, where the virus first appeared late last year and was only brought under control by a massive lockdown which hit the economy hard.

Since then the Chinese government has steadily removed restrictions to the point where it reports only very few cases and life has returned more or less to a cautious normality.

China on its own showed a sales increase of 18.1 percent in the nine months while the broader Asia-Pacific was down just 1.9 percent.

L'Oreal made no forecasts for the full year but said it expected a positive second half, with sales growing on a like-for-like basis, helped by soaring online demand -- up more than 61 percent for the nine months and now accounting for nearly 24 percent of its business.

Separately, Kering said it too benefited from Asia's recovery, with better-than-expected third quarter sales of 3.7 billion euros showing a relatively modest fall of 4.3 percent.

In its second quarter, sales plunged 43 percent.

For the nine months period, sales were down 21.1 percent at 9.1 billion euros, it said.

"The group is almost back at 2019 levels... a remarkable (performance) in the current context," Kering finance chief Jean-Marc Duplaix said.

Duplaix said the North American markets had also performed very strongly, helped by government support for the economy.

Kering is home to top fashion brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga.

Goldman Sachs fined US$350 million in Hong Kong over 1MDB
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 22, 2020 - Global financial titan Goldman Sachs was fined US$350 million by Hong Kong's securities watchdog on Thursday for its role in the massive 1MDB Malaysian bribery scandal, the latest in a growing list of global punishments the firm faces.

Goldman Sachs Asia -- the Hong Kong-based compliance and control hub of the company -- showed "serious lapses and deficiencies in its management supervisory, risk, compliance and anti-money laundering controls", Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said.

The regulator added that Goldman had accepted the SFC's findings, leading to an early resolution of the disciplinary action.

The SFC said Goldman's failures contributed to the misappropriation of US$2.6 billion from the US$6.5 billion that 1MDB raised in three bond offerings in 2012 and 2013.

"Goldman Sachs Asia fell far short of the standards expected of a licensed intermediary in the 1MDB case and suffered not only reputational damage from its own failures, but also brought the securities industry into disrepute," Thomas Atkinson, the SFC's Executive Director of Enforcement, said.

Goldman Sachs Asia received US$210 million -- or 37 percent of the total revenue -- from the 1MDB bond offerings, which was the largest share among the various Goldman Sachs entities.

The SFC investigation concluded that Goldman Sachs Asia allowed the offerings to proceed despite numerous red flags not being properly scrutinised and answered.

The fraud involved former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and his cronies, and the cash plundered from state coffers bankrolled a global spending spree.

It was used to buy everything from artwork to real estate to a superyacht.

The Hong Kong announcement comes two days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman is preparing to admit wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal and pay the US government $2.8 billion.

The deal would end the criminal probe into the corruption case involving the Malaysian government's investment fund, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department has said more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by high-level officials at the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2015.

Two ex-Goldman bankers are accused of misappropriating billions, bribing officials and giving false statements in relation to bond issues they arranged for the fund.

The Malaysian government dropped the charges against Goldman in July after reaching a $3.9 billion settlement with the financial giant.

The firm, which posted profits of $3.5 billion in the latest quarter, had set aside more than $3.1 billion as of September 30 "for litigation and regulatory proceedings."

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China's super rich got $1.5 trillion richer during pandemic: report
Beijing (AFP) Oct 20, 2020
China's super wealthy have earned a record $1.5 trillion in 2020, more than the past five years combined, as e-commerce and gaming boomed during pandemic lockdowns, an annual rich list said Tuesday. An extra 257 people also joined the billionaires club in the world's number-two economy by August, following two years of shrinking membership, according to the closely watched Hurun Report. The country now has a total of 878 billionaires. The US had 626 people in the top bracket at the start of the ... read more