Daily Brief Consumer: Naspers, VTech, Onyx International, Christian Dior SE, TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX, The Wella Company, iShares Global 100 ETF and more

• The structural simplification of Naspers/Prosus is practically at its limit; while the September 2023 cross-shareholding unwind removed the circularity, a full corporate collapse into a single offshore entity is fundamentally blocked by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) loop-transaction regulations and punitive exit taxes.
• The open-ended share buyback program is a masterclass in tax-efficient value accretion—unlocking an 18% incremental NAV per share boost for Prosus and 21% for Naspers—enabled entirely by the Dutch participation exemption (deelnemingsvrijstelling) which permits zero tax leakage on the Tencent share sales. However, the program has failed to permanently narrow the 42% NAV discount due to market skepticism over capital-intensive acquisitions like the €4.1 billion ($4.3 billion) takeover of Just Eat Takeaway (JET).
• Management incentives under new CEO Fabricio Bloisi are highly aggressive but currently out of reach; his $100 million “Moonshot” award requires doubling the group’s combined market cap to $168 billion by June 2028. Meanwhile, operational discipline remains under fire, as evidenced by the discount-linked short-term incentive (STI) paying out at zero in FY26 due to the discount remaining flat at 42%.

• Our 2020 caution held: learning products and contract manufacturing finished FY03/2026 below FY03/2020 revenue, telecom held up only through acquisition, and EPS fell 30%.
• The bond-proxy framing failed: shareholders collected about 58% of the 2020 price in dividends, but shrinking earnings held annual returns below 8%.
• At an 8% yield and 12.5x earnings, one variable decides returns: whether earnings stop shrinking, because a 100% payout leaves nothing to compound.

• Onyx International Inc. is a global consumer technology electronics brand in the knowledge-driven productivity tools industry, offering e-paper tablets and e-notes powered by its BOOX OS.
• Onyx International Inc. was the largest knowledge-driven productivity tool brand in China and the second largest globally in 2025 with 4.2% market share.
• Revenue increased from RMB803,580 thousand in 2023 to RMB1,128,185 thousand in 2025. However, profit for the period decreased in H1 2026, and the gearing ratio increased significantly.

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• The Arnault family’s structural reorganization announced on September 23, 2026, is a strategic governance transition disguised as a financial simplification. By merging Financière Agache and Agache into Christian Dior SE (CDI) and converting the combined entity into a société en commandite par actions (SCA) renamed Agache SCA, the family is establishing a “fortress” legal structure. This protects their control of LVMH (representing 49.76% of capital and 65.55% of voting rights) across generations, neutralizing risks of hostile takeovers or partition from inheritance disputes among the five children.
• The decision to forgo a minority squeeze-out, despite owning 96.00% of CDI share capital and exceeding the 90% threshold under the 2019 French Loi Pacte, is highly calculated. By offering a voluntary cash tender offer (OPR) at €469.05 per share—representing 95% of CDI’s Net Asset Value (NAV)—the family compresses the historical holding company discount from 15% to 25% down to just 5%. This appeases France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) regarding fair minority treatment, avoids immediate forced tax realizations for holdouts, and retains a listed vehicle with high-voting-rights architecture.
• The consolidation is accelerated by intensifying regulatory and tax pressure in France. Bernard Arnault’s loss of a €22.5 million tax dispute in the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal in July 2026—which targeted complex historical Belgian holding structures like Pilinvest—signals that cross-border, multi-tier holdings are no longer viable tax shields. Streamlining the ownership cascade into a single, highly regulated French SCA cleanses the group’s legal profile ahead of the impending generational succession.

• For companies that view the measures to reduce administrative burden of AGM as part of compensation for filing annual securities reports before AGM, only a few days’ earlier submission is possible.
• Meanwhile, with returns on capital still insufficient, there is growing discussion about increasing the number of individual investors as a way to prepare for attacks from foreign investors.
• With many companies still failing to improve stock valuations and return on equity, it makes no sense to increase the number of individual shareholders simply to get corporate proposals approved.

• The Wella Company is the world’s largest pure-play hair and nail company, operating in over 100 countries and generating $2.9 billion in net revenue in fiscal 2026.
• Wella Professionals held the #1 global brand rank in salon hair color for six consecutive years, and OPI holds the #1 global rank in premium retail nail brands.
• The company reported net income of $62,305 thousand for FY2026, but had net losses in four of the most recent five fiscal years.

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• Institutional Mega-Cap Transnational Exposure: The iShares Global 100 ETF (IOO US) provides concentrated, liquid access to 100 of the world’s most dominant multinational corporations tracked via the S&P Global 100 Index. With total assets under management of approximately $9.29 billion and a trading price of $144.18, the fund serves as an institutional vehicle capturing top-tier balance sheet strength, operational scale, and high return on equity (ROE) across developed market leaders.
• Substantial Geographic & Secular Tech Concentration: Despite its global mandate, the fund features an aggressive tilt toward the United States (~75-80% of assets) and Information Technology (~38% portfolio weight). This structure offers unhedged exposure to secular themes in enterprise cloud, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and digital platforms, while introducing heightened vulnerability to US equity valuation multiples and regulatory scrutiny.
• Fee & Efficiency Trade-Off for Asset Allocators: IOO provides operational simplicity and deep trading liquidity, but its 0.40% expense ratio represents a notable pricing premium relative to commoditized broad-market global index solutions. Institutional investors must evaluate whether the fund’s concentrated mega-cap quality tilt justifies its cost profile against broader global core benchmarks.

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