McDonald's vegan burger maker's sales plunge as shoppers turn to cheaper meat - latest updates

China’s imports and exports fell much faster than expected in July as weaker demand threatens the prospects of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

The grim trade numbers reinforce expectations that economic activity could slow further in the third quarter, with construction, manufacturing and services activity, foreign direct investment and industrial profits all weakening.

Imports dropped 12.4pc in July year-on-year, customs data showed on Tuesday, following a 6.8pc decline in June. 

Meanwhile, exports contracted 14.5pc, steeper than an expected 12.5pc decline and the previous month’s 12.4pc fall.

The pace of export decline was the fastest since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 and the tumble in imports was the biggest since January this year, when Covid infections shut shops and factories.

 Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said: 

Most measures of export orders point to a much greater decline in foreign demand than has so far been reflected in the customs data.

And the near-term outlook for consumer spending in developed economies remains challenging, with many still at risk of recessions later this year, albeit mild ones.

Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has revealed its sales jumped by nearly a quarter in the latest half year amid growing demand for travel.

The group, which owns a raft of hotel brands including Crowne Plaza and Regent, said its reported revenues hit $1bn (£780m) in the half year to the end of June, up 23pc from $840m (£658m) the prior year.

Its operating profit also jumped by 27pc to $479m (£375m) over the period.

It was driven by a rapid rebound in sales in China following the significant easing of Covid-19 restrictions at the start of this year, and buoyant demand for leisure travel.

Business and group travel have rebounded more slowly, IHG said.

The Australian company which was meant to buy failed battery start-up Britishvolt has been accused of missing the deadline to pay for the business.

Filings from administrators at EY said the final instalment of a nearly £8.6m payment, which was due on April 5, was still outstanding.

However, buyer Recharge Industries said: “We dispute we are in default.”

EY said that the Geelong-based firm had defaulted on its agreement to buy the business, which was meant to build a massive battery factory in the north east of England.

The report from EY to creditors said: “As noted in the proposals, the buyer purchased the company’s business and assets for £8.57 million.

“This amount was payable in a number of instalments. The final instalment remains unpaid and overdue. As a result, the buyer is in default of the business sale agreement.”

The report showed the Britishvolt likely owed somewhere between £130m and £160m when it went out of business.

The biggest debt, of around £26.7m, is to DC Energy, a company which was meant to supply around €100m (£86m) worth of electrode manufacturing gear to the British start-up.

Glencore reported a steep drop in first-half profit and slashed returns to its shareholders after disappointing Chinese growth weighed on commodity prices.

The mining giant reported first-half core earnings of $9.4bn (£7.4bn), half the record number it posted last year, although still one of its best-ever performances. 

The Switzerland-based commodity trader saw profits soar last year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices to records and dislocated global trade flows.

However, many of those pressures have now eased, while a sputtering economic recovery in China has hurt demand, knocking profitability across the mining sector.

Glencore said it would top up its dividend by $1bn and buy back a further $1.2bn of its own stock — also sharply lower than a year earlier, in part because the company says it is holding back $2bn in cash while it bids to buy Teck Resources’s coal business.

The two companies spent much of this year in a bruising fight after Teck publicly and repeatedly rejected a takeover offer from Glencore, which said it wanted to create two new, more specialised companies from their combined coal and metals businesses respectively.

The latest twist in the saga came in June, when Glencore proposed buying Teck’s steelmaking coal business for about $8 billion as an alternative to its full takeover bid. The company is holding back $2bn in cash in case it is successful. 

Torrential July rains combined with rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis to hammer retail sales, according to industry figures.

Our deputy economics editor Tim Wallace has the details:

Families are spending less than normal on clothes, as they do not need more summer outfits given the weather, and they are holding off making expensive purchases such as appliances and jewellery.

Shoppers spent 1.5pc more in July than they did a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium said.

However, prices are rising at a far faster rate, with the official inflation figure at 7.9pc in June and the BRC’s own data showing shop prices up 7.6pc in July, this indicates families are spending more money but taking home fewer goods.

Online sales fell particularly far, dropping 6.9pc even before taking account of inflation. July is usually an important month for online clothes sales, which were hit hard by the weather.

Plant-based meat substitute maker Beyond Meat said its revenue plunged by almost a third 30.5pc in the second quarter as consumer demand for its burgers and sausages fell despite price cuts.

Its shares have fallen 12pc in after-hours trading after it said revenue for the full year would be between $360m and $380m (£282m to £298m), rather than $375m to $415m.

In a conference call with investors, Beyond Meat president and chief executive Ethan Brown said the company had reached out to some of its competitors to discuss working together on ads that would help change perceptions about the category. He said: 

The main issue with the category is that it is not bringing in enough new consumers. 

The overall pie is not growing and that’s what we need to fix together with other companies.

Beyond Meat reported revenue of $102.1m in the three months to June, which was lower than the $108.7m Wall Street forecast, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

US revenue dropped 40pc as both retail and food service sales weakened. International revenue was down 8.7pc. International food service demand was flat compared to the same period last year, but retail sales were down nearly 16pc.

Beyond Meat makes plant-based burgers and nuggets in a partnership with McDonald’s in Europe, but those products are not offered in the US. Mr Brown said he expects more US fast food restaurants to add plant-based options in the near future.

Thanks for joining me. The supplier of McDonald’s McPlant burger has revealed its revenues slumped by nearly a third as shoppers turned to cheaper animal meat.

Beyond Meat shares have slumped 12pc in after hours trading after it lowered its profit forecast for the year amid “softer demand in the plant-based meat category”.

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What happened overnight 

Asian share markets were mostly weaker on Tuesday but the dollar strode higher as investors digested weaker Chinese trade data ahead of key inflation readings from China and the United States due later this week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.7pc, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. The index is down 2.9pc so far this month.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index started to recover some ground lost earlier in the day, but was still down 1.3pc after opening 1.7pc in the red.

Sentiment rebounded in China as the blue chip CSI300 index turned positive to be up 0.1pc after initially shedding 0.5pc.

Australian shares were up 0.2pc, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.3pc after earlier trading up by nearly 0.8pc.

Wall Street stocks rebounded after their worst weekly decline since March as companies released their latest earnings reports. 

The S&P 500 rose 0.9pc to 4,518.44 and recovered more than a third of losses recorded last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied jumped 1.2pc to 35,473.13, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.6pc to 13,994.40.

The benchmark yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 4.11pc, following comments from a Federal Reserve official signaling that interest rates could remain higher for longer to tame inflation pressures.