(Reuters) - Major global firms ranging from banks to chipmakers are taking a largely cautious stance on their China business amid a frail recovery at the world's second-largest economy from a pandemic slowdown.
Following are comments from some of the top firms on their China business during the latest reporting season:
Haleon The Sensodyne maker said sales from Fenbid pain reliever gel
doubled in China in the first half.
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) The coffeehouse chain saw a sharp recovery in China, with
third-quarter comparable sales surging 46%.
Merck & Co The drugmaker said use of Gardasil in China was the biggest
growth driver for the human papillomavirus vaccine.
Marriott The U.S. hotel operator said rebounding demand in China
International boosted its earnings.
Toyota The automaker said foreign exchange rate fluctuations and
its response to price cuts in China hurt its results there.
Panasonic (OTC:PCRFY) The battery supplier said it saw no sign of a full-fledged
recovery in the factory automation sector in China, and that
it would take more time for areas such as servers, data
centres and ICT to recover overall.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) The Tide detergent maker reported a 1% drop in its
fourth-quarter volumes, mainly due to weaker demand in the
Greater China region.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) "The China market, I think, has been well reported, hasn't
come back as strongly as people would have expected
overall," chipmaker Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.
Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) The German carmaker cut its full-year sales target after
sales dipped in China, its top market.
AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) The Botox maker said it has seen rates for aesthetics
treatments in China fully recover to pre-COVID levels and
continues to anticipate strong growth through the rest of
the year in the country.
Mastercard (NYSE:MA) Inbound cross-border travel to China stood at nearly 50% of
2019 levels, while outbound travel was nearly 70%, the
company said.
Anglo American (LON:AAL) The global miner said it has been surprised by how slow the
reopening of China has been but believed a recovery was
underway.
L'Oreal The Chinese market is "really picking up," although "not at
the speed everybody had hoped for," L'Oreal CEO Nicolas
Hieronimus told Reuters.
Mobileye Global Saw weak demand for its driver-assistance
technology in China.
Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) The world's biggest iron ore producer struck a cautiously
optimistic tone on China as the government has pledged more
policies to boost growth.
Nissan (OTC:NSANY) CEO Makoto Uchida said China sales outlook for the automaker
was now falling far below production capacity.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) The company saw strong demand for some juice business in
China but also flagged destocking activity in the second
quarter.
LG Energy The company warned it faces weaker EV demand in China than
Solution previously expected.
Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) The company witnessed significantly slower economic activity
Scientific in China during the second quarter. "We think it's
appropriate to assume that this condition remains in place
for the remainder of the year," said CFO Stephen Williamson.
Visa (NYSE:V) "Looking at Mainland China specifically, cross-border travel
continued to improve but remains well below 2019 levels,"
CFO Vasant Prabhu said.
LVMH The French luxury giant logged a strong rebound in China
during the second quarter.
3M Co The industrial conglomerate flagged continued weak appetite
for consumer electronics demand in China.
GE Healthcare The company saw improved demand for medical equipment in the
region in the recent quarter and that is expected to
continue as China prioritizes improved healthcare access
following the end of the pandemic.
Dow Inc The chemical maker said the anticipated rebound following
the end of pandemic curbs has yet to fully materialize.
EssilorLuxottica The luxury eyewear maker continued to benefit from a
recovery in China during the second quarter.
NXP (NASDAQ:NXPI) The chipmaker said China's export curbs on certain gallium
Semiconductors and germanium products did not impact the company.
ABB The engineering firm witnessed fewer new orders from China
in the quarter and said some customers were shifting
investments to other parts of Asia due to geopolitical
tensions.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) The lender called it the "biggest disappointment" as growth
decelerated after an initial post-reopening pop.