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world news Diabierna 16 OctOber 2020

Out and about again: Queen Elizabeth in visit with William

Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday's event. itary existence, over the past
Thursday carried out her few months, the queen has
first public engagement The queen's last official been a visible presence, most
outside of a royal resi- public engagement outside notably in her two televised
dence since early March of a royal residence was on addresses to the nation from
when the coronavirus March 9 when she joined the Windsor Castle in April and
pandemic started to im- royal family for the Com- May, which were partly in-
pact upon on all aspects of monwealth Day service at tended to bolster people's re-
day-to-day life in the U.K. Westminster Abbey. Be- solve in the face of the lock-
fore the U.K. was put into down.
The 94-year-old monarch full lockdown on March
was joined by her grandson 23, the queen and her hus- She also knighted in July at
Prince William at the Defence band, Prince Philip, moved Windsor Castle the 100-year-
Science and Technology Lab- to Windsor Castle, which is old Captain Sir Tom Moore
oratory at Porton Down near around 25 miles (40 kms) for his fundraising efforts
Salisbury, in southern Eng- his daughter in Salisbury in A spokesman for the palace west of London. in the early days of the pan-
land, and met with scientists 2018. said all advice was followed. demic.
battling the virus. Though the U.K. is in the They spent a large chunk And she has been seen taking
midst of a resurgence of the All 48 people who were due of the past few months at part in her first video con-
The queen unveiled a plaque virus, neither the queen nor to come into close contact the royal residence of Bal- ference call to support those
to officially open the new 30 William were seen donning with the royal pair had been moral in Scotland, before caring for others, often in dif-
million-pound ($39 million) a face covering but both tested for the coronavirus. All they moved to Sandring- ficult circumstances at home
Energetics Analysis Centre, observed social distancing the tests came back negative. ham in eastern England. The during the pandemic.
used by scientists for coun- rules of staying 2 meters (6.5 Kensington Palace, the Lon- queen returned last week to On signing the guest book
ter-terrorist work. The royal feet) apart from each other don residence of William, Windsor Castle to resume Thursday at Porton Down,
pair were also introduced to and anyone else. The queen declined to comment as to audiences and small engage- the queen quipped: "Well
staff involved in the rapid re- had arrived by helicopter whether the prince had also ments, while Philip, 99, has it proves we've been here,
sponse to the Novichok poi- separately from the Duke of been required to have a test stayed at Sandringham. doesn't it?"
soning attack on former Rus- Cambridge, who had trav- in order to be able to ac- It's certainly been a while
sian spy Sergei Skripal and elled by car. company his grandmother at Though living a far more sol- since she could say that.

Shares of Chinese retailer Miniso jump in 1st day of trading

Shares of Miniso Group and in afternoon trade, shares tual property licensed from
Holding jumped in their were up nearly 12%, or $2.33, Disney or Marvel, offering
first day of trading, while at $22.33. various items such as wallets,
the broader markets were We chose to list in the Unit- bags and toys featuring Mar-
on pace for their third ed States ... because many vel superhero characters and
straight loss this week. global companies list there," Mickey Mouse.
Miniso, a Chinese dis- Ye said in a phone interview Ye was inspired to start
count retailer known for on Thursday, ahead of the Miniso in 2013, after he trav-
its fashionable but afford- company going public on the elled to Japan with this fam-
able household products, New York Stock Exchange. ily and was impressed by the
raised $608 million in a Japanese design aesthetic.
U.S. initial public offering We are aiming for continu- "I realized that there are
in New York. ous development of our busi- many lifestyle specialty stores
ness model and are not after in Japan selling household
The Guangzhou-based re- short-term profit, and we products and home furnish-
tailer is the latest Chinese hope the market will see this. ings, and we didn't have such tail, Miniso has previously Norris said.
company to list in the U.S., Backed by Chinese gaming stores in China," Ye said. launched some of its prod- Like many other retailers,
amid tensions that have taken company Tencent Holdings, Ye wanted to harness China's ucts on Chinese e-commerce Miniso's business has suf-
U.S.-China relations to their which also owns social media manufacturing prowess and platforms like Taobao and fered during the coronavirus
worst level in decades. company WeChat, Miniso meld it with good design, to JD.com. Ye said that they will pandemic. Stores in China
The U.S. market remains an found success in brick-and- offer quality products at at- not exclude e-commerce as a were closed for about two
attractive place to go public, mortar retailing by modeling tractive prices to consumers. sales channel in the future. months between January and
despite the friction over trade itself after Japan's 100-yen Miniso entered the offline Miniso stores became popu- March, and the company re-
and technology, with Chi- stores, which sell a variety retail scene at a time when e- lar among consumers be- ported a 4% decline in rev-
nese firms raising at least $7.5 of products at about $1 each. commerce was winning mar- cause they have raised the bar enue to about 9 billion yuan
billion in initial public offer- The company has over 3,000 ket share. Ye said he decided for design and quality, while ($1.3 billion).
ings in the U.S. this year, ac- stores globally, more than to take the brick-and-mortar maintaining a commitment Its global network of stores,
cording to data compiled by 60% of them in mainland route because he was more to competitive prices, said both self-operated and fran-
the U.S.-China Economic China. familiar with the industry, Michael Norris, a research chised, also weathered tem-
and Security Review Com- Miniso stores typically sell a having had retail experience and strategy manager at porary closures between April
mission. range of goods, from cosmet- for over a decade prior to Shanghai-based AgencyChi- and June this year, impacting
Miniso founder Ye Guofu, ics to small household appli- founding Miniso. na. the company's sales to over-
who owns an 80% stake in the ances, mostly crafted by an "They've been a trailblazer in seas distributors, according to
company, is set to become a in-house team of designers. For the products that we of- reimagining discount retail," the Miniso prospectus.
billionaire following the list- The company positions itself fer, it is more suited to an he said. "An offline-first ap- With the funds raised from
ing on Thursday in the U.S., as a retailer that sells high- offline shopping experience proach works for Miniso be- the IPO, Miniso plans to ex-
with a net worth of about $4 quality products at an afford- as consumers can touch the cause it debuts new products pand its network of stores and
billion. Each of Miniso's de- able price – shoppers can pick products and get a feel of almost every week, so every invest in warehousing and lo-
pository shares were priced up waterproof eyeliner for as them, it is an experience that time shoppers browse the gistics, as well as technology
at $20 apiece, above the esti- little as $1.50, perfume for you cannot get online," he store they will see something and information systems.
mated price range of $16.50 $3, or a pair of sunglasses for said. different. ADRs of the company are
to $18.50, according to a less than $8. "That level of discovery and listed on the New York Stock
press release by the company. It also partners with brands Although the company will serendipity is difficult for on- Exchange under the ticker
The stock opened at $24.40, to sell products with intellec- still focus on offline re- line-only retailers to match," "MNSO."