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Tag: asia

  • AS Watson sales grew 7 per cent last year, despite protests

    AS Watson sales grew 7 per cent last year, despite protests

    Health-and-beauty retailer AS Watson recorded 7 percent growth last year despite the political unrest in its key Hong Kong market.

    “What’s worth mentioning is the growth of health and beauty in Asia which was significantly impacted by the social unrest in the second half of 2019,” said AS Watson Group MD Dominic Lai. “If you take it out, the rest of Asia [outside Hong Kong] was growing at 14 percent, which is very healthy,” he said in comments translated by the South China Morning Post.

    Watsons Hong Kong represented just 2.6 percent of the retail division’s pre-tax profit last year.

    The retailer operates more than 15,000 stores in 25 international markets, predominantly in the health-and-beauty category. The sector benefited from developments in digital retail, house brands and exclusive offerings, and an uptick in customer connectivity with its 137 million-strong membership base.

    The firm expects its China trading this year to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic but is confident that its profits will be sustainable profitability given its geographical diversity, strong partner relationships and loyal member base.

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  • Indonesian retail bussineses starts shutting down as coronavirus crisis gets worse

    Indonesian retail bussineses starts shutting down as coronavirus crisis gets worse

    The Indonesian retail sector has begun to shut down in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, with shopping centers and retail chains voluntarily closing the doors to non-essential categories.

    More than 30 shopping malls have been shut down in the country despite no order from authorities. Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIRT) has temporarily closed 11 out of 23 shopping malls in the Greater Jakarta region, Bandung and Bali.

    According to LMIRT, the company will close its malls until April 9 and waive rent for all affected tenants. Essential services including supermarkets and pharmacies remain open during the shutdown.

    Other shopping malls across Jakarta closed include Senayan City, Plaza Indonesia, Aeon Malls, Mall of Indonesia and Lotte Shopping Avenue.

    Meanwhile, McDonald’s Indonesia will cease dine-in services across the country for two weeks starting from April 1. The company said on its social media channels that it still offers to take away, drive-through and home delivery services.

    As Indonesian retail continues to wind down, many local restaurants have also closed their doors but continue to operate through third-party apps like Gojek and Grab.

    Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo is among the latest retailers to temporarily close their stores in Indonesia.

    As of today, Indonesia has confirmed 1414 positive cases of Covid-19 including 122 deaths and 75 recovered.

  • Android Auto wireless compatibility arrives in additional markets

    Android Auto wireless compatibility arrives in additional markets

    Android Auto is one of the trickiest products developed by Google. First off, it’s not compatible with all smartphones and some of the features are limited to select markets. Secondary, Android Auto is in a constant state of development, as Google adds and removes features all the time. Sometimes, updates remove features in favor of new ones, which are then brought back a few updates later.

    If you’re one of the many millions of Android Auto users, you’ll be happy to know that Google is expanding the availability of one of its features to additional markets. We’re talking about wireless compatibility, an option that only Android Auto users in about 15 countries were able to use until recently.

    Starting today, Android Auto in 16 countries join the list of markets where wireless compatibility is available. The new feature will allow Android Auto to display information on your vehicle’s display automatically once you start your car via Wi-Fi Direct, assuming you’re using a compatible device.

    Without further ado, here are the countries that are getting Android Auto wireless compatibility this week: Australia, Austria, Germany, France, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and United Kingdom.

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  • LVMH Group brands invite consumers to travel abroad

    LVMH Group brands invite consumers to travel abroad

    LVMH Group brands are using social media campaigns to allow consumers to “escape differently” with branded content inspired by “nomadic thinking” during the coronavirus crisis.

    Multiple brands within the LVMH stable are embracing the concept which is in response to the global imperative for people to stay home in the midst of the pandemic.

    “With physical travel limited to a strict minimum and billions of people around the world asked to remain at home, the desire for distant horizons has rarely been felt so strongly,” the company explains. “People confined to their home must battle boredom as they ponder the closed doors in front of them…”

    One of the LVMH Group brands involved in the project is luxury luggage label Rimowa whose Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa who transformed its iconic aluminum suitcase into a chair, “an invitation to rest, reflect and dream of a radiant future”.

    Another example was the firm’s beauty brand Benefit Cosmetics, which invited followers to join a “globe-spinning” contest to win a year of cosmetics supplies.

    Clos19, the Moet Hennessy e-commerce platform, is publishing content that offers followers a chance to broaden their knowledge of vineyards and grape varieties.

    Part of the LVMH Group brands campaign dips into the pages of its history to share photos shot by French photographer Jean Lariviere in the 1980s for several emblematic advertisements.

    In a separate response to the pandemic, LVMH has moved to provide several million surgical masks in France to help those affected by Covid-19.

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  • Indian fashion chain W expands into footwear

    Indian fashion chain W expands into footwear

    Indian women’s fashion chain W is expanding its business into footwear.

    The firm is preparing to retail shoes in more than 80 W stores across the country, as well as online, offering a collection of various styles of heels and flats. The collection presents classic Western designs with Indian flourishes.

    “At W, we have always strived to give the modern Indian woman a complete wardrobe solution,” said TCNS Clothing MD Anant Daga. “True to our brand promise, we are launching Footapparel, which is an amalgamation of fashion and functionality.

    “Looking at the footwear options available to our customers, we believe finding that one perfect pair which coordinates best, is fashion-forward yet keeps you comfortable throughout the day is a real challenge. This is the space we are addressing with our range of fusion footwear which is both fashionable and comfortable.

    The brand’s shoe designs feature craftwork such as embroidery, braiding, hand weaving, pleating, laser cutwork, quilting, and raffia weaving, amongst others.

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  • More fashion companies join coronavirus fight

    More fashion companies join coronavirus fight

    Major international retailers are lining up to join the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

    Swedish fashion retailer H&M has begun producing protective face masks intended for use by hospital staff initially in Spain and Italy, to be followed by other regions.

    “At this first stage, 100,000 face masks will be produced and ready for delivery on April 2,” said a spokesperson for the brand. “Half will go to Italy and half to Spain. It is a factory in China that makes the masks.”

    Meanwhile, Japanese fast-fashion casual wear brand Uniqlo will donate 10 million masks produced by its Chinese manufacturing partners to medical facilities around the world, with the majority headed for the US, Italy and Japan. The first 1 million masks were scheduled to be delivered to Italy this week.

    McDonald’s Philippines has pledged to serve 50,000 meals to medical health workers, volunteers, police, government agencies, and local communities affected by the disease. The distribution of the meals is being handled by partner agencies.

    “We continue to reinforce our commitment to make a difference in the lives of Filipinos by providing aid to Filipinos in need during this very challenging time,” said Ronald McDonald House Charities executive director Marie Angeles.

    In China, Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook has set up an in-house face mask production line in its dust-free T Mark diamond processing factory in Lunjiao, Shunde. The facility has been operating since mid-March and produces around 100,000 masks per day.

    The masks are being given as a priority to the group’s employees globally, with donation for charitable purposes to be considered once productivity increases.

    “Anti-epidemic materials are short in supply under the global outbreak”, said Chow Tai Fook executive director Bobby Liu. “To take good care of more than 30,000 employees worldwide, the group has to secure an adequate supply of face masks for our staff to ensure they can return to work safely and worry-free. In response to this challenge, we shifted from global sourcing to producing our own face masks.

    “Contributing to fight against the outbreak, we plan to donate face masks to people in need through medical institutions or non-profit organizations once we ramp up our production.”

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  • Zoom for iOS stops sharing information with Facebook after a new update

    Zoom for iOS stops sharing information with Facebook after a new update

    Last week, we reported that the popular video-conferencing app Zoom had a concerning privacy issue, when Vice’s Motherboard informed us that the app was sharing data with Facebook, even for people who didn’t have a Facebook account.

    Now, Motherboard brings to our attention that Zoom has removed the code from its iOS app that was sending data to Facebook and is now offering the new version of the code with an update. The app used Facebook’s software development kits (SDKs) on its backend and therefore it sent analytics data, mainly related to targeted ads, to Facebook, without notifying the app’s users in its privacy policy.

    However, Zoom’s CEO, Eric S. Yuan, apologized in a blog post about the concern raised by the situation. He stated that Zoom users’ privacy is extremely important to the company and that they have decided to remove Facebook’s SDK from the iOS app. Additionally, he said that the information, sent to Facebook, did not include names, notes, attendees or any meeting-related information, but data about devices’ OS and some technical specifications.

    He also provided the following list of example information that the SDK was sending to Facebook:

    • Application Bundle Identifier
    • Application Instance ID
    • Application Version
    • Device Carrier
    • iOS Advertiser ID
    • iOS Device CPU Cores
    • iOS Device Disk Space Available
    • iOS Device Disk Space Remaining
    • iOS Device Display Dimensions
    • iOS Device Model
    • iOS Language
    • iOS Timezone
    • iOS Version
    • IP Address

    The update is now available for download for Zoom for iOS from Apple’s App Store. With the new version, users will be able to log in using their Facebook account only through a browser, and not directly from the app. Previously, the in-app Facebook login was associated with the now removed Facebook SDKs.

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  • Lamborghini’s New V12 Track Car Teased

    Lamborghini’s New V12 Track Car Teased

    Lamborghini working on a track-specific model was known to us, and finally the supercar maker has released a teaser video of its upcoming track-only machine. While the video primarily focuses on its razor-sharp styling and bodywork, we also get a whiff of what the humongous 6.5-litre, V12’s roar will sound like. It has not given much details about the model though, and all we know at this point of time is that it will churn out close to 830 bhp which is mind-boggling.

    As far as the construction is concerned, it sports a roof-mounted intake and a gigantic wing at the rear to generate heavy downforce. There are also dual air inlets on the hood and a detailed look will give away the sharp sculpting on the hood and along with the profile. Though we still can’t see all of it, since it’s just a teaser, the rear too looks muscular with massive haunches and there is a big diffuser sporting dual exhaust outlets.

    Lamborghini’s track division- Squadra Corse had mentioned that the track car will be manufactured in limited numbers and we expect just 40 units of it to roll off the assembly line. Towards the end, the video also hints at a new model which is the Huracan Super Trofeo Omologato (STO) that will be powered by the 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 motor that will belt out close to 640 bhp.

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  • Suzuki To Set-up Automobile Plant In Myanmar

    Suzuki To Set-up Automobile Plant In Myanmar

    Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced that it will be setting up a new manufacturing facility in Myanmar, under its subsidiary Suzuki Thilawa Motor. This will be the company’s third facility in Myanmar and will be located in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, southeast of Yangon. At present, Suzuki produces the Carry LCV, Ciaz, Ertiga and Swift cars at the existing plants. The new production facility will have provisions for welding, painting and assembling vehicles, and will have a manufacturing capacity of 40,000 vehicles annually.

    Suzuki will be investing about $109 million in the upcoming Myanmar plant and will be ready by September 2021 for operations. The manufacturer first set shop in Myanmar in 1998 as part of a joint venture and has been retailing its range of four-wheelers and two-wheelers from 1999. With a growing economy in the region, the automaker has seen a steady hike in its sales volumes.

    Suzuki produced about 13,300 units in 2019 in Myanmar, a 125 percent year-on-year growth over 2018. Sales, on the other hand, stood at 13,206 units, growing at 128 percent year-on-year. Much like India, the Japanese auto giant is a market leader in the neighboring country and accounts for about 60 percent of the market share in four-wheeler sales.

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  • StanChart Boosts Healthcare Liquidity

    StanChart Boosts Healthcare Liquidity

    Standard Chartered on Monday said it will set aside $1 billion to finance companies that are providing goods and services to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak.

    The lender plans to offer financing at preferential rates to firms that are manufacturers and distributors in the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers, as well as manufacturers of items such as ventilators, face masks, protective equipment, and sanitizers.

    Clearly there’s a cost for companies to switch into these hugely in-demand items, so it’s an area where we can help them get up and running more quickly. At the same time, we want to make sure that existing manufacturers and service providers get the support they need, said Simon Cooper, CEO of StanChart’s corporate and institutional banking division in a media statement.

    Financing will come in the form of loans, import finance, export finance, or working capital facilities to help these firms tool up and get their products to market. The bank, which derives about two-thirds of its total operating income from Asia, is also trying to identify companies that may switch into, or add, anti-virus products to their output but have not indicated that they will do so.

    Our industry teams are looking across our client base and, given our understanding of clients’ current manufacturing processes, we’re assessing which companies might want to consider adding these items to their production line, Cooper added.

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  • UBS Boss Donates to Corona Efforts

    UBS Boss Donates to Corona Efforts

    Sergio Ermotti is donating 1 million francs towards pandemic relief efforts. The UBS boss is working from home in his native Ticino, which borders the hardest-hit area in Europe.

    The Swiss wealth manager’s CEO said he has dispersed 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) in personal funds to his family’s foundations to help with relief efforts. Ermotti is working from home in Montagnola, a small Swiss village overlooking Lake Lugano and near the Swiss-Italian border.

    I hear about the difficult situation in hospitals and people who have lost members of their family. The situation is dramatic! Ermotti told Swiss tabloid Blick in an interview on Monday. His corona donation will be dispensed by a foundation he launched together with his wife and his siblings in 2011.

    Ermotti said the funds will be routed via non-profit organizations to people in need of emergency funds. UBS itself has also been generous, donating 30 million francs for patients and families in Switzerland affected by the virus’ outbreak.

    The crisis represents an opportunity for Ermotti to display UBS’ Swiss credibility: Now, we’re part of the solution and not part of the problem anymore, he told the outlet, alluding to Switzerland’s 2008 bailout of UBS.

    Last week, the Swiss government unleashed a massive bailout, enlisting banks like UBS to help small businesses battered by the crisis. «We received 10,000 loan applications within 36 hours. By Sunday night, all of them were processed and roughly 1 billion Swiss francs approved,» Ermotti said.

    UBS, like Credit Suisse, has pledged to donate any proceeds from the emergency loans to charity. Ermotti ends his nine-year tenure as CEO of UBS in November when Ralph Hamers, head of ING, takes over his job.

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  • UBS Opts for Digital Shareholder Meeting

    UBS Opts for Digital Shareholder Meeting

    The world’s largest wealth management giant UBS is canceling plans for a physical shareholder meeting at the end of next month. It is holding fast to a hefty dividend.

    Swiss-based UBS will conduct its annual general meeting on April 29 online, it said in a statement on Monday. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus is stopped assemblies of more than five people in Switzerland until at least April 19.

    The bank also said it will hold to plans to pay $0.73 per share as a dividend. UBS’ lead regulator Finma last week urged Swiss financial firms to rethink their 2019 payouts in order to spare their capital for the economic fallout of the pandemic.

    Holding its shareholder meeting online means UBS is avoiding public criticism of its pay policies and of its handling of a high-stakes French criminal trial. UBS’ investors last year denied directors and top management an all-clear because of the case, which is due to head into appeal in June.

    UBS said it would ask shareholders to vet management and its board for 2019 on all issues – except on the French case. As previously disclosed, directors David Sidwell, Isabelle Romy, and Robert Scully aren’t standing for reelection, while UBS is proposing Mark Hughes and Nathalie Rachou in their place.

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  • Thai AirAsia X Schedules Airbus A330 Charter Flights To Croatia

    Thai AirAsia X Schedules Airbus A330 Charter Flights To Croatia

    Bangkok-based long-haul airline Thai AirAsia X has scheduled four charter flights between Bangkok and the Croatian capital Zagreb in May and October. However, seeing that AirAsia recently announced it is suspending almost all flight operations, will these actually go ahead?

    AirAsia is temporarily parking almost all of its fleet as a consequence of severe travel restrictions imposed by countries across the world to which AirAsia affiliate airlines operate.

    Earlier this month, the airline had an incredible promotion called the Big Sale with deals on flights scheduled until 1st of July 2021. Tickets were being sold with either very heavy discounts, or completely free. Passengers only had to pay the tax charge, which on some flights amounted to as little as $2.83.

    Flights from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul in Korea, and to Australia’s Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and Taipei in Taiwan, were priced at just $16 during the sale. However, even though these reductions were incredible, they clearly were not enough to stimulate sufficient demand for air travel. Thus, AirAsia is now parking much of its fleet.

    Unlike AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X has actually suspended all flights, not just international ones. The suspension started on the 16th of March and will last for three months. It is therefore unclear whether the scheduled charter flights from Bangkok to Zagreb will even take place.

    Five rotations have been scheduled for the planned Thai AirAsia X charter services from Bangkok to Zagreb.

    The dates are the 1st of May, the 6th of May, the 11th of May, the 13th of October and the 19th of October. Clearly, the scheduling is done to cater for tourist demand outside of the peak holiday season. An Airbus A330 will be operating the flights on all dates.

    Thai AirAsia X is relying on evidence of existing demand to support these charter services. Presently, passengers wishing to reach Zagreb from Bangkok have a variety of connecting options of reasonable affordability.

    For example, for a seven-day journey departing Saturday 3 October and returning Saturday 10 October, options include:

    • Emirates ($750): a 14-hour journey with a stop in Dubai of under two hours
    • Turkish Airlines ($750): a 14-hour overnight journey with a stop of under two hours in Istanbul Airport for (though this might be a very short stopover given the difficulties Istanbul’s new airport is facing)
    • Turkish Airlines ($680): a 15.5-hour daytime journey with a stop in Istanbul of under three hours
    • Qatar Airways ($700): a 15-hour journey with a 1.5 hour stop in Doha
    • Austrian Airlines ($675): a 13-hour journey with a one-hour stop in Vienna
    • Eva Air and Croatia Airlines ($2,000): a 13.5-hour journey with a 1.5-hour stop in Vienna
    • Air France ($785): a 17-hour journey with a three-hour stop in Paris
    • Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines ($785): a 17.5-hour journey with a four-hour stop in Frankfurt

    For a relatively small market, and given that Zagreb Airport is not highly attractive to airlines, this is a highly satisfactory range of services. Stopovers as short as one hour are on offer, and competition from carriers of various alliances keeps prices reasonably low.

    Thai AirAsia X will be entering an already crowded market.

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  • Metro Retail Stores show strong profit growth

    Metro Retail Stores show strong profit growth

    Metro Retail Stores Group in the Philippines has reported a 21.5-per-cent growth in income to US$20.80 million (Php1.06 billion) last year.

    The growth was driven mainly by an 11.3-per-cent increase in sales to $722.31 million (Php36.8 billion) with operating expenses rising by a lesser rate of 9.3 per cent.

    Additional insurance recoveries relating to a serious fire the previous year saw non-core income increase by $4.29 million (Php218.7 million), offset by the net impact of the new PFRS 16 accounting standard of $7.13 million (Php363.7 million).

    Metro Retail Stores’ operating income, as well as net income, would have increased by 13.7 percent and 18.0 percent respectively excluding the impact of PFRS16.

    The firm says that increasing its store network to serve emerging cities and municipalities in Visayas, Central Luzon and the Bicol region was vital to the home-grown retailer’s strong performance.

    In 2018, the company recorded a 1.2-per-cent drop in net income due to the closure of a hypermarket and the temporary suspension of a supermarket following a fire, along with other factors.

    Metro Retail Stores Group is owned by the Gaisano family based in Mandaue City, Cebu. It has 53 department stores and hypermarkets in the Visayas Region.

    The company’s supermarkets, hypermarkets and pharmacies are all continuing to trade to provide much-needed basic goods and services as the Philippines struggles with the Covid-19 outbreak.

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  • KFC Japan celebrates 50th anniversary

    KFC Japan celebrates 50th anniversary

    KFC Japan will celebrate its 50 anniversary this year.

    After its successful trial at the Osaka Expo in March 1970, KFC Japan was founded on July 4 in honor of Independence Day in the fast-food chain’s home country, the US.

    The first KFC Japan store was opened in the suburban location of Nagoya in November that year.

    Back then, the term “fried chicken” wasn’t widely used in Japan. However, KFC is now one of the country’s most popular fast-food chains, and has even become a tradition at Christmas.

    To celebrate the 50th anniversary, KFC Japan has designed a logo for the event and plans to roll out TV commercials and special menu items later in the year.

    “In the changing world, KFC Japan will continue to express appreciation by providing delicious taste through food,” the company said in a statement.

    “We will express our sincere thanks through our products, campaigns and activities during our 50th anniversary year and promise to continue to protect the ‘deliciousness that no one can imitate’.”

    Japan is the third-largest market for KFC after China and the US, with 306 outlets directly operated by the company in Greater Tokyo and 826 restaurants run by franchisees in regional areas.

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