Shares in Shein crashed to a record low after profits slumped. In its first results since listing on the stock market in Hong Kong on September 1, the Chinese fast

fashion company said second quarter profits were down 66 per cent on a year earlier at £173million.

Shein, which is based in Singapore, blamed the fallout from the Iran war and import duties as the US and EU clamp down on cheap goods brought in from China.

Shares slipped as much as 14 per cent, taking their losses since listing to nearly 40 per cent.

Shein’s chairman and founder Xu Yangtian said the slump was ‘primarily driven by a sharp spike in oil prices and freight rates amid Middle East geopolitical tensions’.

He warned that ‘the external environment will remain uncertain in the second half of 2026’.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: ‘Shein has taken another stumble on the global retail catwalk.’