Struggling Suning.com posts second-largest loss in 17 years

Struggling electronics retailer Suning.com finished this year’s third quarter RMB 4.12 billion ($632 million) in the red, marking the company’s second-largest quarterly loss in the 17 years since it went public, reports Caixin. The embattled retailing giant’s dismal takings are compared to a reported net profit of RMB 713 million in last year’s Q3, and were closing in on the company’s record RMB 4.8 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Suning.com’s revenue slumped 64.82% year-on-year in the third quarter to nearly RMB 22 billion, the lowest quarterly figure since 2012, due to “record-low” inventories and “dramatically” lower sales.

Nanjing-based Suning.com has been the largest private enterprise by revenue in East China’s Jiangsu province since 2013. However, after years of aggressive expansion, including investments in Italian football club Inter Milan and supermarket chain Carrefour China, coupled with losses from its core business, the retailer now finds itself struggling to pay its bills. As of the end of September, the firm had RMB 141 billion in total liabilities.