Shein swings to $99m loss as Trump tariffs hit sales

Shein says it swung to a quarterly loss as its sales slowed after US President Donald Trump removed an import duty exemption on small packages.It also comes as uncertainty remains over the tit-for-tat China-tariffs-wars" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="172224" data-entity-type="topic">US-China tariffs wars, which is currently paused.The fast-fashion giant, which has its headquarters in Singapore but was founded in China, said it lost $99m (£74.1m) in the first three months of the year, compared with a net income of $395m a year earlier.The announcement is part of the firm's preparations ahead of its stock market debut in Hong Kong, although the filing did not give any details on the size, timetable or pricing of the planned initial public offering (IPO)."In response to the increased duties and taxes, we are pursuing a wide range of options, including increasing our prices in the US market to offset a portion of the increased costs," Shein said in the filing.The company also said the Iran war had hit demand, increased costs and caused delays of deliveries in some markets.The first-quarter figures also partly reflected a paper loss of $328m due to an accounting change for special investor shares. The shares can be turned into ordinary stock later, and their value can change before a listing.The filing showed that in the year to the end of March 2026 Shein had 281 million active customers - a rise of more than 16% on a year earlier - who placed a total of more than one billion orders.