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Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Former Nike innovation chief joins speaker lineup for MarketingPulse 2021

    Former Nike innovation chief joins speaker lineup for MarketingPulse 2021

    A former senior Nike executive once named by Fast Company magazine as one of the most creative people in business, has been confirmed as a headline speaker at this month’s MarketingPulse 2021 virtual conference in Hong Kong.

    Greg Hoffman, global chief marketing officer at Nike from 2016-2018 before moving into the role of VP of global brand innovation until last year, now leads Modern Arena, a brand advisory group he founded for Fortune 500 brands, startups, and non-profit organizations.

    At MarketingPulse 2021, Asia’s premier marketing and branding conference, Hoffman will be drawing on his 27-year career with Nike to explain how innovation drives consumer experiences, envisioning the future of storytelling and the role of tomorrow’s CMOs.  Hoffman was a major strategic and creative influence for Nike at every major global sporting event, overseeing the launches of signature Nike products and innovations, and building the brands of its contracted athletes.

    A major part of Nike’s global marketing success was the strength of its experiential-anchored strategies which helped establish the iconic sportswear brand as one of the world’s pre-eminent storytellers. Hoffman was seen as a leading innovator in digital and physical brand experiences and broadly recognized for his role in the rise of marketing and design through that period.

    Under Hoffman’s leadership, Nike drove themes of equality, sustainability, and empowerment through sport. He was a member of the advisory board of the Nike Black Employee Network and as a member of the charitable Nike Foundation’s board.

    Another drawcard at MarketingPulse 2021 is Alves Huang, CEO, Qianxun (Hangzhou) Holdings, considered the current leading live-streaming e-commerce company in Mainland China.

    Huang founded Qianxun E-commerce in 2017 and in just four years his team has built the company into the country’s largest e-commerce live-streaming broadcasters. Among Qianxun’s successes was being recognized by Taobao Live as its number one e-commerce live-broadcasting agency, as manager of popular Taobao anchor Weiya Viya, who has more than 130 million fans on Chinese platforms.

    The company has long-term cooperative relations with more than 20,000 domestic and foreign brands and has already trained close to 40 anchors. At MarketingPulse 2021, Huang will explain the reasons why live-streaming e-commerce and short-video marketing is proving so successful in Mainland China.

    Putting purpose at the core

    Another high-profile speaker at MarketingPulse 2021 is Bryan Meehan, executive chair and CEO at Blue Bottle Coffee.

    A recent arrival to Hong Kong, Blue Bottle is a specialty coffee roaster and retailer headquartered in Oakland, California with cafes throughout the US, Japan and South Korea.

    Besides his passion for coffee, Meehan has always pursued a personal mission to do good for the environment. Both of his previous companies placed a premium on eco-consciousness – Fresh & Wild was one of the first organic food chains in the UK and Nude Skincare was an all-natural cosmetics business. While Blue Bottle maintains meticulous standards for roasting and brewing coffee (its Oakland location has a full lab to train new baristas), it is equally committed to sustainable business practices.

    At MarketingPulse 2021, Meehan will explain how to put purpose at the core of a business to connect brand values with today’s consumers, and share his success in marketing a globally renowned lifestyle coffee brand disrupting the industry.

    Register now to enjoy the privilege offer 55 percent discount (discount code: MPR02K5P) for Inside Retail readers.

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  • BMW Group Invests In Innovative Method For CO2-Free Steel Production

    BMW Group Invests In Innovative Method For CO2-Free Steel Production

    The BMW Group announced that it is investing in an innovative method for CO2-free steel production developed by American startup Boston Metal, through its venture capital fund, BMW i Ventures. Over the coming years, Boston Metal plans to expand the new method for steel production on an industrial scale. The investment is part of the BMW Group’s far-reaching sustainability activities aimed at significantly reducing CO2 emissions across the supplier network.

    With its versatile properties, steel is one of the most important materials in car production and will be no less important for future vehicle generations. Even with the dynamic ramp-up of electromobility, steel will remain an important building material for car bodies and many components. BMW Group press plants in Europe process more than half a million tonnes of steel per year.

    The blast furnaces used in conventional steel production generate carbon dioxide. The startup Boston Metal uses electricity for its new technology, which, by means of an electrolysis cell, produces molten iron that is later processed into steel. If electricity from renewable energies is used for this process, then steel production is carbon-free. The young company will build demonstration facilities for this process over the next few years and further develop it for use on an industrial scale.

    The BMW Group established close contact with Boston Metal already last year in the context of its own research activities and through the BMW Startup Garage. The company is now investing in the startup as part of its i Ventures activities.

    To safeguard reserves of raw materials, the BMW Group has set itself the goal of further increasing its percentage of recycled raw materials, so-called secondary material, by 2030 and using raw materials multiple times in a circular economy.

    All steel waste produced at the press plants – for example, when doors are punched out – is either reused through a direct material cycle or sent back to the steel producer via steel traders and processed into new steel. The use of secondary material reduces CO2 emissions substantially compared to primary material, conserves natural resources and also reduces the amount of energy needed for production.

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  • Shell’s 2020 Carbon Emissions Fall On The Back Of Fuel Sales Drop

    Shell’s 2020 Carbon Emissions Fall On The Back Of Fuel Sales Drop

    Royal Dutch Shell, owner of the world’s largest fuel retail network, said on Thursday its total greenhouse gas emissions dropped 16% in 2020 as oil and gas sales fell sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shell said in its annual report that total emissions from its oil wells to forecourt fuel sales fell to 1.38 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, from 1.65 billion in 2019.

    “One of the major causes of this larger than expected reduction in 2020 was lower demand for energy, especially for oil and gas,” it said.

    Shell said its total greenhouse gas emissions dropped 16% in 2020 as oil and gas sales fell sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Energy majors’ climate reporting differs in that some emissions data, for example, the data Shell released on Thursday, includes planet-warming gases from the combustion of fuels they produce themselves plus the oil products they sell but are produced by another company. Others, like BP, only cover the former: emissions from the combustion of fuels made from crude oil they produce themselves.

    Net carbon intensity, the main measure the Anglo-Dutch focuses on in its energy transition strategy, dropped last year to 75 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoules, a 4% reduction from 2019, Shell said. Carbon energy intensity means a company can increase its fossil fuel output while offsetting its carbon emissions or adding renewable energy to its product mix.

    Shell has begun a major overhaul to shift away from oil and gas to low-carbon energy, power trading and retail in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by mid-century, including the use of offsets for residual emissions. Shell runs around 46,000 retail fuel stations. Its executives’ pay is linked to its success in reaching its climate targets.

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  • Volkswagen To Cut Up To 5,000 Jobs

    Volkswagen To Cut Up To 5,000 Jobs

    Carmaker Volkswagen plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs in Germany by offering early or partial retirement to older employees in a move that could cost 500 million euros ($598 million), the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Sunday.

    The newspaper quoted a spokeswoman confirming that the company had agreed on the plan with the works council to open partial retirement to those born in 1964, while also offering early retirement to older employees.

    Handelsblatt cited company sources as saying Volkswagen was putting aside 500 million euros for the plan as it would compensate the employees who leave by topping up their pension, although it would save billions in the longer term.

    The newspaper said Volkswagen is also extending a hiring freeze until the end of the year. It had previously only been in place until the end of the first quarter. External hires can only be made in areas like information technology and software.

    The Volkswagen Group said in January it would cut overhead costs by 5% and procurement costs by 7% over the next two years.

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  • Apple’s entire iPhone 13 family is ‘likely’ to bring a highly anticipated feature to market

    Apple’s entire iPhone 13 family is ‘likely’ to bring a highly anticipated feature to market

    While there’s clearly no room for Apple’s traditional fingerprint recognition method on modern-day high-end iPhones, the Cupertino-based tech giant has been reportedly working on adapting its classic Touch ID sensor for mobile devices with little to no screen bezels for a number of years now.

    Of course, there are no plans to abandon the increasingly sophisticated, secure, convenient, and yes, beloved Face ID technology either, with Apple instead most likely aiming to put both state-of-the-art fingerprint and facial scanning features on the same handsets… eventually.
    The return of the popular Touch ID functionality could take place later this year, at least according to several reputable sources, although other well-known analysts and trusted insiders seem hesitant the iPhone 13 family will indeed make this important leap forward.
    We know exactly what you’re thinking. Why is everyone making such a big deal out of Apple’s tardy potential adoption of a feature that’s been standard on premium Android handsets for quite some time now? Put simply, the answer is because Apple could do it better than everyone from Samsung to Huawei, LG, Motorola, OnePlus, and Google.
    Google, mind you, has been the other big holdout of the in-display fingerprint sensor movement, opting for a traditional rear-mounted biometric authentication method on last year’s Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, and 5 after experimenting with an Apple-rivaling 3D face unlock system on 2019’s Pixel 4 and 4 XL.
    In theory, that means this year’s Pixel 6 may well challenge the iPhone 13 lineup in terms of screen-embedded fingerprint recognition accuracy and reliability, but something tells us that’s unlikely to ultimately be the case.
    For what it’s worth, there are no words on how Apple’s internal testing of the under-glass Touch ID technology is going or what companies will supply the necessary parts and components to make this upgrade possible in the latest report anticipating “2H21 iPhone” changes and beyond.
    All that Barclays analysts are ready to predict today is the hidden fingerprint sensor is coming this year alongside a slightly smaller notch on all iPhone 13 models. Said notch should be able to accommodate a “more tightly integrated version of the existing structured light system”, which essentially means the Face ID feature will largely go unchanged in 2021.
    2022’s iPhone 14 roster, however, could make a radical “architectural shift from structured light to time-of-flight, allowing for an even smaller footprint.” In other words, 2022 is expected to be the year of the first iPhone with a hole punch display… if all these predictions come true.
    Speaking of time-of-flight (ToF) technology, it seems practically etched in stone that the vanilla iPhone 13 and the diminutive iPhone 13 mini will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors with no such 3D LiDAR scanner on their back.
    That, in turn, emphasizes Apple’s plan to release a compact iPhone 13 mini model even after the underwhelming sales numbers of the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini, as well as the pretty much guaranteed integration of the aforementioned LiDAR sensor into the quad rear-facing camera system of both the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max.
    That obviously doesn’t mean the imaging setups of the four 5G-enabled iPhone 13 variants will be identical to the camera components of their 12-series forerunners, with important upgrades also rumored in the screen technology department and the overall design language unlikely to be radically transformed.
    It remains to be seen if Apple will indeed go the divisive portless route this year after already stirring controversy with its 2020 decision to drop the bundled charger and earphones from the iPhone 12 series boxes. If that happens, at least you have things like improved battery capacity and expanded storage space to look forward to.
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  • Indosat Ooredoo partners Play2Pay to boost mobile gamification experience

    Indosat Ooredoo partners Play2Pay to boost mobile gamification experience

    Indosat Ooredoo and Play2Pay, Inc. have entered a partnership to launch Adsgift, a platform that provides a unique, exciting, and personalized gamification experience for its users. Adsgift enables users to find out about the latest trends in the market, gets the latest updates on content and games, and provides an opportunity for users to gain various attractive rewards.

    This partnership is in line with Indosat Ooredoo’s efforts to become Indonesia’s leading digital telecommunications company that supports the digital economy, enabling producers and customers to gain more digitization benefits through platforms provided.

    Ritesh Kumar Singh, Chief Commercial Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, said, “Indosat Ooredoo is committed to providing the best digital experience for users and offering products that have an added value. We understand that customers face challenges of going outside due to this pandemic, but they can still be productive by utilizing digital technology. Therefore, through Adsgift, we hope that people can get an added value through mobile gamification experience.”

    Adsgift combines personalized offers or promotions with a fun gamification experience for customers. Through Adsgift, customers can get an internet quota of up to 5 GB per month to support their digital activities.

    Customers can download Adsgift through the Google Play Store, then use the application to collect points. The points collected can later be exchanged for IM3 Ooredoo internet packages. Customers can even obtain a free internet quota after completing the registration process using an IM3 Ooredoo number.

    Besides, the Adsgift application allows full control by users through various options to redeem the offers given. Users will still feel comfortable and safe without the risk of disrupting their activities when accessing their gadgets.

    Chris Liveing, VP Carrier Sales at Play2Pay™, said, “Indonesia has a fairly leading mobile and telecommunications industry, making it the right place for Play2Pay™ to launch this innovation for the first time in Asia by partnering with Indosat Ooredoo. By expanding our gamification-based payments platform to Indonesia, it enables even more people having an option to play and participate in making bill payments to service providers.”

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  • ZTE joins China Mobile in Xinfengming Group’s 5G intelligent manufacturing upgrade

    ZTE joins China Mobile in Xinfengming Group’s 5G intelligent manufacturing upgrade

    ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, in partnership with China Mobile, has upgraded Xinfengming Group’s 5G intelligent manufacturing, following the completion of the test and verification of the “i – wireless 5G intelligent and one-stop local network” project.

    Leveraging ZTE’s NodeEngine solution, this Xinfengming 5G manufacturing platform has been upgraded to accelerate the comprehensive digital transformation. This is the first commercial deployment of NodeEngine solution by ZTE and China Mobile.

    Aiming to better serve manufacturing with 5G technologies and to offer enterprises with flexible and fast local services, ZTE, China Mobile Research Institute and the Zhejiang Branch of China Mobile have teamed up to provide industrial parks with the innovative solution, featuring functions of PRB resources reserved hard slicing, intelligent and simple local distribution, EdgeQoS service management and control, and enterprise self-service portal and more, based on the concept of i- wireless 5G intelligence and simplification. The NodeEngine solution is simple to deploy, quick to the commission, and excellent in performance and cost-effectiveness.

    In the 5G network of Xinfengming Group, most of the production equipment is dedicated to Xinfengming, such as AGV trucks, visual detection devices, and automatic assembly devices. PRB resources reserved hard slicing and local traffic offloading provide Xinfengming the 5G private network capability in a short time, enabling the access of this dedicated equipment and the local traffic offloading and clearly separating common mobile users from businesses, which ensures the access and network performance of different types of terminals. Compared with the existing solutions, this solution enables time delay improvement by 20%.

    ZTE’s NodeEngine solution also serves as an exclusive local O&M portal for enterprises, with which, the network can be dynamically adjusted to satisfy different application requirements. Meanwhile, the network performance can be viewed in real-time, thereby ensuring flexible management and control.

    In addition, ZTE’s NodeEngine solution provides sophisticated EdgeQoS management and control. With this, the QoS requirements of local services, on the one hand, can be intelligently identified and distributed through edge AI to trigger network adjustment parameters to match service requirements. On the other hand, according to the service model, the resources such as bandwidth, latency and reliability are dynamically scheduled to match and guarantee real-time requirements, thus realizing differentiated local network services.

    Through the sophisticated management and control of EdgeQoS, networks can truly be flexibly adjusted according to services, greatly improving the perception of private network services and the efficiency of network resources.

    Committed to empowering traditional industries with 5G, ZTE has made remarkable achievements in 5G industrial manufacturing. Besides the Xinfengming Group digital transformation, the Nanjing Binjiang Smart Manufacturing Base and Changsha Smart Factory, developed by ZTE also, have become the models in the industry. In addition, ZTE has built typical 5G applications together with leading manufacturers such as SANY Group and SUPCON.

    Moving forward, ZTE will be committed to helping industrial manufacturing develop towards a green ,low-carbon, digital, and intelligent future.

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  • IronNet Cybersecurity adds new integrations to Collective Defense Platform

    IronNet Cybersecurity adds new integrations to Collective Defense Platform

    IronNet Cybersecurity, the leader in network detection and response and collective defense, announced new integrations with leading cloud, endpoint, and firewall platforms. These integrations enhance and expand the benefits of IronNet’s Collective Defense Platform for security operations teams.

    New capabilities in this release include integrations with:

    • Amazon Web Services (AWS): Adding new IronNet sensors that enable customers to leverage IronNet’s Collective Defense Platform to secure their AWS deployments.
    • Crowdstrike Falcon EDR: Enabling security analysts to seamlessly investigate threats detected by IronNet from the network to the host, and to contain compromised hosts.
    • Palo Alto Networks Strata Next-Generation Firewalls Native Response: Enabling security teams to generate firewall responses and stop threats detected by IronNet.
    • ZScaler Nanolog Streaming Service (NSS) Analysis: Enabling IronNet customers to apply IronNet’s IronDefenseⓇ NDR behavioral detection to HTTP/HTTPS logs.
    • Microsoft Office 365: Adding IronDefense behavioral detection of malicious login attacks targeting Microsoft’s productivity SaaS suite.

    In addition to these integrations, the new release includes:

    • New User & Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to detect identity- and authentication-focused attack techniques.
    • Improved lateral movement and port-scanning detection.

    “The ability to correlate cloud, network, endpoint, and other security telemetry data into a richer, more complete picture of a risk-based event helps organizations more effectively evaluate and mitigate a threat. And that is the real value that network intelligence and threat analytics solutions like IronNet offer,” said Christopher Kissel, Research Director, Security & Trust Products, IDC. “IronNet’s additional capability to share information anonymously across a community of peers and enable security analysts to collaborate on threats is a noticeable differentiator in light of the rise of nation-state level cyber-attacks.”

    This expansion of IronNet’s capabilities continues the company’s momentum of growth in both technology and partnerships. David Lathrop, Vice President of the Utility Strategic Business Unit with Unlimited Technology, Inc., said, “IronNet’s latest release is exactly the kind of ecosystem support that helps us provide the unique, comprehensive cyber solutions we offer through the Enterprise Security Program Review.” Unlimited Technology is a founding partner, along with IronNet, DirectDefense, and Exero, of the ESPR, announced in January.

    “Empowering security teams and maximizing the effectiveness of their security investments against cyber threats targeting their enterprise, industry, or region is core to our Collective Defense mission,” said Don Closser, IronNet’s Chief Product Officer. “Together with our security ecosystem partners, IronNet can offer our customers a true, defense-in-depth approach that helps them reduce time to detection and scale up their ability to respond to cyber threats. This is especially important as factors like digital transformation and expanding supply chains are increasing the threat landscape exponentially.”

  • Chinese Fintech Giants Join Efforts to Calm Markets

    Chinese Fintech Giants Join Efforts to Calm Markets

    Chinese fintech giants Ant Group and Tencent are the latest to attempt to inspire calm in markets after they told investors not to overreact to price swings and avoid making hasty decisions.

    Alipay, Ant Group’s payment arm, issued a letter earlier this week in its app to urge investors to take a longer-term view on the stock markets, which have seen turbulent swings erase $1.3 trillion from the CSI 300 index two weeks after reaching a 13-year high.

    According to the letter by a think tank under Ant Fortune – a wealth management platform within Alipay that provides access to over 6,000 funds – volatility is a natural characteristic and driver of returns for equities. Short-termism could result in investors «buying high and selling low», it said, adding that full panic in the market could signal that stocks have bottomed out.

    Earlier this month, Tencent’s wealth management platform also posted an article earlier this month, reminding investors that the majority of companies that generate high returns have previously seen a significant correction of share prices.

    The fintech duo’s warnings to investors coincide with efforts by Beijing to also inspire calm in markets.

    Chinese authorities are reportedly injecting funds to support the market via its so-called «national team» and censoring search phrases on social media.

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  • US luxury jeweller Hoorsenbuhs opens first overseas store in Japan

    US luxury jeweller Hoorsenbuhs opens first overseas store in Japan

    Los Angeles-based fine jewelry and lifestyle brand Hoorsenbuhs opened its first overseas store at the Ginza Six mall in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, March 5th.

    The 1,050 square foot space in Tokyo comes to life through the eyes of founder Robert Keith. For the store, Keith designed custom chairs, tables, lights, and jewelry cases featuring the brand’s signature tri-link chain motif. Artist Damien Hirst is among the brand’s most notable collectors and collaborators. Celebrity fans of the largely-unisex handmade jewelry collection include Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Lenny Kravitz.

    To celebrate the opening, the brand will offer exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, apparel, eyewear, and lifestyle goods at the new boutique.

    “We’ve built a very strong and successful retail business in Japan, since our first partnership in 2011, including Ron Herman, Umeda Hankyu, and Isetan,” said Kether Parker, brand director. “The opening of our first Hoorsenbuhs store at G6 will be a destination for our extremely loyal customer base to discover and immerse themselves in all things Hoorsenbuhs.”

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  • Tony Fernandes says AirAsia ‘can survive’ just on domestic traffic

    Tony Fernandes says AirAsia ‘can survive’ just on domestic traffic

    AirAsia Group Bhd group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the budget airline “can survive” just on domestic traffic, which is about 50% of the group’s business.

    “That is very different from Singapore Air (Singapore Airlines) or JAL (Japan Airlines Co Ltd) or ANA (All Nippon Airways Co Ltd),” Fernandes was quoted as saying.

    At the same time, Covid-19-related disruptions can actually make doing business easier, quoting Fernandes.

    It was reported that it took Fernandes seven years to get the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route for AirAsia Group.

    “(But) it took me seven weeks to open AirAsia food in Singapore,” Fernandes said.

    For all the pain due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported that Fernandes concluded this a “once-in-a-lifetime chance where you can really pivot”.

    It was reported that AirAsia Group under Fernandes’ leadership is pivoting into fintech and payments in a big way.

    It was reported that the group is working on opening a new neobank in Malaysia and Singapore, by tapping into the region’s biggest loyalty program

    “This fintech footprint is expanding to Singapore and soon to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

    “AirAsia’s logistics arm has also rolled out a digital network to modernize air cargo using distributed ledger blockchain technology, called Freightchain.

    Logistics, it turns out, “is the real jewel in the crown that I never really saw”, Fernandes said.

  • Prada bags sales boost from China rebound

    Prada bags sales boost from China rebound

    Italian fashion group Prada’s sales and profits rebounded at the end of last year from a first-half slump due to the coronavirus pandemic, boosted by a strong performance in China and elsewhere in Asia, and the positive trend has carried on into 2021.

    Luxury fashion companies have been hit hard by the impact of the crisis on tourism and travel, but an improving backdrop in China, one of the world’s biggest luxury markets, has helped some companies to bounce back.

    Milan-based Prada, famous for its luxury bags and clothes, also benefited from a surge in online sales.

    The pandemic has accelerated the luxury goods industry’s move towards digital sales. Prada’s e-commerce sales more than tripled in 2020 versus 2019 levels, the Hong Kong-listed company said.

    Last year, Prada launched e-commerce in new key markets and revamped the Prada website.

    “We are just at the beginning of our growth trajectory and there is still a huge potential to unlock,” said marketing head Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Prada’s founders Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, who are co-CEOs.

    CEO Patrizio Bertelli said: “We have 130 stores that are still closed due to the pandemic and group’s performance in early 2021 is quite good anyway. That give us the confidence to face the upcoming rebound, as soon as the most critical phase of the pandemic will end.”

    The first months of 2021 have seen a slight growth in sales compared with the early part of 2020 and are up from 2019 levels, CFO Alessandra Cozzani said conference call after the group’s results were published on Wednesday.

    CEO Bertelli said Prada had responded quickly to market changes, strengthening the relationship with local customers whose consumption in the second half of the year almost fully offset the absence of tourists.

    “All of these initiatives led to a full recovery in the second half to pre-pandemic profitability levels,” he said in a statement.

    The recovery in retail sales, which account for around 90% of Prada’s total, was driven in the second half by mainland China (+52%), Taiwan (+61%), Korea (+22%) and also by the Americas (+4%). Japan and Europe suffered from the lack of tourists and prolonged lockdowns.

    Full-year revenues fell by 24% to 2.42 billion euros ($2.9 billion) thanks to an improvement in the second half after a 40% slump in the first six months.

    Lockdown measures to stem the spread of coronavirus led to around 18% of the group’s store network being closed on average during the year and the restrictions also hit tourism.

    Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) totalled 20 million euros in the full-year, following a 216 million euro EBIT in the second half, broadly in line with the same period of 2019, after a 196 million euros operating loss in the first six months.

    Analysts had expected revenues at 2.44 billion euros and an EBIT of 13.8 million, based on a Refinitiv analyst consensus.

    Analysts did not expected any dividends, but Prada’s board decide

  • Adidas expects strong rebound, takes Reebok hit

    Adidas expects strong rebound, takes Reebok hit

    German sportswear maker Adidas AG predicted a strong rebound in sales in 2021, particularly in China, the rest of Asia, and Latin America, although its profits will be trimmed by costs associated with divesting the Reebok brand.

    The outlook for 2021 is part of a five-year strategy that Adidas is due to present on Wednesday.

    Fourth-quarter sales rose a currency-neutral 1 percent to €5.55 billion ($6.59 billion), while operating profit slipped slightly to €225 million, ahead of the €5.47 billion and €202 million expected by analysts.

    About half of its stores were closed in Europe in the period, but online sales grew 43 percent.

    Now that more than 95 percent of its stores have reopened after lockdowns, Adidas expects sales growth at a mid-to high-teens rate on a currency-neutral basis in 2021, rising by up to 30 percent in greater China, the rest of Asia, and Latin America.

    Rival Puma said last month it expects the financial impact from lockdowns to last well into the second quarter but believes global growth in running should help to support a strong improvement after that.

    As part of its new strategy, Adidas will manage greater China as a separate market from the rest of Asia, and has integrated Europe, Russia and emerging markets into a new Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

    For EMEA, Adidas expects sales growth in the mid-to high-teens, but only a high-single-digit rate in North America.

    Net income from continuing operating is set to rise to between €1.25 billion and €1.45 billion.

    However, Adidas said it expects a hit of around €250 million to the operating profit level and €200 million to net income due to costs to set up Reebok as a stand-alone company, with a third of that in 2022, but none in 2023.

    Adidas said last month it plans to sell or spin-off the underperforming brand, 15 years after it bought the U.S. fitness label to help compete with arch-rival Nike Inc .

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  • Cybersecurity Startup Plots APAC Expansion

    Cybersecurity Startup Plots APAC Expansion

    London-based cloud-native application security startup Snyk is eyeing Asia Pacific and Japan, following a breakout year in 2020.

    Snyk has announced plans to expand in Singapore, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, and has appointed vice president of APJ sales Shaun McLagan to lead and build out dedicated teams in the region, the firm announced in a blog post on Thursday.

    The appointment comes as Snyk announced its latest $300 million Series E funding, led by new partners – Singapore state investor Temasek and Geodesic Capital, a venture capital firm that specializes in helping technology companies expand into Asia.

    The startup cited an explosion of digital transformation initiatives across the region and a greater need for security among companies. Its customers include Revolut and Volt Bank.

    With an estimated 27 million software developers worldwide today, and the strongest growth for developers expected in Asia Pacific specifically, Snyk collectively recognizes that there has never been a better time to serve this market, Peter McKay, Snyk CEO said.

    Founded in 2015, the company had a breakout year in 2020, recording a 200 percent year-over-year increase in revenue and making strategic acquisitions of DeepCode and Manifold.

    With the new funding round, the company has now raised $470 million to date, bringing the company valuation to US$4.7 billion, quadrupling it since the beginning of 2020.

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  • Grab in Talks to Go Public via SPAC Merger

    Grab in Talks to Go Public via SPAC Merger

    The technology platform and ride-hailing giant is reportedly considering a merger with an SPAC, but a U.S. listing via a traditional IPO is not off the table.

    J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley, which are advising Grab on its IPO plans, are in the midst of identifying special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) for the company to merge with to accelerate its listing process, according to a «Bloomberg» report on Thursday.

    The Softbank-backed company’s listing considerations come after talks to combine with Indonesian rival Gojek collapsed, the report said. The latter is now in advanced discussions to merge with local e-commerce pioneer Tokopedia instead.

    SPACs are shell companies, also known as blank check companies, that go public on a stock exchange in order to then buy private companies, which are then listed virtually through the back door.

    They are also the hottest trend on Wall Street: the proceeds of SPAC IPOs grew from $14.7 billion across 96 issues in 2019, to $79.3 billion across 256 issues in 2020, according to data from Refinitiv. SPAC mergers also grew in value from $34.5 billion across 87 deals in 2019, to $157.5 billion across 163 deals in 2020.

    Asian Bourses Consider Listing

    The Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing is reviewing the possibility of adding SPACs to its offering while the Singapore Exchange could list them as early as this year.

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