FT : Nobody does the beach better than the French

Nobody does the beach better than the French
The secret? It’s all deeply, reassuringly predictable

Each summer, I play my favourite beach game: guess the nationality. While I always hope to be surprised, it is ludicrously easy. The little Breton cove next to my parents-in-law’s house, and where my family and I have been lucky enough to holiday for the past 15 years, is very, very French. At the beginning of my annual two-week break, I take a stroll down the beach, past bronzed infants in frilly bikini bottoms, slim mamans in flattering one-pieces with sensible bobbed hair, a gaggle of papas standing around in well-cut, surprisingly short red or blue trunks and chatting to one another about boating conditions and the sad demise of the boulangerie at the port. French, French, French, I say to myself with amusement, until inevitably, I nearly come a-cropper on a pair of pinkish legs sticking out from a wind-breaker. Playing in the sand next to the legs are a couple of children in head-to-toe UV protection gear, and a dad trying to blow up a supermarket inflatable. English.

I feel instantly torn. I am also English, and drawn towards excessive beach paraphernalia with the best of them, yet for these two weeks a year, I am French, or at least I pretend to be. Why do I bother with this charade? Because the French do summer holidays better — more effortlessly, more stylishly — and I want in on it.

I have spent over a decade musing over why this is so, and I have come to the conclusion that it’s largely down to fact that it is all deeply, reassuringly predictable and formulaic — entrenched routines and habits that remain unchanged for a lifetime. There is no need to think out of the box because what is inside the box is very nice indeed.

This glorious predictability even extends to occupying the same bit of the same beach each year. I know that whenever I go down at low tide, the tall Tunisian writer will be leaning languidly against the sunny rampart wall, while his sons play football on the sand. We will say bonjour, and comment on the weather to one another, but no more. As the tide rises enough for a dip, the beach will begin to fill up with the same families I have seen year after year. There will be a brief period in which cousins and uncles and aunts reunite, greeting each other with la bise before spreading out their tassled hammam towels, laying claim to the exact same few square metres of sandy real estate they occupy every summer. If it were a spot the difference game, the only thing you might notice is a few more babies each year.

Beach comportment is regulated. No music, no barbecues, but plenty of smoking. There is an unspoken yet strict no-snacking rule, an enduring sniffiness about eating between meals still prevalent among les grandes familles. A packet of Prince biscuits — the ones with chocolate in the middle in the corrugated cardboard packets — will come out at 1600hrs pour le gouter, aka teatime, dispensed among the under-16s, but there isn’t a flask or sandwich in sight. The only picnickers are the Brits and the Dutch. Everyone else lunches at home — the beach empties out at 1245 on the dot.

Some might find it all rather rigid, but I find these expert vacanciers fascinating. In the middle of the beach, there is a group of five or six glamorous grand-mères, who in my view, are worthy of their own Canal+ drama. Toned and elegant, they arrive one by one at the beach for morning and evening swims, wearing dark glasses and their husbands’ worn striped shirts over Eres-style swimsuits, carrying nothing but a towel and a hairbrush. No need for anything else — they only have to walk two minutes up the path to their blue-shuttered homes. This is stealth wealth par excellence.

The predictability is also practical. The queues at the big supermarket are unbearable in August. The best times to go, according to those in the know, are 9am, when most people are jogging (yes, really), or 2pm, when everybody is having a coffee and a square of chocolate after lunch. Traffic is predictable too. So much so that there is even a traffic prediction website — “Bison Futé” — which highlights “les weekends rouges”, those key long weekends (around July 14 and August 15) when there is literally no point in getting in your car. And yet somehow, everyone does anyway. Because you are either a juilletiste (who holidays in July) or an aoûtien (who holidays in August), and that is just how it is.

On my first few holidays to Brittany, all those years ago, with my new French boyfriend and potential French in-laws, I tried even harder to blend in, for fear that my English beach inflatable side would inadvertently reveal itself, and the game would be up. I wore striped Breton tops and headscarves, carried a basket to the market, and asked in timid French for “une poignée de crevettes” at the fish stall, acutely aware of the queue accumulating behind me. It was all rather exhausting.

These days, I am grateful and privileged to be able to let both sides hang out, thanks to my half-English, half-French children. They run around in a funny mix of UV protection and frilly French swimwear, speaking a mangle of both languages — drawn to both the French and the English children on the beach. We occupy roughly the same spot of sand each year, and I now chat to a few of the mamans, although I haven’t worked up the courage to talk to the grand-mères just yet. We break the snacking rules frequently, but we always go home for lunch.

>>> US Research Calls

Research Calls

  • Upgrades:
    • Eversource Energy (ES) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim; tgt raised to $97
    • Howmet Aerospace (HWM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at The Benchmark Company; tgt $40
    • Interpublic (IPG) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo; tgt lowered to $33
    • Lennox Int'l (LII) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen; tgt $26
    • Omnicom (OMC) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo; tgt lowered to $73
    • The Vita Coco Company (COCO) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities; tgt raised to $12
    • Trane (TT) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen; tgt $18
    • XPO Logistics (XPO) upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; tgt $75
  • Downgrades:
    • Agilent (A) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup; tgt lowered to $140
    • Audacy (AUD) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo
    • Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo; tgt lowered to $1.50
    • Huntington Banc (HBAN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler; tgt lowered to $13.50
    • iHeartMedia (IHRT) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo; tgt lowered to $9
    • Illinois Tool (ITW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS; tgt lowered to $185
    • Kennametal (KMT) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS; tgt lowered to $19
    • Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (MDGL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley Securities; tgt lowered to $75
    • PayPal (PYPL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Redburn
    • Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler; tgt lowered to $30
    • Six Flags (SIX) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup; tgt lowered to $26
    • Upstart (UPST) downgraded to Mkt Perform from Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities
    • Wipro (WIT) downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies; tgt lowered to $4.70
  • Others:
    • Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer; tgt $80
    • DPCM Capital (XPOA) initiated with a Buy at The Benchmark Company; tgt $14
    • ImaRx Therapeutics (IMRX) initiated with a Buy at Chardan Capital Markets; tgt $18
    • Now (DNOW) initiated with a Buy at The Benchmark Company; tgt $13
    • Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT) initiated with an Outperform at Raymond James; tgt $22
    • Vertex Energy (VTNR) initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer; tgt $18

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:

  • UPST -17.6% (Q2 guidance), WDFC -9%, NUS -4% (guides Q2 revs below consensus), TSM -0.5% (June revs)

Other news:

  • GME -5.4% (CFO to step down names new CFO; also co has laid off employees company-wide according to Reuters)
  • TWTR -4.2% (Elon Musk's bid to buy co in jeopardy according to WaPo; also laying off 30% of its talent acquisition team according to WSJ)
  • MARA -3.7% (publishes June bitcoin production and miner data)
  • DQ -2% (provides H1 financial update for Subsidiary Xinjiang Daqo)
  • EBS -1.3% (enters into collaboration with Ridgeback to expand availability of Ebanga treatment for Ebola)
  • MTTR -0.7% (acquires VHT)
  • SMR -0.6% (announces effectiveness of Form S-1 registration statement from SEC )

Analyst comments:

  • KMT -3.6% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS)
  • SIX -2.9% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup)
  • IHRT -2.3% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo)
  • A -2.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup)
  • MDGL -1.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley Securities)
  • ITW -1.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS)
  • HBAN -1.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler)
  • WIT -1.1% (downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies)
  • PYPL -0.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Redburn)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:

  • TH +13.2% (raises outlook), LEVI +3.6% (also increases dividend by 20%), MRC +3.2% (raises revenue guidance for Q2 and FY22)

Other news:

  • SRG +53.9% (filed preliminary proxy materials; appointed Adam Metz as Chairman)
  • ANNX +5.8% (announces $130 mln private placement financing)
  • HOLI +5.2% (Buyer Consortium announces engagement of financial advisor and reaffirms non-binding indicative offer of $25 per share to acquire Hollysys)
  • AHT +5.1% (provides Q2 operating data)
  • RDUS +4.5% (Publishes Investor Presentation Outlining Company's Progress and Board Process Resulting in Agreement to be Acquired at Significant Premium)
  • HNRG +4.5% (signs new coal contracts; raises FY23 outlook)
  • MCRB +4.5% (Flagship Pioneering increased active stake to 18.9% (prior ~15.6%))
  • BHR +4.4% (provides Q2 operating data)
  • PRVB +3.9% (announces $60 mln private placement)
  • FSTX +3.7% (invoX Pharma commences tender offer for F-star Therapeutics Inc. at $7.12/share)
  • ADCT +2.3% (announces exclusive license agreement with Sobi to develop and commercialize ZYNLONTA in Europe)
  • SAVE +2.1% (Spirit Airlines Announces Intention to Adjourn Special Meeting of Stockholders)
  • JBSS +1.8% (declares special dividend of $1.50/sh)
  • ULCC +1.8% (Spirit Airlines Announces Intention to Adjourn Special Meeting of Stockholders)
  • OXY +1.5% (Berkshire Hathaway raises stake)
  • NRIX +1.3% (announces $55 mln registered direct offering; also reports earnings)
  • JBLU +1.1% (Spirit Airlines Announces Intention to Adjourn Special Meeting of Stockholders)

Analyst comments:

  • XPO +4.2% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley)
  • COCO +3.1% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities)
  • IPG +1.5% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo)
  • HWM +1.4% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at The Benchmark Company)
  • OMC +1.1% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo)

Business Of Fashion : Luxury Watches Are Still in Short Supply, Top Rolex Dealer

Luxury Watches Are Still in Short Supply, Top Rolex Dealer Says

Forget demand worries stirred up by inflation and a slowing economy, a shortage of top-brand timepieces is still the biggest problem for the UK’s largest seller of Rolex watches.

Demand for most Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe watches has long outstripped supply, but now the problem is spreading to other high-end brands, including Zenith, Omega and IWC, said Brian Duffy, chief executive officer of Watches of Switzerland Group Plc.

“A lot of what we are selling we can’t get enough of in the first place,” Duffy said in an interview. “The whole industry is characterised by more demand than supply.”

Three-quarters of the retailer’s sales, by value, are done through customers getting on waitlists because the timepieces they want aren’t in stock. Watches of Switzerland is still adding more people to waitlists than it’s taking off — leaving the retailer well insulated from an economic slowdown, said Duffy.

“Even if there is an impact in demand it will be a long time coming before we feel it,” he said.

Watches of Switzerland is the top retailer of Rolex in the UK and among the biggest in the US, with an estimated 9 percent market share. Duffy said his stores are struggling to keep Zenith chronographs, IWC pilot watches and Omega’s James Bond Seamaster and Speedmaster models in stock.

“Omega, we can’t get enough of. All the new products,” Duffy said.

The CEO said he expects the retailer’s supply of Tudor watches will increase as they are currently under-supplied.

Watches of Switzerland’s strategy is to grow its retail presence to give it more clout to commandeer supply from Swiss watchmakers. It grew in-store and online sales by 48 percent in the US to £428 million ($512 million) in its 2022 fiscal year.

“We could have grown even more if we had more supply,” Duffy said.

Watch prices have already increased by an average of 4 percent to 5 percent this year, and Duffy said he doesn’t expect brands to implement another significant increase in 2022.

Sales of luxury watches surged during the pandemic as homebound consumers, flush with cash, snapped up Rolexes and other timepieces, sending prices for many secondhand models soaring. Now, secondary market prices for the most sought after Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe watches have started to decline as equities and cryptocurrency valuations tumbled.

Profit Doubles
The company on Thursday reported pretax profit of £126 million for the 12 months ending May 1, almost double its earnings the previous year.

The record performance was helped by the UK, it’s home market, where revenue soared 36 percent. Any disruption from the pandemic is now “largely behind us,” the company said.

The retailer reiterated its revenue forecast of £1.45 billion to £1.50 billion for this fiscal year, as well as its outlook for profitability.

WSJ : China Car Sales Jump as Covid Curbs Relaxed

China Car Sales Jump as Covid Curbs Relaxed
Tesla sales more than doubled in June as local auto makers saw a bump in market share following new incentives for the secondhand market

HONG KONG—China’s car sales rose almost 23% in June from a year earlier as production recovered in lockdown-hit Shanghai to meet pent-up demand and government cash incentives stimulated purchases in the world’s biggest auto market.

Sales for passenger cars also rose sharply to 1.94 million in June from 1.35 million vehicles in May, the China Passenger Car Association said Friday, a sign of buyers making up for lost time after falls in recent months caused by pessimism over the economy and social restrictions to fight the pandemic.

Production also grew 46% from a year ago to 2.2 million vehicles, signaling that the industry has mostly recovered its capacity following a slump as China imposed tough lockdowns amid a Covid-19 outbreak that affected its automotive manufacturing center near Shanghai.

The passenger-car market saw “explosive growth” in June, said Cui Dongshu, the association’s secretary-general.

The production recovery was due to lessening shortages in imported car parts, which allowed manufacturers in the Yangtze Delta area to resume supply. A multiplier effect from the supply chain’s recovery, export resilience and government stimulus also ensured the market’s growth, he said.

Tesla Inc. TSLA 5.53% was among car makers seeing the strongest rebound following a three-month slump that ended in May. Last month it sold over 78,000 units, more than doubling that of May and up from just 1,512 vehicles in April, when its plant was unable to operate under Shanghai’s strict Covid-19 lockdown. Most of the June deliveries were sold domestically, with only 968 cars exported.

Sales at Volkswagen AG’s joint venture with Chinese state-owned partner SAIC Motor Corp. increased 51% in June from a year ago, but sales for General Motors Co. were down 21%.

The Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co. 1211 -1.29% Ltd, meanwhile, recorded a 177% increase in sales on-year. Sales by the Chinese manufacturer—which included fully electric and hybrid vehicles—surpassed Tesla’s global output during the first half of this year.

To give another boost to the car market after cutting vehicle purchase tax at a cost of almost $9 billion in May, the Chinese central government on Thursday rolled out a policy package to encourage new vehicle sales by allowing secondhand vehicles to be sold across the country.

Shares of Chinese electric car makers including BYD and startups including NIO Inc., Li Auto Inc. and XPeng Inc. rose Thursday after a memo said the government would consider extending its tax exemption for new-energy vehicles purchases. The exemption was set to expire by the end of 2022. Local governments are also being asked to remove all local protectionist measures, and to work on adding parking spaces and charging stations for EVs in their urban renewal plans, the memo read.