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Tag: Singapore

  • One percent Vinamilk stake out of reach for Singaporean investors

    One percent Vinamilk stake out of reach for Singaporean investors

    Two Singaporean investors in Vinamilk have failed repeatedly to increase their stake in the dairy giant by one percent.

    In the latest instance, investment firm Platinum Victory has once again failed to increase its stake, Vinamilk said Monday.

    The Singapore-based company has been unable to increase its stake from 10.62 percent to 11.62 percent as of November 15 “due to unfavorable market conditions,” the Vinamilk statement said.

    Platinum Victory, a unit of Singapore’s leading diversified conglomerate Jardine Cycle & Carriage, has immediately registered again to buy the 1 percent stake between November 21 and December 20, Vinamilk added.

    Since early last year, another Singapore-based company, F&N Dairy Investments, which is the largest foreign investor in Vinamilk at 17.31 percent, has also been unsuccessful in repeated attempts to raise its stake by one percent.

    Vinamilk is among the largest listed companies in the country with a market cap of VND208.96 trillion ($9 billion). From January to September, the company’s after-tax profit rose 5.8 percent year-on-year to VND7.92 trillion ($341.5 million). The state is its largest stakeholder at 36 percent.

    Platinum Victory had last month proposed to spend $60 million on increasing its stake in Vietnam’s industrial appliance maker REE from 24.9 percent to 35.01 percent.

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  • McDonald’s Singapore launches limited-edition Hello Kitty carrier

    McDonald’s Singapore launches limited-edition Hello Kitty carrier

    McDonald’s has chosen Singapore as the first country in the world to launch its Hello Kitty carrier.

    The limited-edition Hello Kitty carrier is designed for drinks and fries. An adjustable strap allows carrying by hand or hanging from a car headrest.

    With the purchase of any Extra Value Meal and Doubles Feast, customers can buy up to two Hello Kitty items at SG$7.90 each (US$5.79).

    The limited-edition Hello Kitty carrier is available at McDonald’s Singapore outlets, except Tampines Shell, Hougang Shell and Tampines Kiosk.

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  • Real Singapore retail sales stable in September

    Real Singapore retail sales stable in September

    Real Singapore retail sales (excluding motor vehicles) slipped by 0.3 percent in September compared to the same month last year.

    With motor vehicle sales included, the decrease was 2.2 percent, marking the eighth consecutive monthly decrease in the headline figure.s

    Month on month, retail sales excluding vehicles rose by 0.8 percent.

    Significantly, online sales grew to account for 6.9 percent of total sales in September.

    Year on year, the worst affected categories aside from vehicles (down 12.3 percent) were furniture and household equipment; recreational goods; and watches and jewelry which experienced declines of between 4.4 percent and 8.9 percent. Sales of department stores declined by 1.2 per cent respectively.

    On the positive side, retailers of computer and telecommunications equipment posted sales growth of 8.7 percent, while sales of apparel and footwear; medical goods and toiletries; and optical goods and books increased by between 2.1 percent and 4.2 percent.

    Singapore retail sales of food and beverage services grew by 4.3 percent year on year in September and by 0.4 percent month on month.

    Sales at fast-food outlets; cafes; food courts and other eating places; and restaurants reported sales up by 12.5 percent, 4.6 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, while turnover of food caterers declined 0.5 percent.

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  • Hennessy unveils X.O pop-up at Changi Airport

    Hennessy unveils X.O pop-up at Changi Airport

    Luxury cognac brand Hennessy has partnered with Changi Airport and travel retailer DFS Group to launch an X.O pop-up store at Changi Airport.

    Located in Terminal 1’s departure transit hall, the pop up the airport’s biggest yet, spread across 150sqm.

    Hennessy says the pop-up is aimed at continuing the momentum from the latest X.O campaign launch and delivering a “multisensorial, interactive and immersive experience”.

    It offers a space to explore the ‘Seven Worlds’ of Hennessy X.O including the Sweet Notes, Rising Heat, Spicy Edge, Flowing Flame, Chocolate Lull, Wood Crunches and Infinite Echo, which are brought to life in a short film directed by Ridley Scott.

    Interactive installations such as digital kiosks with motion-sensing activity, give visitors an opportunity to create content such as becoming the character of the Wood Crunches. Visitors can also enjoy a sip of Hennessy X.O at the custom-built tasting bar, as well as experience food pairings in the form of spiced marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate and honey cinnamon lollipops.

    “At Hennessy, we recognize that travel retail goes well beyond being a key commercial channel. It’s an amazing platform to build brand desirability in front of affluent and worldly consumers,” says Laurent Boidevezi, Hennessy’s global travel retail president.

    The pop-up is open daily from 7am to midnight until February and will retail Hennessy’s carafes with limited-edition sleeves. The packaging features the chapters for Flowing Flame, which is exclusive for Changi Airport, and Rising Heat, which is APAC exclusive for travel retail.

    Hennessy, together with luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton, is owned by French conglomerate LVMH Group.

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  • The Whale Tea opens in Singapore

    The Whale Tea opens in Singapore

    Created in Nanjing, the brand now operates more than 500 outlets across the mainland since its first store debuted in June last year. Following The Whale Tea’s first foray into Southeast Asia, launching in Malaysia earlier this year, the brand opened its first two Singapore outlets, at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall and City Square Mall last month, followed by a flagship store in China Square Central that opened on Monday.

    The predominantly black-and-white store design is decorated with whale symbols of varying shades of blue, effecting a bright and modern ambiance.

    The Whale Tea’s signature series is prepared with unusual ingredients such as peach gum, a natural resin from wild Chinese peach trees, known to be rich in amino acids and collagen – as well as spirulina, a seaweed-based superfood consumed for its nutrient-rich properties and a Chinese rice wine known as Wuliangye.

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  • Singapore Launches Research Platform for Fintech Investments

    Singapore Launches Research Platform for Fintech Investments

    The Fintech Research Platform will help investors and financial institutions connect with start-ups in the industry that they can partner with or invest in.

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has developed a prototype for an industry-wide fintech research platform in collaboration with accounting firm Deloitte and data and analytics provider S&P Global Market Intelligence to facilitate investments in the sector, the regulator announced in a statement on Tuesday.

    The platform, which will continue to be refined and built up, is designed with several objectives in mind: to increase transparency, boost investor confidence, and accelerate decision making, the statement said.

    The partners hopes to address the information gap in the sector: many investors and financial institutions currently do not have access to reliable and up-to-date company information relating to fintech start-ups and have to rely on informal networks to source investment opportunities.

    We believe that the deployment of capital in start-ups, particularly those offering business-to-business solutions, can be vastly improved by enhancing transparency and increasing the confidence in data on early-stage companies,  Sopnendu Mohanty, MAS chief fintech officer, said in the statement.

  • PayNow Simplifies Payments for Consumers and Businesses

    PayNow Simplifies Payments for Consumers and Businesses

    The move by PayNow to adopt SGQR makes it easier for businesses and consumers to use the mobile e-payment service.

    PayNow is adopting Singapore Quick Response (SGQR) specifications, which allows businesses and billing organizations to collect PayNow payments through SGQR, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced in a statement on Monday.

    To pay via PayNow, consumers only need to scan the QR code with their preferred bank app.

    With PayNow being part of the SGQR ecosystem, we believe the registrations and transactions will continue to ramp up. Our objective is to push PayNow as the ubiquitous payment mode in Singapore, Ong-Ang Ai Boon, ABS director, said in the statement.

    SGQR is Singapore’s national unified payment QR code that combines multiple payment QR codes into a single SGQR label.

    Launched in September 2018, it is part of efforts by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to transform the country’s e-payment landscape.

    According to ABS, there are now 3 million registered individual PayNow users and 129,000 business PayNow users. Over S$12 billion in transfers have been made since PayNow was introduced in June 2017.

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  • Singapore Fintech Partners Visa for Instant Remittances

    Singapore Fintech Partners Visa for Instant Remittances

    The partnership, using Visa’s push payment solution and secure network, allows consumers to transfer money in a faster, convenient and more secure way.

    Singapore cross-border fund transfer startup Nium is partnering with Visa to enable instant money transfers into recipients’ bank accounts through their 16-digit Visa debit card numbers, the firm announced in a press release on Monday.

    Designed for both peer-to-peer and business-to-business transfers, the rollout of the service currently covers remittances to Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

    We understand that individuals’ and businesses’ need to receive money quickly, especially in markets where there are no instant payment solutions like FAST or IMPS, Prajit Nanu, Nium co-founder and CEO, said in the statement.

    Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, recently nixed plans to pursue a digital wholesale banking license, saying it would focus its efforts on its global business-to-business payments instead.

    The firm is part of Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program, which facilitates fintech partners to build and deliver new commerce experiences on Visa’s payments network.

  • 6ixty8ight to launch online in Singapore and Malaysia

    6ixty8ight to launch online in Singapore and Malaysia

    Hong Kong-headquartered lingerie retailer 6ixty8ight is to open an e-commerce store for Singapore and Malaysia this month.

    The 6ixty8ight online store offers lingerie, sleepwear, homewear, loungewear, casual wear, and accessories.

    In the first phase of online store development, 6ixty8ight will introduce “Click & Collect”, where online purchases can be picked up at any preferred local store. The online store also features the new November collections, Eyelash Lace, Iridescent Dreams, and Beary Cute.

    6ixty8ight’s online expansion in Singapore and Malaysia comes a month after the brand launched its first e-commerce store across Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.

    6ixty8ight has opened a series of new physical stores in Singapore and Malaysia – at Orchard Gateway and Paya Lebar Quarter Mall last month in Singapore and a second store at Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA in Malaysia, to be followed by its third store in the country, at Gurney Paragon Mall next week.

    Founded in 2002, 6ixty8ight is one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing fashion brands, with more than 200 stores now trading across Greater China, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

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  • Singapore E-Wallet Inks Partnership With Thai Bank

    The Singapore-based firm has made its first foray into an overseas market, and is promising Thai travelers affordable options to pay with the competitive exchange rates when abroad.

    YouTrip, a multi-currency mobile wallet designed with travelers in mind, is taking its services to customers outside Singapore by launching in Thailand with a partnership with Kasikornbank (KBank), the firm announced in a press release on Tuesday.

    Juthasree Kuvinichkul, founding partner of You Technologies and Grab Thailand, will lead YouTrip’s Thailand operations. As part of the tie-up, YouTrip will be offered to KBank’s 11.6 million online customers, who will be able to register through their online banking app within 3 minutes.

    KBank president Patchara Samalapa said in the statement that he sees «strong potential» in the partnership with YouTrip. We also believe in the foreign exchange market which has benefited from the strong outbound tourism growth in Thailand, due to strong Baht, travel promotions, new flight routes openings, etc., he added.

    YouTrip allows users to pay in 150 currencies at 30 million Mastercard payment points worldwide with no hidden fees at wholesale exchange rates.

    Riding on the wave of Southeast Asia’s booming travel market, YouTrip has received strong interest in its multi-currency wallet since its launch in Singapore in August 2018, counting over 400,000 downloads of its mobile application in its home market, as well as 10 million transactions processed in the year since its launch, the statement said.

    In May, the firm announced that it closed a record $25.5 million pre-Series A fundraise – the largest for a fintech startup from Southeast Asia.

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  • Shake Shack Singapore planning a second Restaurant

    Shake Shack Singapore planning a second Restaurant

    Shake Shack Singapore is considering opening a new outlet in the territory following better-than-expected business at its Jewel Changi Airport location.

    The brand’s culinary director Mark Rosati said in an interview with Channel News Asia that long queues to the existing location have persisted several months into trading, underscoring Shake Shack’s popularity with Singaporeans.

    The brand has expanded from a roadside burger stand to operate in more than 12 countries, based on a consistent menu along with exclusive items designed for local tastes.

    “We keep looking at each outlet as, ‘This is the only Shake Shack in the world’,” said Rosati. “So, when we opened Singapore, we weren’t thinking to ourselves that we needed to open the one that’s going to be the blueprint for opening a few more – in terms of look and taste – in this region.

    “We knew we needed to go to Singapore, spend time on the street figuring out what the food was like, how it makes it super special and how we fit into that. We knew that we needed to do something that is definitely part of our New York heritage but also what we do that’s a little different for Singapore.”

    The brand has yet to settle on a location for the second outlet.

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  • OCBC May Partner Keppel, Validus, For License

    OCBC May Partner Keppel, Validus, For License

    OCBC Bank is in talks with Keppel Corporation, peer-to-peer lender Validus Capital, and Vertex Ventures, to form a digital-bank consortium.

    OCBC is likely to take an equity stake in the consortium rather than open up its balance sheet. With a track record of being active in the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) lending space, this move could augment the bank’s share in this segment.

    If the Singapore lender opts to enter the digital banking scene, the bank will face direct competition from its own virtual entity. We have to accept that there will be cannibalization. But on the other hand, the mothership should also be in a position to go out and compete, said OCBC’s chief operating office

    In August, the lender has indicated that it is looking for partners ahead of the introduction of virtual bank licenses in Singapore.

    Among the three local banks, DBS and UOB have rolled out standalone digital banks in regional markets and have stepped up their efforts in digitalizing processes, said  CGS-CIMB analyst Andrea Choong in the report.  OCBC is a laggard in this respect, but we strongly believe it will be part of a consortium in the run for a license come end-2019.

  • Eco Shop Me @ South East launched

    Eco Shop Me @ South East launched

    Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has partnered with South East Community Development Council (CDC) to launch Eco Shop Me @ South East program.

    Collaborating with eco-shops, the program is to create a stronger awareness of eco-friendly businesses in the southeast District and encourage consumers to shop sustainably and strive towards a zero-waste lifestyle.

    “Eco Shop Me @ South East is an exciting new initiative as we are working with cafes, grocery stores, retail outlets, and many others, to change the shopping and eating habits of their customers,” said Maliki Osman, Mayor of Southeast District. “These changes may not seem much, just a straw, a bag, or a container, but we hope it becomes a habit of every individual, to reduce our overall usage of plastics and recycle what we can to protect our environment, to make it last for us and our future generations,” he said.

    “We believe this program has great potential and look forward to more small and medium-sized enterprises coming on board to partner us as we do our part for climate change.”

    Several partners have joined Eco Shop Me @ South East program including health product store Two Sisters Pantry, social enterprise Enterprising Mums United and an ice cream parlor The Humble Scoop, (whose dish is pictured above).

    Interested business owners can tap into funding support under the 3R Fund or the Towards Zero Waste Grant.

    Deputy CEO (planning, corporate and technology) of NEA, Khoo Seow Poh, added: “We are heartened to see businesses coming together under The Eco Shop Me @ South East program, where they are taking a firm stance against unnecessary waste, by for example, reducing the use of disposables where possible and thereby influencing the daily habits of residents. We hope that more businesses and consumers will be inspired to take simple steps to reduce waste and build a sustainable future for Singapore.”

  • Park-themed Sony Singapore store opens in Westgate

    Park-themed Sony Singapore store opens in Westgate

    Sony Singapore has opened a park-themed store at the Westgate shopping center.

    The Japanese technology and electronics company says the store has been designed to connect with customers through their lifestyle by offering consumer products from the photography, videography and audio categories through to home entertainment.

    “Each area of the store is designed to offer a different feel that is closely related to customers’ lifestyle,” said the company in a statement.

    The highlight of the new store is the provision of all things video-related such as information, products and accessories. At the Vlog Studio, customers can hone their video skills by learning video tips and tricks they can apply when shooting their videos live. Product consultants will also be on hand to provide advice on video taking if required. The Vlog Studio will feature regularly changing themed setups, starting with a park theme currently.

    Sony Singapore says the way products are displayed befits the overall park-themed nature of the store.

    “We aim to provide customers with a calm, relaxing environment to audition the products. For example, the Bravia display area features park benches as seats for families to admire the televisions and soundbars while music lovers can listen to new personal audio products … and be immersed in nature surroundings.”

  • The Clash De Cartier Studio pop up to visit Singapore

    The Clash De Cartier Studio pop up to visit Singapore

    French luxury goods conglomerate Cartier is launching its Clash De Cartier Studio experience pop-up in Singapore at STPI from November 15 to 17.

    The one-weekend-only event will be the brand’s first and largest ever pop-up activation within the Southeast Asian country. An Asia Tatler report noted “the pop-up invites guests to discover their own alter ego as they explore the experiential space,” and that it will “feature similar themes of literature, music and art, albeit with subtle references to the locality” as did the original installation when first launched in Paris earlier this year.

    Visitors to the pop-up will be guided to either the “Bookstore” or “Record Store” to receive personalised Haiku poems typed out by typewriter or listen to a special Clash de Cartier playlist in futuristic “sound showers” respectively.

    The pop-up also features a cafe lounge area with clashing Eastern and Western decor.

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