elean

Large firms step up to help SMEs as govt aid tapers off

elean 30 11 月

4 minutes

Several large companies are helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stay afloat as the coronavirus outbreak continues to take a toll on their finances and operations. The initiatives involve providing much-needed relief and training to firms at a time when some government assistance is tapering off as the economy gradually reopens. American software company Salesforce has partnered the Singapore Business Federation to hand out $960,000 in cash grants to eligible SMEs. The programme is expected to benefit 120 firms, which will each receive a grant of $8,000. They can use the funds for their immediate cash-flow needs, such as rent and operating costs, to pay staff wages and to upgrade their skills or to digitalise. Singapore-registered SMEs with at least 30 per cent local shareholding, an annual revenue of $150,000 to $2 million, and which employ between five and 50 employees, are eligible to apply. Applications opened last Monday and close on Dec 23. Firms can go to this website to find out more. Salesforce Singapore vice-president and general manager Cecily Ng said it is the right time for Singapore businesses to tap the grant money to fuel growth, given that the economy ...

Covid-19 situation pushed fresh grad onto entrepreneurship path

elean 29 11 月

2 minutes

A one-year stint in Stockholm where he worked for medical technology firm Meloq and was exposed to budding entrepreneurs inspired Mr Yap Jun Yi to strike out on his own - a decision which he says was made easier with the coronavirus pandemic. The 25-year-old is one of five co-founders of personal finance company Taby Technologies, and the only one working full-time at the start-up. His co-founders, aged 24 to 29, are either studying or have other full-time jobs. The Covid-19 situation gave him "more assurance" to start his own business, said Mr Yap. "I'm going to give myself a year, till probably the end of next year, to see where this business is going to take me, and whether I want to continue with it or not," he said. "I think the current situation gave me the assurance to pursue my entrepreneurship passion." Many of his friends are on traineeships, and most of his peers would prefer the stability and security of a full-time job, instead of making it on their own fresh out of university. "But when I asked myself whether I would regret not pursuing this opportunity five years from now, I think I would," he said. The start-up received a capital grant of $30,000 from Startup SG Fou...

She nearly went bust in her quest for beauty

elean 29 11 月

1 minute

If you look at her profile photograph on LinkedIn, it is almost impossible to find any flaw with her looks - attractive with a bright smile and good complexion. Yet, beneath that cheerful and confident appearance is a woman who was so obsessed with wanting to look perfect that she ended up almost bankrupt due to excessive spending on beauty-related products. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

Cadet pilot and friends aim to inspire next generation of aviators

elean 29 11 月

2 minutes

Cadet pilot Jason Koor's flying ambitions may have been put on hold for the next few years due to the coronavirus outbreak, but the 26-year-old is using this downtime to inspire the next generation of aviators. Mr Koor, along with two friends, incorporated aviation enrichment company Aircademy last month. It hopes to help youth who are keen in the aviation industry to learn more, through courses that will teach them about planes and aviation-related work, like ground handling. Industry players such as pilots will be invited to share their experiences with participants. The co-founders hope to be able to stretch the $30,000 they put in to get the business off the ground, as they have managed to get discounts on costs such as rent. They will run a trial programme next month - during the school holidays - to test their curriculum and study the feasibility and viability of the business, said Mr Koor, who graduated from the National University of Singapore last year with a double degree in civil engineering and management. The trio hope to help nurture an interest in aviation through means which they feel were not as accessible to youth when they themselves were younger. Mr Koor, whose ...

The quicksand of overspending

elean 29 11 月

1 minute

By the time you read this, you might have already spent quite a bit of money shopping for great deals in the Black Friday sale, and there is still Cyber Monday to come. Christmas is just weeks away, so now seems as good a time as any to splurge with a vengeance. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

More businesses set up in S’pore despite Covid-19 recession

elean 29 11 月

1 minute

Despite Covid-19 tightening the noose around some businesses, more firms have been set up in the past five months than in the same period last year, with experts describing this new wave of entrepreneurs as a sign of confidence in Singapore's recovery. About 5,500 to 6,400 new businesses were formed monthly between June and last month, compared with about 5,300 a month over the same timeframe last year, checks by The Sunday Times show. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

SPH to continue media business transformation

elean 28 11 月

3 minutes

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) will continue to invest in transforming the media business to keep up with changing consumer habits, especially with the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the business. Its property segment, including purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and retail, was also identified as an area for growing recurring income, said SPH chief executive Ng Yat Chung at the company's annual general meeting yesterday. He told a virtual audience: "SPH is facing a challenging media landscape. We have not been spared from rapid changes disrupting the news media industry everywhere. Consumer habits are changing, and they are increasingly moving to digital media. "As a result, our media business faced a steady decline in both print advertising and print subscription revenue. And these are traditionally our largest revenue and profit drivers. The Covid-19 pandemic this year has further exacerbated these challenges." SPH had earlier reported its first net loss of $83.7 million, for the year that ended on Aug 31. One of the strategies, moving forward, is to grow income from its property segment, Mr Ng said. He said in response to shareholder questions that about 60 per cent o...

Singapore, Hong Kong office Reits prove resilient in post-virus world

elean 28 11 月

3 minutes

The office may never reach its past heights in the post-pandemic world, but the outlook for Singapore and Hong Kong offices is promising. Relatively small homes in these cities, short commutes to work and new tech firm tenants bode well for property trusts that focus on these markets. Domestically focused real estate investment trusts (Reits) in these hubs have outperformed their peers in Australia and Japan this year, and continue to rise on the back of a rotation to economically sensitive stocks. Hong Kong's Champion Reit, whose tenants include Citigroup, Singapore's Keppel Reit and Mapletree Commercial Trust, has beaten baskets of equally weighted trusts in Australia and Japan, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. To be sure, no one expects Singapore and Hong Kong offices to be left unscathed from the pandemic. Companies like Citigroup, Mizuho Financial Group in Singapore and Macquarie Group in Hong Kong are giving up office space as demand wavers and they confront a future of some remote work. Singapore's vacancy rates have already risen to 4.9 per cent in the third quarter from 3.3 per cent a year earlier, while the rates for Hong Kong's Grade A office spaces were up at 9 per...

Gold prices headed further south as hopes rise for coronavirus vaccine

elean 28 11 月

3 minutes

Gold prices were yesterday set for a third straight week of declines as growing optimism over a coronavirus vaccine drove investors into traditionally riskier assets and out of the safe-haven metal. Spot gold fell 0.2 per cent to US$1,807.86 per ounce in early trading yesterday. US gold futures were steady at US$1,806. Bullion was set to fall 3.3 per cent on the week. Asian shares stalled near record highs yesterday as AstraZeneca faces tricky questions about the success rate of its vaccine candidate that could hinder its chances of getting speedy United States and European Union regulatory approval. "For the markets, I don't think that (doubts over the effectiveness of a vaccine) changes the perception there's going to be a vaccine coming sooner than previously expected," said IG Markets analyst Kyle Rodda. Investors are starting to buy into the narrative that the economic recovery is going to gather steam next year and that is driving investors to liquidate gold holdings, he added. On the technical front, support for gold remains intact at US$1,800 an ounce, while silver continues to see supportive interest near the psychological US$23 level, MKS PAMP said in a note. Raising the ...

More revenue for Singapore’s service sector in Q3 than Q2

elean 28 11 月

3 minutes

Singapore's service sector reported a 9.5 per cent year-on-year drop in receipts in the third quarter, although receipts improved on a quarterly basis compared with the second quarter - the Republic's circuit breaker period - according to the Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat) yesterday. The third-quarter performance marks a smaller contraction than that seen during the second quarter's year-on-year decline of 13.4 per cent. All industries except information and communications services registered lower business receipts year on year, said SingStat. The figures exclude wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food services. On a quarter-on-quarter non-seasonally adjusted basis, however, overall business receipts grew 5.4 per cent in the third quarter, compared with the low base of activities due to circuit breaker measures imposed during Singapore's partial economic shutdown in April and May. All industries except financial and insurance reported higher revenue quarter on quarter, SingStat said. Among all the categories, recreation and personal services saw the largest drop of 41.3 per cent in revenue, attributed mainly to companies in the attractions segment. On ...

S’pore factory output down 0.9% in Oct

elean 27 11 月

4 minutes

Singapore's manufacturing output dropped for the first time in three months in October, with only the biomedical and precision engineering clusters seeing growth. Factory output fell 0.9 per cent year on year, after a revised 25.6 per cent jump in September and a 16.4 per cent rise in August, according to data released yesterday by the Economic Development Board (EDB). Economists had expected a 6.2 per cent increase, according to the median in a Reuters poll. However, most analysts said the unexpected turn was unlikely to change the trajectory of the economic recovery. They said that even the relatively slow start to the fourth quarter will eventually give way to stronger output next year, backed by rising global demand. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, last month's output shrank 19 per cent - after four consecutive months of sequential improvement, and was the worst since February when it dropped by 22 per cent. Transport engineering led the output decline with a 31.8 per cent year-on-year plunge. EDB said in a statement yesterday that levels of activity in aerospace firms and shipyards remained low as new orders were adversely impacted by travel restrictions and a w...

Thailand beats S’pore again as top IPO market in South-east Asia

elean 27 11 月

3 minutes

Thailand's initial public offering market has chalked up another stellar performance, beating Singapore for the second year running as the top IPO market in South-east Asia by value of funds raised, according to research from professional services firm Deloitte. Singapore had eight listings that raised a total of US$852 million (S$1.14 billion) in the first 101/2 months of this year. This was dwarfed by the US$3.9 billion raised from 23 IPOs in Thailand in the same period. Last year's competition was keener, with Thailand raising US$3 billion from 34 listings, compared with the US$2.26 billion from 11 listings in Singapore. Thailand, South-east Asia's second-largest economy, also outdid the combined performance of the region's largest economy Indonesia, Singapore and the three other countries in Deloitte's research - Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. They raised a total of US$2.54 billion this year. Disruptive events advisory leader at Deloitte Thailand Wilasinee Krishnamra said: "Largely driven by home-grown companies and fuelled by increasing investor interests in firms focused on consumer businesses, (Thailand's IPO market) continues to appeal strongly to investors and fund...

Sites for homes in Tengah, Ang Mo Kio up for sale

elean 27 11 月

3 minutes

The first executive condominium (EC) site in Tengah and a condo site in Ang Mo Kio were launched for sale yesterday under the second half of the 2020 government land sales (GLS) programme. Both residential sites are on the confirmed list, which was released in June. The two sites combined can yield about 985 residential units, although the actual number may vary depending on the developers, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing Board (HDB) yesterday. Sites on the confirmed list are launched according to schedule, regardless of demand. The Tengah parcel in Tengah Garden Walk has a site area of 22,020 sq m and a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 61,659 sq m. The 99-year leasehold site is expected to yield about 615 EC units. Located next to the upcoming Garden Vines @ Tengah Build-To-Order project, it will be the first EC housing project in the "forest town" of Tengah. JLL senior director of research and consultancy Ong Teck Hui said developers are likely to view the EC market "favourably", as there are only four EC projects in the launch pipeline. "While the Tengah plot is in a relatively less developed area, it could be in fair demand due to the lack of new E...

Dyson plans $4.9b in investments across Singapore, UK, Philippines

elean 27 11 月

3 minutes

British technology company Dyson is planning to have a new advanced manufacturing hub in Singapore as part of £2.75 billion (S$4.93 billion) worth of investments in the Republic, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. The investments will double Dyson's portfolio of products and go towards its venture in new fields by 2025, with the hiring of additional engineers in areas such as software, machine learning and robotics, the company said in a statement today. It is putting resources in research areas such as next-generation motor technology, connectivity and material science. Dyson said one of its priorities is the commercialisation of its solid state battery technology that is being developed in Singapore, the UK, the United States and Japan, and is said to provide cleaner and more efficient energy storage than current batteries. The company's new global head office at St James Power Station in Singapore is slated to open next year, and will be accompanied by an expansion of its research and development facilities, as well as research labs in fields such as machine learning and robotics. Dyson has around 1,200 employees in Singapore, of whom 350 are engineers and scientists. Over ...

Financial sector moves to develop S’porean core

elean 27 11 月

4 minutes

More measures to help develop and retain a core Singaporean workforce for the financial sector were unveiled yesterday. One initiative is the Work-Study Support Programme that will fund 80 per cent of internship stipends, capped at $1,000 per month, for Singaporean undergraduates who serve their internships at financial institutions. The aim is to develop job-ready graduates and build a Singaporean talent pipeline for the sector. It is part of the SkillsFuture Work-Study Degree Programme (WSDeg), which enables students to gain meaningful work experience and acquire work-relevant skills. The financial services sector has been a major participant of the WSDeg scheme since its introduction in 2017, and the Work-Study Support Programme will help scale the programme in strategic growth areas, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) noted at a webinar yesterday. MAS will also extend the Training Allowance Grant for company-sponsored trainees by six months from Dec 31 to June 30. Additional support is coming from the Institute of Banking and Finance, which will extend its 5 per cent additional course fee credit to cover the same period. The scheme aims to boost job retention through ups...

US economic suffering may rise without stimulus: Fed minutes

elean 26 11 月

3 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Officials at the Federal Reserve feared the US economy was on a course for renewed pain without Congress approving more stimulus to help its recovery from the pandemic, according to minutes of the central bank's latest policy meeting released on Wednesday (Nov 25). Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) also considered future changes in its strategy of buying Treasury assets and mortgage-backed securities, the minutes from the Nov 4-5 meeting said. US central bankers including Fed chair Jerome Powell have been gently prodding Washington lawmakers for more stimulus spending to help dig the US economy out of the deep hole the coronavirus pandemic pushed it into. But with Democrats and Republicans in Washington deadlocked over such a measure, FOMC staff said the lack of stimulus would cause "significant hardships for a number of households," according to the meeting minutes. Congress's passage earlier in the year of the US$2.2 trillion (S$2.9 trillion) Cares Act rescue package helped Americans build up their savings during the worst of the downturn, which FOMC members said may see households through. "The savings cushion accumulated by other households ...

Qantas offers fast-track to higher status to frequent flyers of rival airlines

elean 26 11 月

2 minutes

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Qantas Airways said on Thursday (Nov 26) it will offer top-tier members of rival frequent flyer programmes a fast-track to higher status as its main domestic rival, Virgin Australia, pursues a less premium strategy under its new owner. The move could help boost Qantas' market share in lucrative corporate and high-end leisure travel as domestic flights ramp up in Australia due to the reopening of state borders. "With so much uncertainty in the market, we've seen a spike in requests from people wanting us to match their status with other airlines," Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said in a statement. "If they are willing to bring their travel across to Qantas, we will fast track them to Gold status." Qantas Gold status includes access to its large network of airport lounges, priority check-in and boarding and preferential seating. By early December, Qantas expects 30 of its 35 domestic airport lounges will be open, whereas Virgin last week said it would maintain only six domestic lounges as part of its shift to becoming a more value-focused mid-market airline. Qantas also includes free Wi-Fi on its domestic flights, while Virgin is reviewing the future of its Wi-Fi...

China fintech giants scramble to rethink IPOs, raise capital

elean 26 11 月

5 minutes

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - Jack Ma's vision of the future of finance in China is being upended by regulators, along with the ambitions of conglomerates that followed his lead. Mr Ma's Ant Group is in talks with regulators about injecting capital into its micro-lending units just weeks after its US$35 billion (S$46.9 billion) initial public offering was halted in a sector-wide crackdown. The listing plans of e-commerce billionaire Richard Liu's JD Digits Technology Holding have also been thrown into limbo. Lufax Holding had to renegotiate terms with some shareholders after its recent IPO valued China's largest listed online lender at less than a previous funding round. The details come from people familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified speaking on private matters. It's all part of the rapidly shifting landscape for China's fintech leaders, which till recently offered the most compelling evidence of technology giants using their might - and a light regulatory touch - to rewire traditional financial services. They are now rushing to shore up capital, mulling business overhauls and bracing for more turbulence as industry watchdogs set their sights on areas spanning le...

S&P 500, Dow pull back from all-time closing highs after grim jobless data

elean 26 11 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The S&P 500 index closed lower on Wednesday (Nov 25) as mounting US layoffs in the wake of new mandated lockdowns to contain surging Covid-19 infections dampened investor risk appetite. The index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated from record closing highs, pulled lower by cyclicals and small caps that drove the rally earlier in the week. Pandemic-resilient tech and tech-adjacent market leaders helped keep the Nasdaq afloat. "It's a growth day, flipping back the other way away from value," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "It's this ongoing struggle between the virus and the vaccine." "There's a reality setting in that while the vaccine will start being distributed fairly quickly, the virus isn't go away quickly and therefore the timeline for economic improvement is getting pushed out." A wide range of data released in advance of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday was dominated by a second consecutive week of unexpected jobless claims increases, suggesting that new restrictions to combat spiking coronavirus cases could hobble the struggling labor market's recovery. "The economic data is not good, and we k...

Global recovery heading into critical period: MAS chief

elean 26 11 月

6 minutes

The global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is heading into a critical period as nations balance the need to prop up consumers and businesses against the threat of unmanageable debt, Singapore's central bank chief said. "The world is now entering a phase where the crisis is long, drawn-out, the peak of the crisis is behind us, but we're not in full recovery," Mr Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), told Bloomberg. "In this undefined twilight zone of sorts, what is the appropriate policy mix?" He said fiscal policy would have to start unwinding, but gradually, while monetary policymakers must recognise that extraordinary measures cannot continue indefinitely. Governments worldwide have pumped trillions of dollars into their economies, with that fiscal support taking the lead in combating the effects of the pandemic and winning the backing of multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund that are usually more cautious about debt. Meanwhile, central bankers have kept interest rates near record lows and tinkered with unconventional tools. If officials do not start the process now of fine-tuning their stimulus, they ris...

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