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Tag: China

  • Moon Lok Chinese restaurant opens at Xiqu Centre

    Moon Lok Chinese restaurant opens at Xiqu Centre

    The first dining establishment has opened in the brand new Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon, showcasing high-calibre Chinese regional cuisine. Seating 260 guests, the 8000sqft Moon Lok Chinese Restaurant evokes the atmosphere of a Chinese garden as a place where one spends time with family and friends for pleasure and relaxation, inspiring a closeness with nature.

    The venue is operated by Buick Management, a Hong Kong-based hospitality group that has over 25 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry. It is best known for managing Pak Lok Chiu Chow, a household name for Chiu Chow cuisine in Hong Kong, with branches in Times Square, K11 and Elements, as well as Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur.

    Located at the junction of Canton Road and Austin Road, Moon Lok Chinese Restaurant is easily accessible by the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station and Austin MTR station, the China Ferry Terminal that connects to Macau, Zhuhai, and Shekou, as well as the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.

    Reflecting the Xiqu Centre’s modern design inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, the restaurant also blends traditional and contemporary elements to reflect the evolving nature of the culinary art form.

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  • Karma queues up 3 vehicles for Shanghai auto show

    Karma queues up 3 vehicles for Shanghai auto show

    Karma Automotive is prepping three vehicles — a concept car developed with Italian design house Pininfarina, the next-generation Revero electric car and the Karma Vision concept – that it hopes will propel the brand in a new direction.

    They will debut next month at the Shanghai auto show.

    “Taken together, Karma’s Shanghai Big Three represents our transformation from an old-value car manufacturer to a company building long-term value in part by becoming an open-platform luxury high-tech automotive incubator,” Karma CEO Lance Zhou said in a statement.

    Karma Automotive, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., was founded after the demise of Fisker Automotive, created by noted designer Henrik Fisker. The company’s sole product was the gasoline-electric Fisker Karma luxury car. Chinese supplier Wanxiang Group bought Fisker Automotive in a bankruptcy auction and put a revised version of the Karma back into production as the Revero in 2016.

    Karma plans to introduce a revised version of the Revero this year. The car is sold through a network of 19 stores in the U.S., Canada and Chile.

    The company released little information about the three vehicles scheduled for the Shanghai auto show, which opens April 16.

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  • China Mobile, partners launch first 5G devices

    China Mobile, partners launch first 5G devices

    Members of the China Mobile-led 5G Device Forerunner Initiative have used Mobile World Congress to announce the launch of their first batch of devices, including China Mobile’s own in-house developed Forerunner One.

    Forerunner One is a 5G mobile smart hub device powered by Qualcomm’s inaugural Snapdragon X50 5G modem.

    The device supports connections in sub-6GHz 5G frequencies including the 2.6-GHz band, and is designed to convert high-speed 5G data into Wi-Fi and WiGig signals.

    It comes installed with Android 9.0 and an AI voice assistant, and is expected to reach the market in the first half of 2019.

    Meanwhile the members of the initiative have also used the event to launch four 5G chipsets – from Qualcomm, Huawei, MediaTek and Unisoc respectively – as well as 5G devices from Huawei, vivo, OPPO, ZTE, Xiaomi and Samsung.

    Some of the launched devices support both nonstandalone and standalone 5G, and others support peak throughputs of up to 4.67Gbps in sub-6GHz frequencies.

    The 5G Device Forerunner Initiative was established a year ago during the GTI Summit in Barcelona. So far 36 members comprising all aspects of the device industry have participated in the initiative.

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  • Maxis to launch full 5G trials with Huawei

    Maxis to launch full 5G trials with Huawei

    Malaysia’s Maxis has signed an agreement with Huawei during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to accelerate 5G development in Malaysia.

    Under the agreement, the companies plan to collaborate on full-fledged 5G trials involving end-to-end systems and services.

    The memorandum of understanding was signed by Maxis CEO-designate Gokhan Ogut and CTO Morten Bangsgaard, as well as Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping, president of Southern Pacific Jeffery Liu and CEO of Malaysia Michael Yuan.

    “Maxis has long started its 5G journey, and we are already focusing on live trials, investments and evolving our network infrastructure to be ready for a future where smart solutions will be part of everyday life,” Ogut commented.

    “We are pleased to be working with world class technology leader and long term partner Huawei on our 5G trials, and to be a pioneer in bringing the latest technologies to Malaysia once again.”

    Huawei said that to date it has signed over 30 commercial 5G contracts and shipped more than 40,000 5G base stations across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

  • Laox lets Chinese tourists Flying to Japan pre-order duty-free

    Laox lets Chinese tourists Flying to Japan pre-order duty-free

    Tokyo-based duty-free operator Laox is allowing Chinese tourists to Japan to do their tax-free shopping online in advance of their visit.

    The duty-free goods will be listed on an Alibaba-hosted website, allowing consumers to purchase their goods online and pick them up at Laox locations of their choice within Japan up to a month following the transaction. Travellers will need to show purchase records on their phone and present their passports to be eligible for tax exemption.

    The number of goods available for purchase on the website is expected to grow to about 5000 items from the roughly 100 currently available already.

    The service is launching during a period of stagnation in the Chinese tourist market, as Japanese retailers face intensifying competition.

    Laox’s strategy is intended to spare shoppers the inconvenience of hunting for the products they want within physical stores. It is the first such scheme hosted on an Alibaba site.

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  • Tmall targets 1000 online cosmetics stores this year

    Tmall targets 1000 online cosmetics stores this year

    Alibaba’s Tmall has announced that it expects international and domestic cosmetics brands to open 1000 online cosmetics stores this year to meet burgeoning demand from Chinese consumers. At its annual beauty summit, Tmall announced that seven international cosmetics companies have signed agreements to open flagship stores on Tmall this year. Another five beauty companies signed New Retail partnerships with Tmall during the summit, giving them a complete view of their customer base by integrating insights from digitised offline promotion activities and storefront information with online information.

    “We are honoured to be trusted by 180,000 brands on our platform, empowering them to accelerate their digital transformation and grow their business in China,” said Tmall president Jet Jing. “As China continues its consumption upgrade, more and more people from different age groups and geographic locations are willing to spend on high-quality beauty products. We are looking forward to working with more brands to address the opportunity.”

    Tmall’s sales of beauty products via its online cosmetics stores jumped by more than 60 per cent last year, surpassing the industry’s average growth rate. Online sales of cosmetics, skincare and personal care products grew by 46 per cent, 40 per cent and 37 per cent in China respectively last year, which was also ahead of the whole fast-moving consumer goods sector average of 34 per cent, according to a report jointly released by Tmall and retail market research firm Kantar during the summit.

    The report also highlighted the untapped potential in Generation Z. Aged between 15 to 19 years old, Generation Z female consumers are newcomers to the beauty market and are willing to spend more on high-end lipsticks than women in other age groups, representing an opportunity for cosmetics companies.

    Last year, some 80 per cent of Tmall brands chose the marketplace to launch new products, proof of the platform’s ability to identify new markets and demand. Two new emerging domestic beauty brands were among more than 30 beauty and personal care brands whose sales topped RMB 100 million (US$14.9 million) at last year’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.

    Also at the summit, Tmall showcased a one-stop solution, the Alibaba Business Operating System, as part of a new effort to help beauty brands succeed in China. The system helps brands digitally transform themselves in sales, logistics and supply-chain management, payment, marketing, cloud computing and other supporting services.

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  • China Unicom hosts 5G in smart education conference

    China Unicom hosts 5G in smart education conference

    China Unicom is collaborating with Chinese gaming and mobile application developer NetDragon WebSoft to develop 5G-enabled future classroom applications.

    The operator jointly held a 5G + Smart Education Industry Education conference in Wuhan to demonstrate the potential of 5G to transform the education process.

    The conference, which was also organized by the National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning of Central China Normal University and National Engineering Laboratory for Educational Big Data, ad co-organized by NetDragon, Huawei and the China Information Communication Technologies Group Corporation.

    At the conference, China Unicom demonstrated the use of 5G and holographic technology to provide a new-experience open physics lecture to students across different regions simultaneously.

    NetDragon WebSoft also  demonstrated a wide range of education products, including Holographic Interactive Learning, VR Immersion Classroom, One-Stop Learning, and other educational products.

    “5G will become a crucial foundation for our country’s information and communication construction, as well as the key to the development of industrial internet and artificial intelligence,” China Unicom deputy general manager Liang Baojun said.

    “In this context, China Unicom, as one of the leaders in the telecommunication industry, will jointly conduct 5G business research with multiple industrial enterprise partners to lay the foundation for promoting full commercial use of 5G. At the same time, we will leverage on resources from our existing network, incubation of 5G application and support from our industrial chain to fully support the development of education in China.”

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  • Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Carrefour China has boosted its profit 11-fold according to documents filed in France, where its parent company is based. In China, Carrefour achieved €45 million operating income from its 245 outlets and online business, which it put down to investments in previous years in boosting its operations and profile there.

    The company said it has transformed the commercial model of its Le Marche hypermarket chain, and boosted sales online. An investment in technology allowing facial recognition and Scan & Go had particularly paid off.

    “China is a retailing laboratory for the world,” said Thierry Garnier, president and CEO of Carrefour China. “For Carrefour, China is a specific market that has helped us to learn and to understand the future.”

    At the end of last year, Carrefour opened a flagship on Tmall which is expected to further improve sales.

    Globally, Carrefour increased its sales by 1.4 per cent to reach €85 billion.

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  • SoftBank deploying Cisco SRv6 network

    SoftBank deploying Cisco SRv6 network

    Cisco is collaborating with SoftBank on the world’s first Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) deployment. With the anticipation of the coming 5G era, Cisco has been assisting SoftBank to deploy an SRv6 network nationwide to build a future network architecture that is extremely scalable, with improved reliability, flexibility and agility, all while helping to reduce capex and opex.

    Current mobile networks are deployed as divided networks, with several layers and complicated control plane processing, which makes it difficult to respond to strict quality requirements like in the case of 5G. Deploying SRv6 in a 5G mobile network aims to simplify network layers and integrate user plane functions from end-to-end with only IPv6 protocol.

    “Converging 5G features into the end-to-end IPv6 layer with Segment Routing capabilities, is the key to embodying 5G in a simple, scalable architecture,” SoftBank CTO Junichi Miyakawa said.

    “With the depth of portfolio and strong network knowledge that Cisco brings to the table, we knew together we could bring our vision to life.”

    “SoftBank has kept an intense focus on improving service quality for its customers, which can be challenging when trying to reduce costs,” said Sumeet Arora, Senior Vice President of Service Provider Networks, Cisco. “With the launch of SRv6 network programming, it is pioneering the next phase of IP networking through automation, and championing the needs of its customers.”

    Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technology innovations in routing, 5G, subscriber experience (mobile, cable, fixed), automation, optical and optics. Together with its Customer Experience team of experts, Cisco enables service providers, media and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, helps scale and secure their networks, and grow their revenue.

  • Lego China Flagship Heralds with a renewed focus on the East

    Lego China Flagship Heralds with a renewed focus on the East

    Danish toy brand Lego’s bounce back after a tough financial year has seen new enthusiasm from the brand for expansion into China. The new energy has seen the retailer open its first Lego China flagship in Beijing last weekend.

    A drop in demand for its products during the 2017 financial year – the first since 2004 – saw the brand take a sharp conservative turn last year in order to stabilize the business. Meanwhile, double-digit growth in China brought revenue up 4 per cent to US$5.5 billion with profits of $1.2 billion, accompanied by a degree of sales recovery in the US and western Europe.

    “We are especially encouraged by our progress given the challenges facing the toy industry and the departure of specialist retailers such as Toys R Us that went under last year,” said Lego’s CEO Niels B Christiansen. “These shifts gave us the opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with retailers and find new ways to connect with shoppers and consumers across digital and physical channels.”

    Buoyed by the encouraging results, and on the heels of the Lego China flagship opening, the company will launch 80 new physical outlets in 18 Chinese cities this year.

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  • Canada Goose revenues surge more than 50%

    Canada Goose revenues surge more than 50%

    Canada Goose Holdings announced its financial results for the third quarter, highlighting a surge in revenues after new store openings both physical and online. For the quarter ended December 31, 2018, the North American outdoorwear company said total revenues increased by 50.2% to $399.3m from $265.9m, or 49% in constant currencies.

    Direct-to-consumer sales totalled $253.3m from $131.7m last year, driven by the strong online and in-store sales. Canada Goose said it opened five new stores during the quarter and an online store.

    Wholesale revenue increased to $164m from $134.2m, on the back of higher order values from existing partners, coupled with earlier shipment timing relative to last year.

    The Toronto-based company reported net income came in at $103.4m, or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to $63m, or $0.56 per diluted share. The 64% increase was due to higher operating income and a lower effective tax rate, said Canada Goose.

    Adjusted EBITDA was $151.1m, compared to $94.7m.

    “Fiscal 2019 is shaping up to be another year of impressive results. In our peak selling season we continued to deliver when and where it matters most, while also strengthening our foundation for future success on the global stage,” said Dani Reiss, Canada Goose President & CEO.

    “We have successfully entered new markets, introduced new product, and increased capacity to meet growing demand in both channels. We remain deeply confident in the long runway we have ahead.”

    Looking ahead for 2019, annual revenue growth is projected to be in the mid-to-high thirties on a percentage basis, compared to at least 30%.

    Annual growth in adjusted net income per diluted share is now predicted to be in the mid-to-high forties on a percentage basis.

    Founded in 1957, Canada Goose is today one of the world’s leading makers of performance luxury apparel. The Made-In-Canada advocate employs more than 3,400 people worldwide.

    In Asia, the Canadian brand has flagships in Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong.

  • CapitaLand tops out Raffles City Chongqing

    CapitaLand tops out Raffles City Chongqing

    CapitaLand has topped out the eighth and final skyscraper of Raffles City Chongqing, expecting to launch it in phases from the second half of this year. This follows the completion of the 200m-high bridge The Crystal which connects six of the towers. “The successful topping out of Raffles City Chongqing represents a new milestone in CapitaLand’s track record of building well-designed integrated spaces,” said Lucas Loh, president (China & investment management) of CapitaLand Group.

    “After six years of construction using state-of-the-art engineering technologies, we are proud to present in Raffles City Chongqing an iconic architectural form resembling a powerful sail surging forward on the historic Chaotianmen site.”

    Following Raffles City Chongqing’s structural completion, the group is now focusing on the interior fit-out works, including transplanting trees to enliven The Crystal sky bridge, which will feature the tallest observation deck across Western China.

    Retail offering

    The development’s five-storey shopping mall will house some 450 retailers of fashion, dining, lifestyle and entertainment.

    Anchor retail tenants committed to date include Chinese electric vehicle company Nio, which will open its largest showroom there, a 1500sqm space also serving as an “exclusive clubhouse” Nio owners.

    South Korean cinema chain CGV will open its 5600sqm flagship and popular bookstore Yanjiyou will open a regional flagship, featuring a lifestyle cafe and other creative and experiential offerings.

    Ole’ will operate a gourmet supermarket with a food hall serving a wide range of fresh produce and international specialties.

    In a tribute to the 3000-year-history of Chongqing, the mall will feature a dedicated zone to promote authentic Made-in-Chongqing products, such as local delicacies, handicrafts and souvenirs.

    Occupying 9.2ha, Raffles City Chongqing brings together a 235,000sqm shopping mall, 150,000sqm of Grade A office space, about 1400 residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and InterContinental Raffles City Chongqing hotel.

  • Wall St rises after Trump stirs China trade hopes again

    Wall St rises after Trump stirs China trade hopes again

    Wall Street’s three major indexes ended higher on Monday but well below the session’s highs after President Donald Trump said he would delay a planned hike in tariffs on Chinese imports. Postponement of the tariff deadline was seen as the clearest sign yet the two countries were closing in on an agreement to end their prolonged trade spat, which has slowed global growth and disrupted markets.

    But gains were capped after weeks of advances for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq, partly due to trade optimism and dovish signals from the Federal Reserve.

    “A lot of the good news related to trade is priced in at this point,“ said R.J. Grant, head of trading at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.

    “There’s only so much we can rally when somebody says we’re making progress … The trade stuff is a little bit of a sideshow. If you get back to looking at economic growth, it’s clearly slowing.”

    The S&P 500 index ended 4.9% below its late September record closing high after narrowing the gap to 4.3% earlier in the session.

    Investors were also looking ahead to an appearance by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell before a US Senate committee on Tuesday.

    “In the short term trade got taken off the table today so next up on the calendar is Powell speaking to Congress. It’s possible investors are starting to clam up a bit because of what they think Powell may say,“ said Michael Cuggino, portfolio manager at Permanent Portfolio Funds in San Francisco.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.14 points, or 0.23%, to 26,091.95, the S&P 500 gained 3.44 points, or 0.12%, to 2,796.11 and the Nasdaq Composite added 26.92 points, or 0.36%, to 7,554.46.

    Investors were also wary of weakening estimates for current quarter earnings, with Wall Street on Monday expecting a 0.9% decline in S&P first-quarter earnings per share compared with expectations for 5.3% growth on Jan. 1, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

    “It’s hard to get valuations to continue to rise in the face of falling earnings estimates,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab in Boston.

    Of the S&P’s 11 major sectors, 7 ended the day with gains.

    After advancing as much as 1.4%, the financials index lost ground late in the day to close up 0.4%.

    The S&P technology index rose 0.5%. The Philadelphia semiconductor index climbed 0.8% as chip companies have a big exposure to China.

    The industrials sector rose 0.4%, getting its biggest boost from General Electric Co, which gained 10.8% after announcing a sale of its biopharma business to Danaher Corp for $21.4 billion. Danaher shares rose 8.2%.

    A flurry of M&A activity also helped the risk-on sentiment.

    The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rose 2%, its biggest boost coming from shares in Spark Therapeutics Inc, which soared 120% after Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG agreed to buy it for $4.3 billion.

    The biggest laggards were the S&P’s defensive sectors – consumer staples, utilities and real estate. The consumer discretionary sector also ended down 0.3%, with the biggest drag from Home Depot, down 1.3%, on concerns about a soft housing market ahead of its quarterly results.

    Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.14-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

    The S&P 500 posted 58 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 128 new highs and 14 new lows.

    Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.36 billion shares, compared with the 7.32 billion average for the last 20 trading days.

  • Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Woori Bank launched a money-transfer service linked with Chinese banks to allow its customers to readily and easily send money to people holding Chinese bank accounts. On Monday, the bank said the service will be carried out in real time. The partnered entities include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and also Chinese financial services company UnionPay.

    The service will charge 10,000 won ($8.9) in fees for a transaction less than 2 million won. For remittance over 2 million won, the charge will increase to a flat rate of 20,000 won.

    The service was jointly developed by Woori Bank, Woori Card and UnionPay. Once a user sends money, the service will notify the user of the transfer result via text message.

    The sender must send Korean won and the receiver will receive Chinese Yuan.

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  • Wayne’s Coffee debuts in China

    Wayne’s Coffee debuts in China

    Swedish cafe chain Wayne’s Coffee has opened its first outlet in China. The new store on Shanghai’s Nanjing Xi Lu serves coffee, sandwiches and Swedish pastries to consumers. The move represents a courageous first step in a market dominated by international and local competitors. China is Wayne’s second market in Asia after the brand launched in Vietnam in June last year. It currently operates seven locations in Ho Chi Minh City.

    While the brand has been criticised for lacking a distinctive look and presumed by some observers to be a local Starbucks clone, the brand has in fact been running in Sweden since 1994, where it was the first venue in the country to serve cafe latte. It was also the first to serve the latte in Saudi Arabia when it opened there in 2010.

    Wayne’s more aggressive expansion phase was recognised when the brand won “Franchise chain of the year 2017” in Stockholm. It currently operates more than 140 locations internationally.