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Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Living news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Caltex set to float 49 per cent stake in 250 retail sites

    Caltex set to float 49 per cent stake in 250 retail sites

    Fuel and convenience retailer Caltex is planning to undertake an initial public offering (IPO) of up to a 49 percent stake in 250 retail sites.

    The retailer would retain a majority 51 percent interest and enter into a long-term lease agreement for each site. The 250 sites represent all the freehold sites in a core network of 500 sites.

    The retailer expects the proposed IPO to offer significant value for shareholders, while also allowing the company to maintain operational control of the core Convenience Retail network.

    “This transaction is expected to release significant capital that could be used to further strengthen the balance sheet, fund future growth opportunities and return capital to Caltex shareholders in a way that unlocks the franking credits balance, in line with our capital allocation framework,” Caltex chief financial officer Matt Halliday said in an update to the ASX on Monday.

    Caltex expects to make rental payments of between $80 million to $100 million to the property trust in the first year.

    At the company’s half-year results in August, a 54 percent drop in profit prompted plans to drive growth from an enhanced convenience offer through about 500 core sites. As part of its plans to reduce costs, the company is offloading 50 higher-value metropolitan petrol stations.

    Caltex issued an update on its convenience retail business on Monday morning, reporting that annual earnings before interest and tax is expected to be in the range of $190 ‐ 210 million, a significant increase on the first half of 2019, driven by an improvement in fuel margin.

    “Despite the softer conditions from ongoing Australian economic weakness, Caltex has continued to outperform our competitors in the retail fuel market by leveraging our fuel supply chain expertise and our high-quality retail network,” Caltex managing director and CEO, Julian Segal, said.

    Segal also pointed to the recent opening of the first Caltex Woolworths Metro store in North Ryde as another milestone for the retailer. A second store is set to launch in Kingsford, NSW, this week and a third will open in Melbourne early next year. A further update on the store rollout will be given at its Investor Day.

    If the proposed IPO is approved, the transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020.

  • Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore to set up JV in Vietnam

    Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore to set up JV in Vietnam

    Japanese drugstore operator Matsumoto Kiyoshi is to open stores in Vietnam in partnership with a local company, Lotus Food Group.

    The two parties have formed a joint venture, Matsumoto Kiyoshi Vietnam JSC, to operate a drugstore chain under the name MatsuKiyo in Vietnam. In Japan, Matsumotokiyoshi operates stores under the banner Matsumoto Kiyoshi.

    According to a statement by Matsumotokiyoshi, a JV company has been set up with a capital of US$1.36 million, 51-per-cent owned by Matsumotokiyoshi, 48.87 percent by Lotus Food Group and 0.13 percent owned by Le Van May, the president and CEO of Lotus.

    After its successful expansion in Thailand, Matsumotokiyoshi chose Vietnam as its next Southeast Asian destination, hoping to strengthen its presence further in the region.

    The brand now has 34 stores across Thailand, five in Taiwan and is planning to open in Hong Kong in the near future.

    The first MatsuKiyo store’s location and an opening date has yet to be disclosed.

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  • Petrol Prices Rise For 5th Consecutive Day

    Petrol Prices Rise For 5th Consecutive Day

    Petrol prices have surged in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, seeing a hike of 16 paise/litre. The upward trend in petrol rates continued on the fifth consecutive day on Monday, while the diesel prices remained constant for the sixth day in continuation.

    The prices have been affected by the rise in the crude oil rates in the international market. Though on Monday, the petrol rates in the international market remained unchanged, the Brent crude oil rates were the highest in the past two months.

    Accordingly, the petrol prices have been showing a surge with Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai seeing a hike of 16 paise/litre. As per the Indian oil website, the petrol rates in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were Rs 74.05/litre, Rs 76.74/litre, Rs 79.71/litre and Rs 76.97/litre respectively.

    The diesel rates, which have remained unchanged for six consecutive days are — Rs 65.79/litre, Rs 68.20/litre, 69.01/litre and 69.54/litre respectively. Brent crude futures were down by 0.05 percent, at $63.31 a barrel, which is the highest in the past two months.

    West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $57.84 a barrel, 0.02 percent higher than the previous session.

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  • Hulu is the latest streaming platform to announce a price hike

    Hulu is the latest streaming platform to announce a price hike

    Hulu is just the latest name on the long list of streaming services that increased their prices within the past few years. Netflix, YouTube TV, and AT&T TV Now are just some of the most popular platforms that admitted defeat and decided to make customers pay more for their services.

    Starting December 18, customers who wish to subscribe to Hulu + Live TV will have to pay no less than $55 per month, up $10 from its current price of $45 per month, Hulu announced. Of course, existing customers will be affected by the price hike as well, so they should see the changes reflected in their subsequent billing cycle after December 18.

    The new price better reflects the substantial value of Hulu + Live TV and allows us to continue offering all of the popular live news, sports and entertainment programming included in the plan.

    Hulu recommends those who can’t afford to pay for Hulu + Live TV to choose one of its less expensive on-demand plans during those months when there’s nothing interesting to watch that would only be available through Hulu + Live.

    Hulu + Live TV includes all of Hulu’s on-demand content, access to over 60 live sports, news and entertainment channels, as well as Hulu Originals like This is Us, The Good Doctor, Family Guy, ER and Lost.

    The price changes might be hard to stomach for many Hulu customers, but at least they’ll have the option to switch back and forth between plans to best suit their needs.

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  • More Spotify users can now stream their music on popular Sonos sound systems

    More Spotify users can now stream their music on popular Sonos sound systems

    Unlike arch-rival Apple Music, Spotify has both free and paid service tiers, which explains why the industry-leading streaming platform jumped to a mind-blowing 248 million monthly active users at the latest quarterly count while racking up “only” 113 million premium subscribers.

    Of course, it can be profitable to get people to use Spotify without paying a $9.99 standard monthly fee too, both because those users are likely to be inclined to upgrade to a Premium subscription in the long run and because one of the downsides of not paying for unlimited music streaming is being served the occasional ad, which naturally makes the company quite a bit of moolah.

    As such, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that a basic feature previously offered exclusively with Spotify Premium accounts is finally extending to Free users. Starting now, you can play your tunes on Sonos sound systems without having to sign up for a premium Spotify subscription. All you need to do after updating the Sonos app to its latest version is head to its Settings menu, then Services, and finally, tap the Spotify option to link your free account.

    Apart from having to learn to live with ads constantly interrupting your jam sessions, opting for free Spotify access means listening to (most) tracks on shuffle and being unable to skip songs at will.

    Like Spotify, Sonos has been taking a number of steps meant to further widen the appeal and reach of its high-quality but often expensive speakers and soundbars recently, adding Google Assistant support at long last and releasing the company’s first portable model that’s unsurprisingly costly.

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  • Disney+ is already rocking the streaming industry with incredibly early milestone

    Disney+ is already rocking the streaming industry with incredibly early milestone

    One full year of hyping after Disney formally threw its hat in the Netflix-dominated video streaming ring, the most highly anticipated new platform of 2019 finally made its commercial debut yesterday, November 12. Today, November 13, the Mouse House is already boasting about the insane subscriber numbers of Disney+, which might explain why it was initially so tricky for so many users to access their family-friendly content.

    According to CNBC, which is quoting an official company announcement, no less than 10 million people have signed up for the surprisingly affordable and incredibly extensive VOD service roughly 24 hours after its Tuesday launch. While the platform’s free 7-day trial makes it impossible to know how many of those “subscribers” will actually end up paying for the service, the figure remains outstanding, giving Disney the perfect start in a very competitive and increasingly crowded market.

    It’s obviously not fair to make these comparisons, but Netflix barely added 6.8 million paying subscribers worldwide between July and September this year for a grand total of more than 158 million people, with Hulu, which just so happens to also be owned by Disney, lagging far behind, at around 28 million subscribers as of the end of Q1 2019, up by 3 million compared to the previous quarter.

    It’s almost hard to imagine just how fast Disney+ will be able to expand its reach when it becomes available around the world. Don’t forget, the November 12 launch was a US, Canada, and Netherlands-only thing, which makes the 10 million milestones that much more impressive. Then again, one important thing that may have helped inflate the number somewhat artificially (apart from the aforementioned free trial) is Verizon’s killer deal for both new and existing customers.

    Of course, Apple TV+ started off with a similarly “unfair” advantage over Netflix earlier this month, as recent iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, and Apple TV buyers are all eligible for a free year of service, and we’re not seeing the Cupertino-based tech giant crowing over the platform’s achievements… yet.

    Clearly, the Disney+ debut can be considered a smash hit, which obviously makes sense given the sheer size and mainstream appeal of its library, as well as the low $6.99 monthly rate, all the premium features and perks included in that price, and the fact you can even share your account with family members and friends… for the time being.

  • Apple Music gains new Replay feature

    Apple Music gains new Replay feature

    Apple is bringing a new feature to its music streaming service in the hopes to bring Apple Music on par with Spotify and other similar services. The new feature is called Replay and lets Apple Music users check out their favorite music from 2019.

    Simply put, Apple Music subscribers will get a playlist of the most played songs from 2019, as well as playlists for every year they’ve been subscribed to the service, retroactively. All songs alongside playlists can be added to the Apple Music Library to allow users to stream them anytime they want.

    More importantly, Apple Music Replay can be shared with others or posted to social media. Unlike Spotify’s Wrapped feature that’s basically an annual retrospective. Apple Music Replay will continue to be updated throughout the year.

    According to Apple, the playlist and all data insights are updated on Sundays to reflect subscribers’ latest listening activity. Think of Apple Music Replay as a compilation of favorites, which changes throughout the year, not just at the end.

    The new feature is now available from the Apple Music app across all platforms, including via the web, so give it a spin until the beginning of the next year when it will become a blank slate waiting to be filled with your favorite music.

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  • Saigon to pilot public electric motorbike service

    Saigon to pilot public electric motorbike service

    The HCMC Transport Department will launch a public transport service using electric motorbikes at the end of this year. The service is part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last week between the department and Grab Vietnam, the local unit of Singapore-based ride-hailing firm.

    Under the agreement, the two parties will jointly roll out the electric motorbike service to support the city’s public transportation system in downtown areas, then consider expanding it throughout the city by the end of next year.

    They are also considering an electric bike rental service in the near future.

    Grab Vietnam will also share its data with the department, including the journeys of all vehicles registered with its ride-hailing technology, in order that the latter can create a traffic database.

    This database will allow the department to analyze, simulate and predict traffic on each route, and in turn, coordinate with Grab’s fleet to come up with solutions addressing the city’s current traffic constraints, the MoU said.

    Providing this additional mode of public transport aims to limit the use of personal vehicles, reduce congestion, and limit environmental pollution, department director Tran Quang Lam said.

    HCMC, the country’s largest metropolis with 13 million people, has around 7.8 million motorbikes and about 750,000 cars, according to the city’s police department. Car registrations in the city increased 15 percent in the first six months, while motorbikes 6 percent, according to the transport department.

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  • BookXcess opens ‘book tunnel at Malaysia’s Sunsuria Forum

    BookXcess opens ‘book tunnel at Malaysia’s Sunsuria Forum

    Malaysia’s first book tunnel concept BookXcess has opened at Sunsuria Forum in Shah Alam.

    As customers step in the entrance, they will witness a towering circular bookshelf similar to the world-famous Starfield Library in Seoul, South Korea.

    Located at Sunsuria Forum @ 7th Avenue, the bookstore offers more than 500,000 different books, including art and design to literature, fiction, non-fiction, young adult and children’s books. The eighth BookXcess’ bookstore features several zones for customers to work and read. Beverages and treats are available in Cafe Wolf, an in-store cafe.

    “We want to continue to spread the love of reading to the people of Malaysia with the opening of our eighth bookstore in Malaysia and third new bookstore this year alone,” said Dipak Madhavan, chief marketing officer of BookXcess.

    “We are always looking out for new ways to increase the reading habits of Malaysians and creating new concepts like this tunnel bookstore is part of this effort. The unique structure and concept will attract readers and non-readers alike to the bookstore and our prices will hopefully convert them to pick up a book or two.”

    A mini-maze for children and Magic Books using Augmented Reality technology are featured to create better immersive, interactive reading experience.

    Senior project director of Sunsuria Berhad, Wong Chiew Meng believes Sunsuria Forum will be the next ‘talk of town’ with child enrichment and family-oriented elements embedded into the concept of Sunsuria Forum.

    “Apart from the choices of F&B and amenities, we believe that BookXcess will be beneficial to the surrounding communities especially young families who see the importance of cultivating the joy of reading in their daily lives.”

    BookXcess also created a donation corner called Red Readerhood where customers can donate books to unprivileged children from Cahaya Kasih Bestari and Rumah Amal Bistari in hopes that the children from the homes will receive knowledge through the initiative and will be inspired to chase their dreams.

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  • Vietnam urged to stop building new coal-fired power plants

    Vietnam urged to stop building new coal-fired power plants

    A halt to investment in new coal-fired power plants is required to check the trend of increasing coal consumption, a report warns.

    The report, released on Monday by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in collaboration with Denmark’s Energy Agency, said the country needs early action to reduce future coal demand, which could include taxation on the use of coal or limits on new coal-based power generation.

    Vietnam’s coal imports could triple between now and 2030 as demand for power rises in lockstep with a rapidly growing economy, Jakob Stenby Lundsager, an adviser in Vietnam to the Danish Energy Partnership, said at the release of the Vietnam Energy Outlook Report 2019.

    The figure would rise eight times by 2050, meaning three-fourths of Vietnam’s energy needs would depend on imports, he said.

    Renewable energy could account for 10 percent of total supply by 2030 and 20 percent by 2050, but the country needs to invest in expanding its grid and transmission to absorb the new supply, he said.

    The report noted liquefied natural gas could be used instead of coal in the power sector through at a higher cost, but it would cause less pollution.

    Vietnam became a net importer of coal in 2015 and imports have been rising to meet electricity needs.

    Imports cost $2.27 billion last year, up 71.6 percent year-on-year, with coal bought mostly from Indonesia, Australia and Russia, according to the trade ministry.

    Since power shortages are expected from 2021, the country might need to import 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of power in 2021 and 9 billion kWh in 2023 from Laos and China to meet demand, the ministry had said in July.

    The World Bank has estimated that Vietnam needs $150 billion for energy sector development by 2030, with electricity demand growing by 8 percent a year in the next decade.

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  • Petrol Prices Decline On 5th Consecutive Day

    Petrol Prices Decline On 5th Consecutive Day

    Petrol prices continued a downward trend for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, while diesel prices remained unchanged after a slight dip on Monday. Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai saw a reduction of 5 paise/litre in petrol prices. According to the Indian oil website , in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, the petrol rates were – Rs 72.60/litre, Rs 75.32/litre, Rs 78.28/litre and Rs 74.45/litre respectively. The diesel rates in these metropolitan cities were — Rs 65.75/litre, Rs 68.16/litre, Rs 68.96/litre and Rs 69.50/litre respectively.

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  • Chinese pharmaceutical group may bid for ailing GNC

    Chinese pharmaceutical group may bid for ailing GNC

    Chinese firm Harbin Pharmaceutical Group is poised to take over and privatize US vitamin and retailer supplier GNC.

    The firm acquired a 40-per-cent shareholding in the company last year, initiating an e-commerce business in joint venture with GNC in China. Harbin currently owns its stake as convertible preferred shares.

    The potential takeover is complicated by GNC’s heavy debt load, which four months ago stood at US$900 million, and the current political climate between China and the US. GNC has lost more than half its value over the past year.

    GNC operates more than 4800 stores in the US and has franchises in 46 international territories. It is expected to shutter 900 outlets by the end of next year.

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  • Chinese travel-case maker Ninetygo planning global expansion

    Chinese travel-case maker Ninetygo planning global expansion

    Chinese travel lifestyle brand Ninetygo is eyeing global expansion as more millennials and Gen Zers travel abroad.

    As a brand owned by Anhui Korrun, the first Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed domestic suitcase manufacturer in China, Ninetygo plans to further diversify its product lines and add new fashion elements into its designs as it races to catch up with other global players.

    “Young consumers’ demand for travel products is no longer limited to being practical and functional – personal items are regarded as the manifestation of their life taste and joy,” said Anhui Korrun founder and chairman Fan Jinsong.

    “Pushed by the fast-growing trend of globalization, more convenient visa access and transportation to other global destinations, the frequency of vacations abroad will keep rising.

    “For the next step, we will continue to raise our research and development based on multi-dimensional scenes such as pre-trip storage, travel entertainment, business travel, parent-child amusement, and hotel sleep to further enrich our product lines.”

    Ninetygo has just launched a new collection resulting from a collaboration with former Hermes designer Ludovic Alban. The new Ninetygo x L.a Nice series was launched in the Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture in France, one of the world’s top art museums.

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  • First Ikea Macau store scheduled to open in first quarter of next year

    First Ikea Macau store scheduled to open in first quarter of next year

    Ikea says it plans to open in Macau in the first quarter of next year.

    Located in Taipa, the Ikea Macau store will occupy an area of 90,000sqft, offering a wide range of home furnishing products. The new store will feature several showrooms, an Ikea cafe, and a Swedish food market.

    The store will be opened by Ikea’s partner for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Indonesia, Singapore-listed Dairy Farm Group.

    “Marking a major milestone in Ikea’s long-term commitment to Macau, the new Ikea store will offer well-designed, affordable and practical home furnishing solutions to Macau consumers,” said Adrian Worth, MD of Dairy Farm Group Ikea North Asia. “By offering a range of amazing value-for-money home furnishing products, together with our famous Swedish food, we hope to make that vision a reality for the people of Macau.”

    The company is recruiting more than 100 co-workers for the development and operation of the new Ikea Macau store.

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