From the Sector

Beijing - Tencent Holdings Limited (“Tencent”) (00700.HK), JD.com, Inc. (“JD.com”) (NASDAQ:JD), and Vipshop Holdings Limited (“Vipshop”) (NYSE:VIPS), today jointly announced that Tencent, a leading provider of internet value-added services in China, and JD.com, China’s largest retailer, have entered into definitive agreements with Vipshop, a leading online discount retailer for brands in China, such that Tencent and JD.com will invest an aggregate amount of approximately US$863 million in cash in Vipshop at the closing of the transaction.

Pursuant to the share subscription agreement, Tencent and JD.com will subscribe for newly issued Class A ordinary shares of Vipshop in the amount of approximately US$604 million and approximately US$259 million, respectively. The purchase price will be US$65.40 per Class A ordinary share, which is equivalent to US$13.08 per American Depositary Share (“ADS”) of Vipshop, five of which represent one Class A ordinary share. The purchase price represents a 55% premium over the closing price of the ADSs as of the last trading day on December 15, 2017.

The transaction is expected to close in the near future, subject to customary closing conditions.  Upon the closing, Tencent and JD.com will beneficially own, taking into account any existing holding, approximately 7% and 5.5%, respectively, of Vipshop’s total issued shares. The Class A ordinary shares issued to Tencent and JD.com will be subject to a two-year lock up restriction. Tencent and JD.com will have the right to appoint a director and an observer, respectively, to Vipshop’s board of directors during the two-year lockup period. After the end of the lock-up period, for so long as Tencent and JD.com hold approximately 12% and 8%, respectively, of Vipshop’s total issued shares, or otherwise by mutual agreement with Vipshop, they will maintain director and board observer rights.

Concurrently with the entry of the share subscription agreement, Tencent and JD.com have entered into business cooperation agreements with Vipshop, effective upon closing, establishing a cooperative relationship among Tencent, JD.com and Vipshop. Under these agreements, Tencent will grant Vipshop an entry on the interface of Weixin Wallet enabling Vipshop to utilize traffic from Tencent’s Weixin platform, and JD.com will grant Vipshop entries on both the main page of JD.com’s mobile application and the main page of its Weixin Discovery shopping entry, and will assist Vipshop in achieving certain GMV targets through JD.com’s platform.   

“I am truly delighted about Vipshop's new strategic cooperation relationships with Tencent and JD.com,” said Mr. Eric Ya Shen, Vipshop’s Co-founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. “This undoubtedly is an important event for Vipshop as well as China's e-commerce and internet industries. We, together with Tencent and JD.com, will leverage our respective strengths to form a strategic cooperative alliance aiming to achieve a deep, win-win cooperation and to benefit internet users and consumers. We will develop a holistic cooperation with Tencent on the Weixin platform and expand our strategic alliance with Tencent into more and broader areas.  We will explore win-win opportunities in multiple areas with JD.com, including establishing a strategic alliance in collaboration with brand suppliers, and an on-line traffic alliance. We will continue to operate as an independent e-commerce platform and further deepen and enhance our leading e-commerce capabilities in fashion (including apparel, shoes, bags and accessories) and cosmetics categories as well as our strong female user base, thereby offering higher value and better user experience to our customers.”

“The strength of Vipshop’s flash sale and apparel businesses, as well as its outstanding management team, create clear and strong synergies with us,” said Richard Liu, Chairman and CEO of JD.com. “This partnership will further extend the strong inroads that we have made with female shoppers, and will expand the breadth and reach of our fashion business. We continue to add the top-notch partners to complement JD.com’s core strengths, ensuring that JD and our partners provide the best customer experience for every shopping need.”

Martin Lau, President of Tencent Holdings, said, “We are pleased to become strategic investor in and partner with Vipshop. We look forward to providing Vipshop with our audiences, marketing solutions, and payment support to help the company provide branded apparel and other product categories to China’s rising middle class. We already see substantial demand from our users to discover, discuss and purchase branded apparel in our applications, and we believe that connecting our users more deeply to products on Vipshop’s platform will enrich their online experiences while benefiting Vipshop. We are proud of the role our resources such as marketing technology, payments handling, and machine learning play in facilitating a healthy and diverse retail ecosystem, online and offline.” 

About JD.com, Inc.

JD.com is both the largest e-commerce company in China, and the largest Chinese retailer, by revenue. The company strives to offer consumers the best online shopping experience. Through its user-friendly website, native mobile apps, and WeChat and Mobile QQ entry points, JD offers consumers a superior shopping experience. The company has the largest fulfillment infrastructure of any e-commerce company in China. As of September 30, 2017, JD.com operated 7 fulfillment centers and 405 warehouses covering 2,830 counties and districts across China, staffed by its own employees. JD.com is a member of the NASDAQ100 and a Fortune Global 500 company.

About Vipshop Holdings Limited

Vipshop Holdings Limited is a leading online discount retailer for brands in China. Vipshop offers high quality and popular branded products to consumers throughout China at a significant discount to retail prices. Since it was founded in August 2008, the Company has rapidly built a sizeable and growing base of customers and brand partners. For more information, please visit www.vip.com.

About Tencent Holdings Limited

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our social products Weixin and QQ link our users to a rich digital content catalogue including games, video, music and books. Our proprietary targeting technology helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our infrastructure services including payment, security, cloud and artificial intelligence create differentiated offerings and support our partners’ business growth. Tencent invests heavily in people and innovation, enabling us to evolve with the Internet. Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (00700.hk) are traded on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, statements regarding the expected closing of the transactions and the quotations from management in this announcement are or contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to, those included in JD.com’s and Vipshop’s filings with the SEC and in Tencent’s filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and none of Tencent, JD.com or Vipshop undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

• Revenue up 9.4 percent to EUR 1,726.6 mn
• EBITDA improvement of 23.9 percent to EUR 397.1 mn
• Retail bond of EUR 120 mn redeemed – Lenzing with net liquidity as at end of September
• State-of-the-art application innovation center opened in Hong Kong

Lenzing – The Lenzing Group generated a substantial increase in revenue and earnings in the first nine months of the 2017 financial year compared to the prior-year period. The company is continuing the implementation of its Group strategy sCore TEN in order to further expand the offering of specialty fibers and be even closer to its customers and business partners.

Consolidated revenue climbed 9.4 percent year-on-year to EUR 1,726.6 mn. This increase is mainly attributable to higher prices for all three fiber generations. Consolidated earnings before tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 23.9 percent to EUR 397.1 mn, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 23 percent, up from 20.3 percent in the prior-year period. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 34.6 percent to EUR 298.4 mn, resulting in a higher EBIT margin of 17.3 percent (Q1-3 2016: 14 percent). The profit for the period improved by 35.3 percent to EUR 219.3 mn, and earnings per share rose 36 percent to EUR 8.12 per share. In September Lenzing redeemed the retail bond of EUR 120 mn. At the end of the reporting period the Group had net liquidity of EUR 16.9 mn.

“In the first three quarters of 2017, we successfully captured value in a very positive market environment and we continue to implement the sCore TEN strategy with great discipline. The opening of our new application innovation center in Hong Kong is an important step to boost our regional innovation capabilities. We were particularly proud to launch TENCELTM Luxe as a sign of Lenzing’s ongoing commitment to innovation and sustainability”, states Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group. “After three excellent quarters we are confident to deliver substantially better operating results in 2017 compared to 2016, but at the same time we do expect more headwinds in 2018.”

Focus on customer intimacy

In September 2017, the Lenzing Group opened a new application innovation center (AIC) in Hong Kong, thus setting a further milestone in strengthening its innovation offering to all partners along the value chain. New applications for Lenzing fibers will be developed and tested at the new facility, among them applications for recent innovations such as the TENCELTM Luxe branded lyocell filament, the RefibraTM branded lyocell fiber and the EcoVeroTM branded viscose fiber.

Furthermore, new sales and marketing offices were opened in Turkey and South Korea in the first half of 2017. The direct contact to customers and well-equipped showrooms featuring products made of LenzingTM fibers serve as the basis for providing even better customer support.

Investment program in progress

The Lenzing Group aims to increase the share of specialty fibers as a percentage of revenue to 50 percent by 2020. Following the capacity expansion initiatives in Heiligenkreuz (Austria) and Mobile, Alabama (USA) which are both underway, Lenzing announced its intention to construct the next plant to produce TENCEL® fibers in Thailand.

A new era of sustainable production

In October 2017, the Lenzing Group presented a new product, TENCELTM Luxe, at an exclusive event held in Paris. The TENCELTM Luxe branded filament yarn represents Lenzing’s entry in the filament market. This fiber will support the Lenzing Group’s path towards becoming a true specialty player in the market for botanic materials derived from the sustainable raw material wood.

The launch volumes of TENCELTM Luxe are being produced at the Lenzing site. The basic engineering for a commercial scale plant was commenced.

Outlook
Demand development on the global fiber market remains positive within the context of a generally friendly macroeconomic environment. Lenzing expects wood-based cellulose fibers to grow at an even higher rate than the overall fiber market. After three excellent quarters, the Lenzing Group will achieve an operating result in 2017 that is significantly better than 2016.

For 2018, Lenzing sees a number of somewhat opposing factors that limit visibility regarding fiber price developments. Overall market demand is expected to remain high. However, the Group expects a substantial increase on the supply side, especially for viscose but also for cotton. Price trends for selected key raw materials, especially caustic soda, are difficult to predict. Against this background the Lenzing Group expects a much more challenging market environment for standard viscose during the upcoming quarters.

The above-mentioned development reassures the Lenzing Group in its chosen corporate strategy sCore TEN. The Group initiated its transformation from a volume-oriented viscose player to a value-oriented specialty fiber player at the end of 2015, and will continue the disciplined implementation of its business strategy.

Reinach, Switzerland, 30 October 2017 - Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, today announced its first-ever collaboration with Kathmandu, the well-known New-Zealand born and based outdoor brand. Kathmandu selected Archroma and its EarthColors range of plant-based dyes to create a new capsule collection of the brand’s signature hoodie.

Archroma’s EarthColors range recently came to public attention for being the Gold Winner of the OutDoor Industry Award 2017, Sustainable Innovations category, where Kathmandu also presented their first hoodies just off of the production line. Archroma’s EarthColors is a line of patented plant-based dyes, sourced from up to 100 percent renewable resources. Archroma developed EarthColors using non-edible waste products, from agriculture and herbal industries, to replace petroleum derived raw materials; which are the conventional raw materials used to synthesize dyes currently. This gives brands an alternative when looking for more natural ways of dyeing garments.

Archroma and Kathmandu teamed up to create an exclusive “vintage casual” look.

The colors available in the capsule collection: slate blue, burnt olive and burlwood rose, are made from the non-edible parts of nutshells, almond shells, rosemary, saw palmetto, bitter orange and beetroot, left over from agriculture industry or herbal extraction. The collection is available online at www.kathmandu.com.au.

“We are very proud and grateful that Kathmandu selected Archroma’s EarthColors for their first incursion into the world of nature-based colors,” comments Paul Cowell, Head of Brand Marketing in Archroma’s Brand & Performance Textile Specialties business. “Kathmandu will surely inspire other brands and retailers to explore and adopt eco - advanced innovations. With the help of Kathmandu, Archroma is again showing the apparel industry the way to go, one collection at a time. Because it’s our nature!” “We have been using recycled materials for over 20 years and we are constantly looking for new technologies to develop more sustainable outdoor gear, adds Manu Rastogi, Textile R&D and Responsible Materials Manager for Kathmandu. “Dyeing techniques using plants have been around for centuries, but they require adding huge amounts of mordants* and fixatives**, which could lead to water pollution.

They also tend to have poor light and wash fastness which is undesirable for the consumer and does not promote article longevity. So when we heard about Archroma’s EarthColors, we were immediately excited by what is probably the first technology allowing colors to be synthesized from plants rather than petroleum while keeping similar performance.” Kathmandu selected Archroma and its EarthColors range of plant-based dyes to create a new capsule collection of the brand’s signature hoodie. (Photographs: Kathmandu) Archroma’s EarthColors is a line of patent-pending plant-based dyes, sourced from up to 100 percent renewable resources. (Photo: Archroma)

Kathmandu® Registered trademark
*alum, iron, copper, tin, chrome
** salt, tannings, vinegar

Paris - On April 12th 2018, top European talents from 120 campuses will compete in the fourth edition of the Morpheus Cup to showcase their skills and highlight their most innovative projects. After Luxembourg in 2017, the event will take place in 2018 at the Palais Brongniart (Stock Exchange) in Paris and will focus on burning topics such as Digital Transformation, Creativity, Deeptech, Circular Economy, Ecommerce and much more.

Since its launch in 2015, the Morpheus Cup has been placed under the high patronage of the European Commission with the support of Commissioners Marianne Thyssen and Carlos Moedas in 2017. "The championship is a great opportunity for young people to showcase their skills and to help to bridge the gap between universities, schools and the European employment market. In the Commission, we believe that the right skills not only improve young people's life chances, but also act as a driver for our future competitiveness and growth" underlines Mrs. Thyssen.

In the last three years, the event already attracted hundreds of campus from more than 20 countries and rewarded many of them including Warshaw School of Economics, Mannheim Business School, HEC Paris, Polytechnique Nantes, universities from Oxford, Berlin, Luxembourg, Athens, and Barcelona.

New challenges for new talents

The next edition will take the competition to another level by featuring tech, business, science, marketing, creative challenges in five different rooms, suggesting meetings with employers, innovative brands and investors through 50 stands and presenting not less than 20 categories for students to submit their projects/startups ideas (Morpheus Prize). Apart from the live experiences and challenges designed by entrepreneurs or partners of the event, almost 500 research projects and startups will be showcased to win awards, the championship and up to €50,000 worth of prizes.

Art, circular economy, human capital, smart cities, mobility, FinTech, design, industry, sport, artificial intelligence, topics, regardless of the students’ profiles and education level, invite them to be creative in many different fields.

Finalists will have to pitch in front of an international jury. Past editions welcomed jury members from Google Lunar XPrize, WarnerBros, Accenture, European Investment Fund, FC Barcelona, ESA, Canal+, Novak Djokovic Foundation etc. Daimler, Forbes, Expon Capital, Davidson, Leroy-Merlin, PwC have already joined the next edition.

Registrations are already open. First partners, jury members and employers will be unveiled before Christmas season.

The Morpheus Cup’s website unveils the main characteristics of the championship and also the past editions prize-winners.

• CHOMARAT signs a new distribution agreement with VELOX for its range of carbon reinforcements

The international textile group CHOMARAT announced the signing of a distribution agreement with VELOX, a European distributor in the market for composite materials. The partnership agreement covers the distribution of CHOMARAT reinforcements for high-performance (carbon) composites, in France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as the distribution of CHOMARAT’s complete range of carbon and glass reinforcements in Turkey.

Stepping up the distribution of CHOMARAT´s carbion ranges in Europe

This new partnership will enable CHOMARAT to extend its network in France, Italy and the United Kingdom for its carbon fabric and multiaxial ranges, by offering its customers optimum, locally based services in line with the Group’s development strategy for high-performance composites in Europe.

CHOMARAT’s compete glass and carbon range is now distributed in Turkey

One component of the agreement deals with the distribution of CHOMARAT’s complete range of glass and carbon reinforcements in Turkey, where the composite market is booming, in particular in the transportation sector. Relying on VELOX’s strong foothold in the Turkish market, CHOMARAT will build up its flagship ROVICORE™ line, the first glass-fibre-reinforced sandwich reinforcement, which was designed and developed by CHOMARAT for closed-mould processes. “The idea is to step up our glass activities and still offer our customers more flexibility over the entire range of our reinforcements,” explains Vincent CHOLVY, in charge of the Turkish market at CHOMARAT.

VELOX secures its position as an “innovation distributor”

By distributing CHOMARAT’s high-performance composites, Velox will develop its offering in the transportation, sports & leisure and boating sectors. According to Serge GRADYS, Manager of the VELOX Composites Business, “in Europe, the distribution of the CHOMARAT range of carbon multiaxial range with C-WeaveTM and C-PlyTM, gives us a real competitive advantage and enables us to maintain our position as an innovation distributor. The same is true for the carbon and glass ranges distributed in Turkey!”

The Industry of the Future Alliance (AIF) has awarded Lectra with their ‘Showcase for the Industry of the Future’ label for demonstrating the criteria exemplarity, innovation and commitment. This certification is given to companies who have concretely developed a ground-breaking project to organize their production by leveraging the potential of digital.

The AIF bestowed Lectra with this distinction for its competitiveness concerning cost, quality and delivery times, all obtained thanks to a lean approach and reflection around the design of its products. Further, Lectra received the certification for its competitiveness regarding value, achieved thanks to mastering customer use from which new associated services have flowed. Since 2013, Lectra has invested €86 million in R&D, representing 9.4% of its revenues. This Investment has enabled Lectra to undergo a metamorphosis—based on methodological advances and fundamental technologies—increasing recruitment and growing competitiveness in all of its markets and geographical sectors.

With ten years’ experience in the industrial internet of things for cutting and expertise in software Solutions to automate and optimize design and product development, Lectra is in an unrivalled position to Support customers as they enter the ‘industry of the future’ era.

Pressure from certain shareholders to relocate manufacturing to China in 2005, triggered Lectra’s industrial project. Following risk analyses—the cost of transport for the European market, the turnover in qualified labor, uncertainty over patent rights and quality—Lectra decided to keep manufacturing in France. This choice was conditional on: disruptive innovation; upgrading; increased value to customers; and a rise in productivity.

The project was accompanied by a well-structured lean approach and organizational changes, which enabled Lectra to achieve the desired level of excellence in terms of productivity and competitiveness.

Some of the changes that took place thanks to this project are as follows: Growth in industrial performance due to an improvement in working conditions, with teams involved in the lean approach; Production engineers involved in creating awareness around factory constraints for a new offer as early as the design process. This co-design product/process optimizes global costs; Emphasis on product, process and logistics’ modularity with the latest possible integration of options (delayed differentiation). This enables logistics’ constraints to be taken into account as early as the engineering phase. Product modularity allows, for example, machines to be put in containers when they might otherwise require special heavy-goods transport.

Lectra’s factory improved its productivity rate by 18 points in three years, and has since maintained it at 89%. Costs have already reduced by 25% and the quality and level of service has improved. In terms of positioning, Lectra has confirmed its leadership in the high-end segment. Lectra has enriched its offer with end-to-end services and innovative, connected products whose embedded intelligence offers Smart Services, notably for predictive maintenance.

TINTEX presents a new and fresh campaign with contemporary images that signal the launch of the Autumn Winter 2019 Jersey collections presented by CEO Mario Jorge, who describes the new ‘Naturally Advanced’ position as moving on from making beautiful organics and natural materials to the next level with advanced hybrid nature/hi-tech smarts, with added value creativity, thanks to focused investments that will serve and secure our customer demands both now and in the seasons to come.

THE COLLECTION. Come and see the autumn range of more than 80 new qualities and style and discuss your own tailor made needs designed to fit the Fashion, Sportswear, Athleisure and Underwear sectors. The TINTEX Collection uses at least 60% of more sustainable materials, such as Tencel, Organic cotton, Naturally organic linen, recycled and recovered smart materials including polyesters, nylons and now a new recycled stretch elastane too. Out of preference, and in keeping with its ethos of creating low impact fabrics, the major part of the collection eschews the use of animal based fibers, with the limited exception of some organic wool, silk and cashmere blend qualities.

Over three years, this new Chair aims to help the fashion industry’s eco-system—from textile design to clothing sales—transform challenges coming from new ways of living and consuming into economic opportunities.
“How to find and develop sustainable materials which will open up new markets for companies in the sector? Which technologies to invent to make the most of these new materials? How to organize the factory of the future to meet new consumer expectations, such as customization? It’s an entire economy that we aim to develop around emerging industries,” explains Jean-Pierre Mocho, the founder of JPS Conseil and former President of the French federation for women’s ready-to-wear. “There are many opportunities to seize, on condition that all the players, both old and new, work together.”
To help textile and apparel companies to innovate, the Chair will combine knowledge sharing with open innovation. In particular, a technical training facility will adapt and pass on material-related savoir-faire. “This Chair will help us to better understand the changes that are necessary in the sector, to anticipate innovations and to circulate knowledge worldwide,” underlines Patxi Elissalde, director, ESTIA. “Based in Biarritz and founded with a long-term vision, this Chair will dive into user behaviors, materials and components, manufacturing technologies and services, the digitalization of processes, and the distribution of products, from clothes to accessories.”

This approach will also foster interactions between different professions in order to stimulate creativity. Inspired by overarching principles in the collaborative and circular economy, the Chair also aims to capitalize on advances in research, from frugal or disruptive innovation.

SDC’s annual competition engages with hundreds of students, universities and designers globally, helping the entrants develop their understanding of color and the challenges around sustainability in the textile supply chain. The theme for 2018 is ‘color communication’.
With a global textile supply chain, being able to communicate a given color through the supply chain efficiently and effectively is vital. Ultimately this provides the designer with the knowledge that their product is commercially suitable from the initial concept stages through to final product.
Archroma will support the competition with its Color Atlas color management system, which will be key to both the competition theme and the accompanying educational package.
Using these colors also provides the best opportunity to minimize the environmental impact during the dyeing/printing process by ensuring that the dyes conform to many of the environmental standards that exist and are applied using best practice.
“We at Archroma are very proud to be the official sponsor of the SDC International Design Competition. The participants will be able to experience first-hand how the Color Atlas can support their creativity. For Archroma, this is a great opportunity to further drive innovation and sustainability in the textile supply chain“, commented Brad McClanahan, Global Head of Service Businesses at Archroma.

The H160 was designed by Airbus Helicopters to create added value for customers in terms of performance, economic competitiveness, safety and comfort. The use of Hexcel’s composite materials throughout the structure (fuselage, tail boom, tail rotor and main rotor blades) contributes to the lightweight fuel-saving design and performance optimization.
“Hexcel’s composite materials have been used in Airbus Helicopters’ programs for many years and we are honored to be continuing our long term relationship, based on innovation and continuous improvement” commented Thierry Merlot, Hexcel President Aerospace EMEA-AP. “We thank Airbus Helicopters for their selection and look forward to our ongoing supply of high performance, weight saving composites materials for this innovative rotorcraft”.
H160 configurations in development include offshore transportation, business and private aviation, emergency medical services, public services, and commercial passenger transport. The helicopter is planned to enter into service in 2019.