Foreign companies bet on China's consumers

London

COFFEE shops, burger bars and clothes stores are among the foreign businesses in China that say they are thriving despite the economic slowdown that is hurting the manufacturing sector.

A Reuters examination of comments or recent statements from 34 large publicly-traded foreign companies that updated investors on their China operations shows a diverging experience between sectors.

Eighteen of the companies had products focused on consumers and 13 of these said sales grew in the fourth quarter or full year with just three down and two flat. Of the eight industrial companies in the search, six reported weakness in China or falling sales.

Coffee shop chain Starbucks, Sweden-based tissue maker SCA fashion group Hennes & Mauritz, and fast-food seller McDonald's are seeing strong growth despite the economy expanding at its slowest pace since 2009 in the fourth quarter. "The success we are enjoying in China is really kind of highlighted by this past quarter," said Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, which like many foreign companies does n…