Daily Brief Consumer: SHEIN Global Holdings, Yuen Kee Food Group, Cuckoo Holdings, Ford Motor Co, Changzhou Xingyu Automotive Lighting Systems, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Mondelez International, Coca Cola Co and more

• New regulations affecting SHEIN and other retailers are becoming visible on the horizon
• We believe coming changes will hit SHEIN and its peers harder than traditional retailers
• We look at California’s SB 707 law as an illustrative example of new challenges facing SHEIN

• Yuen Kee Food Group is the largest Chinese-style quick service restaurant (QSR) company in China by number of stores, serving dumplings, wontons, and related products.
• The company was the largest Chinese-style QSR by stores as of December 31, 2025, ranking 3rd with 0.7% market share in 2025 GMV.
• Revenue was RMB2,795,104 thousand in 2025, with profit for the year at RMB198,740 thousand and total assets of RMB2,043,474 thousand as of May 31, 2026.

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• Rice is so important in Asian cooking, including in Korea. Because rice is consumed nearly every day in most Korean households, the electric rice cookers are highly used. 
• Cuckoo Holdings (192400 KS) is the market leader in the electric rice cookers market in Korea with market share of nearly 70% or more.
• Valuations are cheap with EV/EBITDA of 2.6x and P/E of 6x. Dividend yields are now more than 6%. 

• Ford Motor Company’s second quarter results reflect a complex but steadily evolving business landscape, marked by both operational improvements and ongoing challenges.
• The company reported $48.3 billion in revenue, representing a 4% year-over-year decline, mainly influenced by expected volume reductions due to temporary aluminum supply chain disruptions linked to Novelis and the phase-out of certain vehicle models amidst portfolio refresh efforts.
• Despite this, Ford achieved a 17% increase in adjusted EBIT to $2.5 billion, driven primarily by favorable product mix and pricing strategies, indicating a disciplined approach to profitability amid headwinds.

• A weekly summary of key developments in ECM and Event-Driven names tracked by us in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, India, and Chinese ADRs.
• ECM developments: SHEIN Global Holdings (SHEIN HK) and Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd (1217834D IN) IPOs.
• Event-Driven developments: Future Corporation (4722 JP), Kakaku.com Inc (2371 JP), Tamron Co Ltd (7740 JP), Australian Strategic Materials (ASM AU), Perpetual Ltd (PPT AU). 

• Smart System Verticalization is the Real Margin Savior: While basic LED assemblies have commoditized to under 500 RMB, driving severe price-erosion pressure, Xingyu has defended its gross margin around 19.67% by aggressively verticalizing into light controllers, actuators, and software. Designing its own control units—such as for the Aito M9—allows it to capture higher unit economics than legacy Tier 1s who outsource these components to Tier 2s.
• HK IPO is a Structural Bypassing of Capital Controls, Not a Cash Squeeze: The company’s recent July 29, 2026 Hong Kong listing application is not driven by a domestic funding crisis, given their strong domestic cash flow with Q1 2026 operating cash flow at 421.06 million RMB. Rather, it represents a structural bypass to establish an offshore capital pool, allowing Xingyu to fund aggressive global expansion in Europe and North America without getting snarled in Beijing’s capital export regulations.
• The Serbian Plant is a Necessary, but Costly Tariff Hedge: Operating in Nis, Serbia, generated 430 million RMB in revenue in 2025 but remains structurally loss-making. The facility serves as an essential regional backdoor into the EU, bypassing direct tariff headwinds, yet it suffers from low local-content supply chains, severe local engineering talent bottlenecks, and agonizingly slow OEM validation cycles that drag heavily on return on investment (ROI).

• The Royal Caribbean Group reported second-quarter 2026 results that surpassed expectations, driven by a 6% increase in revenue year-over-year and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $4.21, which was $0.33 higher than guidance.
• Capacity grew 5%, with 2.4 million vacations delivered, while net yields rose 1.2%, 100 basis points above projections.
• The company highlighted strong close-in booking demand and elevated onboard spending, particularly for Caribbean sailings.

• Mondelez International reported a second-quarter 2026 performance characterized by steady geographic variation and ongoing strategic initiatives.
• The company achieved a 4.4% top-line growth driven primarily by strong volume growth in emerging markets, where consumer confidence remains generally stable, and distribution expansion continues, notably with 100,000 additional stores in India and reaching 1 million stores in Brazil.
• Despite softness in China, management expects gradual improvement and emphasizes a structural growth opportunity underpinned by a balanced mix of global and local brands touching various price tiers.

• The Coca-Cola Company reported a solid performance for the second quarter of 2026, characterized by broad-based volume growth and expanding margins amid a mixed global economic environment.
• The company delivered 5% volume growth for the quarter and organic revenue growth at the high end of its long-term algorithm, though over a two-year average, volume growth moderated to 2%.
• This reflected a balanced top-line contribution amidst challenges in various consumer markets due to inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainty.