Healthy festive season sales and new store openings led Reliance Industries’ organised retail business — Reliance Retail — to report a 89.3 per cent rise in its revenue for the third quarter of 2018-19. The firm’s revenue figure was disclosed under the Reliance Industries (RIL)’s third quarter results, on Thursday. Accordingly, the firm’s revenue for 3Q FY19 grew by 89.3 per cent to Rs 35,577 crore from Rs 18,798 crore reported for the corresponding quarter previous year.
The company’s Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) rose 210.5 percent on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis to Rs 1,512 crore from Rs 487 crore demonstrating strong operating profit during the quarter.
In addition, EBIT margin for the segment improved by 160 basis points to 4.2 percent reflecting scale benefits. Retail now has 9,907 stores with a reach across more than 6,400 towns and cities
Pizza Hut India has announced that the company will focus on delivery as a key driver of business growth in 2019 and introduce various initiatives to further enhance the delivery experience for consumers. Coherent with this aim, the brand has launched a rider tracking feature across its digital ordering platforms – mobile-site, mobile app and desktop site. The feature is available across all cities where Pizza Hut has delivery services.
The rider tracking feature has been launched by Pizza Hut as a solution based on key behavioral findings of the brand’s large consumer base, majority of whom are tech-savvy, on-the-go millennials. The findings have shown that consumers choose brands which adapt to their lifestyle, understand their preferences and enable them to take charge. Also, with changing consumer habits, pizzas have evolved from being a special occasion treat to becoming a part of everyday food consumption in India. Therefore, hassle-free and seamless food ordering and delivery experience has become a vital deciding factor, apart from taste and quality. Rider-tracking is an enabler of the convenience that consumers are seeking, further bolstered by value offers.
Commenting on the launch of the feature, Prashant Gaur, Chief Brand and Customer Officer, Pizza Hut India Subcontinent said, “At Pizza Hut, we take a lot of pride in serving the freshest and the tastiest pizzas to all the pizza lovers in the country. Apart from great taste, elevating the overall experience across every consumer touchpoint is our biggest focus, and we are implementing this strategy through initiatives like rider tracking feature and value offers. We are confident that these initiatives will further enable us to stay relevant and blend even more seamlessly into the daily lives of our consumers.”
The upscaling of the delivery channel comes at a time when Pizza Hut India Subcontinent has achieved strong business results with 10 successive quarters of positive Same Store Sales Growth. The brand has been steadily expanding its physical store footprint and launched its 500th physical store in the Indian Subcontinent. Pizza Hut also pioneered the Fast-Casual Delco (FCD) concept in India, which offers a seamless integration of dine-in, takeaway and delivery channels, all under one roof. The company recently upgraded all its digi-tech assets including the website, m-site and mobile app. These initiatives have enabled Pizza Hut to deliver on the promise of providing the easiest, fastest and the tastiest pizza experience to consumers in India. As a result, Pizza Hut has been voted the most trusted brand in India for the 12th time in a row (as per a reputed media house) and was awarded the prestigious EFFIE Gold in the Foods and Confectionery category in 2018 for its outstanding consumer-centric performance.
South Korean private equity firm Unison Capital is selling its Gong Cha bubble tea franchise in a deal likely to fetch up to US$442 million. The company purchased the brand four years ago for KRW34 billion ($30 million), before taking over its global headquarters in Taiwan in a KRW40 billion ($35.45 million) deal in 2017. The brand’s HQ operates stores in 16 countries.
The offer has attracted interest from major South Korean F&B players, considering the brand’s stable cash flows and EBITDA margin of 24–25 per cent, compared with Starbucks’ 21 per cent.
The brand runs 448 outlets within South Korea, and derives 70 per cent of its sales from directly managed stores within Korea and Japan. The firm plans to expand its global store count from 900 to 1700 by 2021, expanding into 10 more countries during the period – with concrete plans to establish stores in the UK, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Sales are forecast at KRW180 billion ($159.54 million) this year, compared to KRW134 billion ($118.77 million) last year.
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin told affiliate CEOs that he wants reform and aggressive investment in 2019 during a biannual meeting on Wednesday. Shin missed the last meeting in July as he was serving time in prison for bribery related to former President Park Geun-hye. The first meeting of the year typically deals with each affiliate’s annual goals and direction.
In the first meeting with CEOs after his return, the chairman emphasized that the company was in need of innovation strong enough to rattle its existing business structure.
“We are about to face immense change in the future that is difficult to imagine,” he stressed to affiliate heads at the meeting. “Therefore we have to be thorough in predicting the future and devising preparations according to different scenarios. If we can’t come up with a clear vision or concrete plans, there will be an immense crisis.”
Shin pointed out that the group had been “passive” recently when it comes to making investment decisions, missing opportunities and waiting for too long.
He added that investment decisions have to be made continuously, even when revenue is low and in businesses that the company is doing well in so as to maintain an upper hand in the market.
He also mentioned the possibility of downsizing unprofitable businesses, citing Microsoft becoming global No. 1 by market cap last year after conducting reforms on its business portfolio.
“We should focus on areas with future growth potential and push for rationalization,” said Shin.
Digital transformation, an initiative he has been pushing for in the last few years, also reappeared in Wednesday’s speech.
“Compared to global companies, Lotte has a low investment rate in the IT sector and the fields invested in so far are [relatively] narrow,” he said, urging that the company needs to find ways to get one step closer to customers using existing assets like big data, brick-and-mortar stores and logistics infrastructure.
Recently recruited IT professionals were also called into the meeting to share their opinions on Lotte’s current situation regarding digitalization and areas that can be improved.
BMW on Wednesday announced another recall of an additional 99,000 vehicles, with 20,000 of them recalled immediately on concerns of engine fires. The remaining 79,000 will be recalled if replacement parts are found to be faulty. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday announced that it has told the German carmaker to follow up with a recall plan that it submitted last week.
The recall plan followed the investigation results announced by a joint investigation team on Dec. 24 in regard to BMW vehicle catching fire in Korea.
The investigation team at the time announced that the fires were not only caused by the emission reduction system, or exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, but also by the intake manifold.
The 20,363 vehicles that were in the first recall in July last year will be the first in line to be re-recalled, this time to check the intake manifold.
These are vehicles with EGR modules that have not been replaced.
The government said it will also inspect 80,000 BMWs to see if they have any leakage problems.
Last year, BMW recalled 106,000 vehicles after they began bursting into flames last summer.
Korea’s antitrust body is examining the practice of retailers unfairly shifting distribution costs to their suppliers. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has started evaluation proceedings against Lotte Mart for transferring this burden and charging an onward transportation fee after a product has been delivered. The regulator could fine the retailer 400 billion won ($353.92 million) if it is found to have violated the law. It has the authority to prosecute and punish companies that contravene the Fair Trade Act and other statutes related to anti-competitive practices.
The FTC’s Distribution Division, which monitors the activities of retailers, submitted an evaluation report, equivalent to a prosecutor’s indictment, to the commission early last month. The document outlined Lotte Mart’s infractions over five years.
Lotte Mart has until early February to respond.
This will be the first time the FTC has taken action against a company for shifting distribution costs to suppliers. Lotte Mart’s practice of transferring the costs, commonly known as post-distribution costs, is widespread.
The action comes amid FTC Chairman Kim Sang-jo’s drive to root out unfair practices in the retail industry.
Lotte Mart’s shifting of post-distribution cost to suppliers is likely to have far-reaching implications in the industry as the practice is common.
“When signing a contract, there are requests to supply products at a price three to five percent lower than the actual price to account for the post-distribution costs,” explained Mr. Lee, who operates a company that supplies to retail stores. “It’s not just Lotte. It is common for large retail stores such as Emart, Homeplus, department stores, convenience stores and even e-commerce companies, such as Coupang.”
The 400 billion won fine, if charged, would be an unprecedented amount. If other companies are fined, the total sum could rise to the trillions.
“Unlike sales promotion fees, distribution costs have to be paid,” said Mr. Kim, the president of a large food company. “We struggled as it’s impossible to know the exact figure, but the FTC took on this matter for the first time.”
From the FTC’s perspective, large retail stores use distribution centers for their own benefit, and it is unfair to force suppliers to take on costs incurred after products are delivered to the centers.
“Suppliers that just want to deliver to distribution centers are forced to deliver to branches,” explained a senior FTC official. “If the final delivery destination is a branch store, the supplier should be able to manage their products as they want at the distribution center, but that is not the case.”
“From a common-sense perspective, distribution costs apply only until the delivery location, not costs after the delivery,” the official added.
Other experts disagree with the FTC’s assessment.
“If the retailer and supplier haven’t agreed on the location of the delivery, the supplier burdening the delivery cost abides by civil law,” said Lee Ho-young, a law professor who specializes antitrust law at Hanyang University.
Lotte is going all out on its defense, hiring Kim & Chang’s fair-trade team to represent it.
“In the past, when there weren’t distribution centers, suppliers used to be burdened with the distribution costs,” said a Lotte Mart official. “Post-distribution costs are paid after distribution centers were established.”
The FTC is looking into other cases.
“The retail business cannot work if post-distribution costs are shifted to retailers,” said an executive at a large retail company who is in charge of fair trade matters.
The FTC could make a final decision as early as March.
Vietnam’s largest telecommunications company Viettel has received a license to trial its 5G services. The trial is licensed for a period of one year until January 21 next year. Viettel is the first company in Vietnam to receive this license. The military-owned company is allowed to trial the sevices in Hanoi and HCMC at not more than 73 locations and without charging for the services.
The company had earmarked $40 million for the development of its own 5G chipset, but was also considering using technology from Ericsson and Nokia, its president and CEO Le Dang Dung said.
Viettel has around 60 million subscribers in Vietnam and over 30 million more in 10 other countries, predominantly in Asia and Africa.
Speaking at a seminar on telecoms innovations at the end of 2018, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung had expressed plans to introduce 5G by 2020, which would make Vietnam one of the first countries to deploy this technology.
5G is the latest generation in of mobile Internet connectivity, and should offer much faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices compared to the current 3G and 4G technologies.
Oil prices declined on Thursday amid lingering concerns over slowing global economic growth that may limit fuel demand and after a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories. International Brent crude oil futures were at $60.89 a barrel at 0352 GMT, down 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement, having closed down 0.6 percent in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.40 per barrel, 22 cents lower from their last settlement.
“Crude oil came under further pressure as concerns of faltering global growth remained at the forefront in investor’s minds,” ANZ Bank said.
The prospects of future oil demand are getting clouded by the global growth worries, analysts said.
“With the IMF downgrading 2019/20 and the continued rhetoric from Davos reiterating that they expect global growth to slow down over the next two years, is providing selling pressure in oil,” said Hue Frame, portfolio manager at Frame Funds in Sydney.
Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its world economic growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020, due to weakness in Europe and some emerging markets.
Meanwhile, world leaders and top executives are meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week to discuss how to steer policy amid worries of slowing economic growth, damaging trade wars and Brexit.
Oil market sentiment was also weakened by an increase in U.S. crude inventories after refineries cut output, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 6.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 18 to 443.6 million, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 42,000 barrels, the API said. Refinery runs fell by 152,000 barrels per day.
“Sharp production cuts by OPEC+ have kept crude oil futures supported however as market reports indicate for a marked output reduction in Dec 2018,” said Benjamin Lu, analyst at Phillip Futures.
“Though oil prices have demonstrated for higher upside potential in the first quarter of 2019, mounting economic challenges will continue to impede exponential gains in the longer term,” Lu added.
Hyundai’s Universe is about to get bigger. Hyundai Motor unveiled an updated version of its luxury coach, the Universe, on Tuesday, increasing its size and adding safety features. The updated coach, scheduled for release next March, has an extended wheelbase of 12.5 meters (41 feet), 0.5 meters longer than the existing model. Distance between seats has been increased.
The vehicle comes with a variety of new safety features applied for the first time in a coach in the local market, such as an engine fire extinguishing system, driver attention warning and a rear-view monitor.
Hyundai Motor explained that the Universe’s driver attention warning system and smart cruise control are now offered to prevent drowsy driving and other avoidable accidents. The new Universe also has a refreshed exterior design with headlight changes and will be available in three trims.
A lot of Hong Kong retailers are talking about technology right now, but before they even started, Pricerite founder and chairman Bankee Kwan was already embracing it. Now home to the first Pepper robot on customer service duty in a Hong Kong store and leading-edge online apps allowing shoppers to virtually place furniture in their home, Pricerite’s technology journey started way back in 1999.
The furniture retailer is part of Celestial Asia Securities Holdings (Cash Group) which was the first Hong Kong company to launch an online brokerage in 1999. Nowadays, trading shares online is an indispensable part of any brokerage business. Five years later, Cash Group was the first to introduce mobile trading for brokerages.
The company began developing a broader New Retail Concept back in 2012 and in 2014 became the first home furnishings retailer to launch an omnichannel business model.
“So we have always had the mindset to embrace technology to help the business become more competitive and to serve the customers better,” Kwan said.
“That’s why during the Sars epidemic (2003), Pricerite was the first company to introduce online shopping so that our customers could purchase necessities and have them delivered to them. That was 13 years ago, and now online shopping has become popular and common place for housewives to purchase goods.
“So I can actually say we go back a little bit regarding our group philosophy on technology. We always treat our customers’ concerns and feelings as our number one priority.
“New retail concepts will become much more popular. That’s why were are moving ahead with Pepper, with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to create an impact.”
Concept store
Pricerite’s two-story 20,000sqft New Retail Concept Store in Mong Kok’s Chong Hing Square has been trading for about a year now, a testbed for apps and in-store technology that is constantly being revised, enhanced and added to.
Pepper, the smiling robot with the female Cantonese voice, is probably the most visible execution Pricerite’s customer-centric digital transformation journey. To the delight of children it can dance on request and answer customer questions about the company’s loyalty program from its workspace outside the membership counter.
But it is the less visible execution of Pricerite’s digital strategy that is the most breathtaking: an innovative app which allows you to place furniture items in your own apartment virtually – and order direct from your phone or tablet, from in store or home. It is a great solution for Hongkongers facing shrinking apartment footprints, which make planning a layout that suits one’s lifestyle a challenging task.
The made-to-order zone on the Mong Kok concept store’s level B2 is equipped with a large display screen for app users to preview their selected product from all angles. Using VR technology, the system also provides customised furnishing solutions for medium and small-sized apartments. Guests can take a virtual tour of homes to gain an accurate glimpse of products in situ and see a product’s intelligent functions in action – for example, tables that convert to sleeping spaces and furniture with storage space built in. The AR mode uses cutting-edge mobile 3D Space-Tracking technology, including Apple’s iOS ARKit, which cuts out the hassle of product scanning while generating an “actual” 1:1 preview of an item, allowing simple and easy mix-and-matching for different home styles.
“Technology advances have transformed consumer behaviour and shopping patterns while e-commerce has changed the consumption value chain, creating a complementary retail channel to bricks-and-mortar stores,” observes Kwan.
“Using leading-edge retail technologies to combine online and offline shopping experiences, coupled with a modern supply chain, and big data and artificial intelligence innovations, we have created a pioneering all-round omnichannel retail network for home furnishing.”
The concept store also features multiple digital kiosks and touch-screens around the store augmenting the customer service roles of floor staff by suggesting alternative or complementary products, and providing specifications. AR features in several innovations in store, including creating 3D images of items in the company’s catalogue.
Centres of experience
Kwan says the company’s long-term investment in new technologies has been driven by asking how the company can serve its customers better in terms of information and engagement.
“It’s my experience that the physical store remains the centre of experiences and engagement.” Technology, he says, can make purchasing decisions easier.
“Many traditional retailers are still unsure about whether the innovations will take on, whether they should invest in the technology. But it is essential if we are to remain competitive, especially when we look at millennials and how they shop and interact online.”
Kwan believes that despite the slow uptake of online shopping in Hong Kong, online and mobile shopping will be significant in the future. He cites the Hong Kong government’s Smart City initiative to boost wi-fi connectivity and encourage e-payments as a major driver in years to come.
“With all those facilities established and enabled, fast retailing through mobile is the trend. It is gaining momentum in Hong Kong and we have everything quite well developed, but the market will dictate the change and if you do not accept that [as a retailer], you will fade out and become history.
“So I say, wait another three years and you’ll see the landscape of the retail market will change a lot. I was at a retail summit in Hong Kong recently where we had Facebook and Google and online marketers joining. We were all coming to roughly the same conclusion: technology is a must to keep you competitive.”
Kwan can only guess what percentage of Pricerite’s sales are online versus in-store now – and for good reason. So many transactions begin online and end offline – or the other way around – that it is no longer possible to attribute a sale to either channel. Perhaps retailers who do are missing the whole point of omnichannel. If pushed to nominate a figure he’d say 20 per cent online, 80 per cent offline and he expects that ratio to change to 40/60 within a year or two.
Pricerite’s customers do not make a distinction between online or offline, so it stands to reason the company should not do so either.
“This is whole model is an O2O model, so our customer can shop online, understand we have a promotion, understand the product meets their requirements and then they will come down to the store for the physical experience and to touch the products, then maybe go back home and place an order. So you cannot say this is offline or online,” says Kwan.
“But I believe application of technology to enhance the customer’s experience and engagement, is definitely the road to go and to develop together with more applications and technology, just like Pepper so as to reduce the customer service burden on store staff.”
Kwan stresses Pepper and any other technology implemented at Pricerite must integrate with human staff, not replace them, what he describes as “a balanced fusion of technology and people”.
“Pepper I believe will become popular to provide instant information and master data about product features, etc. That will allow our people to migrate into higher added-value areas.” Kwan says customer response to the AR and VR technology to date has been “really good” and it is driving sales of goods after people look at them either online or instore. “It boosts their confidence buying because they have seen on a screen how a sofa will look in one part of a room and a rug in another.
“The technology is constantly improving and getting much easier to use. I understand our competitors also shop at our stores on and off and they are now also developing the same sort of technology. That, together with efforts by the Hong Kong Government to encourage startups working to develop technology for the service and retail sectors will help drive its adoption in years to come.”
Pricerite’s technology quest is ongoing. The apps will continue to be refined and upgraded with more features and made as user-friendly as possible. Other initiatives are under development but not yet ready to be revealed publicly just yet. And more Peppers are on order, with expanded functions – most of them will speak English, too.
View the gallery below for full images (5 images) :
Founders of Wisepass, Base.vn and WeFit are educated overseas, drawn back to Vietnam by its startup potential. Lam Tran, 34, is a French overseas Vietnamese with over 10 years’ experience in marketing at Google Europe. He returned to Vietnam and founded Wisepass, a lifestyle app that connects users to a wide range of dining, leisure and entertainment services through paid membership packages.
In 2018, Lam made WisePass available in Thailand and the Phillipines. “I believe to succeed businesses must lead their home market first, before thinking of expanding overseas,” said Lam.
Having set up the business in HCMC and then expanded to Hanoi, Lam regularly flew to the capital city to attend events and promote his products. After selling 10 memberships in a day, Lam was able to show employees the direction and potential of WisePass.
“Global expansion may sound intimidating, but after all, founders must start from the smallest things: talk to customers, selling products,” Lam said. There is no need to wait for big events, he added, “all you need to do is show up and market your product at appropriate places.”
WisePass currently operates in three countries, with 300 partners and over 1,000 monthly active users.
The founder of Base.vn, Pham Kim Hung, is well-known in Vietnamese math circles. He won Gold and Silver medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad and is the author of a math textbook published in four languages. Graduating in computer science from Stanford University, Hung did not stay on to work in Silicon Valley but decided to return to Vietnam.
In 2016, he launched Base.vn, a business management software under the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, where software is leased under a subscription instead of installed. The app is built to unify corporate governance processes, from administration to human resources, task management, financial management to sales marketing.
Base.vn currently serves over 500 enterprises, including many large organisations like VIB, VPBank, ACB, The Coffee House, McDonald’s and VinCommerce.
Base.vn currently has the highest investment in all business-to-business startups in Vietnam.
“After Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, we believe that Vietnam can become the next major technology powerhouse in the region,” Chandra Tjan, co-founder and partner of Indonesian fund Alpha JWC Venture said.
In addition to Base.vn and WisePass, in the past few years, the Vietnamese startup community has received many other innovations: WeFit (fitness), Elsa (language learning), Logivan (van hiring), GotIt (gift delivery), and Uiza (video streaming). Most of these entrepreneurial efforts have been successful at carving their own niche in the Vietnamese startup ecosystem.
Experts have said that with over 100 million people, Vietnam has great potential for socio-economic development, and with a rapidly growing middle class combined with quick adaption of digital developments, the ground is fertile for new ventures, especially startups.
Apart from the economic potential, young people returning to Vietnam also have a sense of duty and obligation to their homeland, as also a realization that their efforts here can have greater positive impact on society as a whole, according to experts.
Investment in Vietnamese startups rose to $889 million in 2018, three times that of 2017, according to a report recently released by Topica Founder Institute (TFI), a startup accelerator program in Vietnam and Thailand run by Hanoi-headquartered multinational educational technology company Topica.
Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi has opened its largest European Mi Store in Paris. Queues for the January 18 1pm opening started to form at the Champs-Elysees location at sunrise, despite freezing temperatures. The store is hosting a reportedly comprehensive selection of the brand’s full product range, including smartphones, headphones, cameras and home appliances.
In celebration of the launch, Xiaomi held a three-day sale on its French online store featuring discounts of up to €50. The supersized flagship is Xiaomi’s second location in Paris.
View the gallery below for images of the stores (11 images) :
Vietnamese ride-hailing company FastGo plans to enter the U.S. and Brazil this year as it seeks to quickly expand overseas. Its CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat saidthat he is keen to compete with other ride-hailing apps in foreign countries. “Our investors are located in the U.S. and Brazil, that’s why we have chosen those places as the next markets,” he said without disclosing who they are.
The announcement comes a month after it expanded into Myanmar. FastGo now has over 1,000 partner drivers in Yangon and Tuat wants to have 2 million users in Myanmar this year.
But the company wants to expand even faster to other markets this year, with Indonesia, where ride-hailing Go-Jek is based, being the first location.
“We plan to start operating in Jakarta in March, and will also expand to Singapore this year,” Tuat said.
The investors want the company to “go global as soon as possible,” he said to explain the rapid expansion plans.
The company hopes to raise $50 million in the second round by June this year possibly from investors in South Korea and the U.S., he said.
“Grab and Uber might have deep pockets, but FastGo wants to grab market share by offering better options to customers.”
FastGo does not collect commissions from drivers but instead charges them an amount of money if they earn a minimum amount per day. FastGo also claims to not increase fees during rush hour but allows users to tip drivers.
It became Vietnam’s first home-grown ride-hailing app last June and now has 40,000 drivers in 12 cities and provinces.
FastGo last August received $3 million from Vietnamese fund VinaCapital Ventures, according to reports.
French luxury group LVMH is suing a wine merchant in Hong Kong over an alleged trademark infringement.bThe plaintiffs are suing over a wine range named “XLV”, established in collaboration between Cuvee XLV French Wine and Quentin-Louis, the son of fifth generation family member Xavier-Louis Vuitton.
During a January 16 hearing in the High Court, LVMH claimed that the wine’s label design deliberately mimics the Louis Vuitton logo to mislead consumers. Cuvee XLV’s owner Wong Sau Ying has previously stated that the range has no relationship with the LV business, although the family connection is a factor in the wine sales.
“The family is involved and that is important. In China trust is important – there are many imitations, but this brand can be trusted,” said Wong in a 2012 interview.
Wong is pleading that the font size used on the XLV label differs from that of LV products.
The case has been pending since 2008 when the label became apparent to the LVMH group.
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned indirect subsidiary CIG Bhd yesterday entered into a share purchase agreement with HBG Asia Holdings Ltd and HBG Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Howden) to divest its remaining 51% stake in CIMB Howden Insurance Brokers Sdn Bhd (CHIB) to Howden for RM59.6 million.
The group said approval from Bank Negara Malaysia in relation to the proposed divestment was received by Howden on Nov 27, 2018.
“CHIB currently operates an insurance broking business and the proposed divestment is in line with CIMB’s aspirations to further streamline and focus on its core banking businesses. As part of the proposed divestment, CHIB will cease to be an associate of CIG,“ CIMB said.
