Under The Radar

This conversation is set to help you cool down in sunny Singapore.  Our guest for today is Carrier Corporation, which is a leading global provider of sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions.  The firm is mainly focused on three business areas, namely heating, ventilation and cooling or HVAC, refrigeration and fire and security.  In total, the segments generate US$20.4 billion in net sales for the year of 2022, with Asia Pacific contributing some 17% to the figure.  With the global heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system market projected to grow to US$228.74 billion by 2030, how does Carrier intend to capture growth looking ahead? What is its area of focus within Asia and particularly in the Southeast Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei? Meanwhile, Carrier had in April announced strategic actions to transform its business portfolio and establish itself as a pure-play, global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions. But what were the reasons behind that? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to  Chong Wai Yen, Managing Director, Carrier Corporation.

Omakase, seafood buffet, beef steaks and warm bowls of ramen or perhaps delicious bowls of bak chor mee, or minced meat noodles topped with a dash of tangy black vinegar. You might have seen countless videos of people recommending restaurants and eateries serving delectable meals on social media, but have you ever how many of them do you end up remembering and trying out?  Well, that’s the problem that our guest for today, Drigmo, aims to solve. Founded by ex-Googlers in 2022, Drigmo aims to be a Spotify playlist, but for food.  Put simply, it is a social app where users create their own restaurant lists, organise the places on a map, and bring the list to life by adding notes, pictures and videos. Users can also see what their friends have on their lists and save discoveries from them.  The app was first announced in Singapore via TikTok in March this year. Since then, users have saved over 45,000 places and created over 15,000 tags on the platform. According to a DealStreetAsia article, the firm hopes to disrupt Google’s restaurant reviews.  So how does the firm define the industry it operates in and its positioning strategy?  More importantly, how much money is in the restaurant review business and what does Drigmo’s growth trajectory look like in the near future? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Pieter Walraven, Co-founder, Drigmo.

Today we’re going to talk about a company formed from the merger of one of the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance & taste companies, Firmenich, as well as, DSM, a company who’s touted as a global, purpose-led leader in nutrition, health and well-being.  Formed in May 2023, the combined entity DSM-firmenich defines itself as an innovator in nutrition, health and beauty, with over 150 years of R&D experience.  The firm boasts a team of close to 30,000 employees across four main business areas, namely: (a) Perfumery and beauty, (b) Taste, Texture and Health, (c) Health, Nutrition and Care and (d) Animal Nutrition and Health.  In particular, the former Firmenich brought in over 4 million consumers it serves in over 100 markets several times a day in the fragrances and flavour markets through items like shampoo, shower gel and fine fragrance, including Ariana Grande’s R.E.M and Calvin Klein's CK One. But how important will the perfumery business be in the newly merged company financially, and how will this influence the strategy ahead for the perfumery business?  Meanwhile, DSM-firmenich remains big on innovation on the perfume side of things. It had in October unveiled five new natural extracts from its Firgood Technology, but what does this mean for the firm where top and bottom lines are concerned?  On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Levenza Toh, VP, Perfumery, SEA, Japan & Korea at DSM-Firmenich.

Skincare and cosmetics, yes that’s what we are going to talk about on this segment today!  Founded in 1956, our guest BABOR BEAUTY GROUP is a German family business that started out as a niche brand for professionals within the skincare industry.  The company has been headed by the third generation of the owner family since 2014 and has seen rapid growth that made it into the powerhouse for innovation, manufacturing and the marketing of industry leading luxury skincare brands.  Sales have grown from a double-digit million amount to over 240 million Euros. On the whole, the BABOR BEAUTY GROUP now employs over 900 people worldwide, with its brands represented in 70 countries by distributors or subsidiaries.  Question is – what did the third generation owners do differently to unlock the value we’ve seen, and what are the growth opportunities for the future? Speaking of growth, BABOR now wants to deepen its presence in international markets. The goal is to increase the share of its business outside of Central Europe from about 30 per cent to between 60 and 70 per cent by 2030.  But what does the firm intend to do to achieve such ambitious goals, and which is the most important geographical market it will focus on as a starting point? Meanwhile, the firm also recently underwent a rebranding initiative to strengthen its global premium positioning, but how far will this complement BABOR’s other efforts to internationalise? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Tim Waller, Co-CEO, BABOR BEAUTY GROUP and Group President, BABOR & Premium Brands.

Building a talent ecosystem to help the 120 million professionals in Southeast Asia grow their careers. Well, that’s the aspiration and the mission of our guest for today Glints. Founded in 2015, Glints is a recruitment platform that allows organisations to hire the right talent from anywhere in Southeast Asia.  With operations spanning across key markets such as Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, the firm has so far empowered over 3 million talent and supported 50,000 organisations in realising their human potential.  And according to a Tech In Asia report, the firm had in September registered “record-high” revenues in the 2022 financial year of S$45.4 million, an 85% year-on-year increase.  Glints attributed this to growing demand for cross border talent. This comes as firms become more willing to hunt for talent outside of their head offices.  But why is this the case? What bearing will this have on Glints’ strategy to acquire talent within Southeast Asia, and how far will this trend continue to drive Glint’s business looking ahead? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ying Cong Seah, Co-founder, Glints.

You might have played Tamagotchi before, but for some of us who grew up in the early 2000s, we went for Neopets. Founded in 1999, Neopets is an immersive, web-based pet game where we raise our virtual pets, collect free items under the Money Tree, and of course, haggle for goods with virtual shopkeepers and get chased off for making an unreasonable bargain.  The online game was a hit back then. According to Mashable, the game saw 25 million users at its peak. A lot has changed since, and Mashable said the firm saw daily active users worldwide shrunk to just 100,000 by 2017.  Some of the mini-games on the website have also become unplayable after the discontinuation of the Adobe Flash Software in 2020.  Internally, the firm has also seen multiple changes to its ownership, from being owned by Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, in 2005, to JumpStart Games in 2014, and thereafter by NetDragon after it acquired JumpStart Games. And when JumpStart Games closed this June, the firm became independent after an undisclosed management buyout deal. Its new management now wants to change things up by restoring minigames and doubling down on the use of intellectual property in merchandise. It wants to bring lapsed players back into Neopia, and capitalise on the nostalgia former users had for Neopets.  But how sustainable is nostalgia as a value proposition, and will it be heyday again for Neopets? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Dominic Law, CEO, Neopets.

Fei Siong Group is perhaps most famously known for its brands of bak chor mee or minced meat noodles.  After all, the company that started in 1995, has since grown to become a casual dining and quick service restaurant company with over 150 outlets across 19 brands, with most of them serving your typical hawker fare.   But do you know Fei Siong actually operates the Popeyes chain of restaurants in Singapore?  In fact, the firm inked an exclusive franchise deal with Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Asia-Pacific in 2022 to develop and run new Popeyes in Singapore.  Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Asia-Pacific, for context, is owned by Restaurant Brands International or the company behind Burger King and Tim Hortons. The agreement marks Fei Siong Group’s first venture into the fried chicken quick service restaurant industry. Question is, why did Fei Siong decide to make its foray into the fast food business?  Meanwhile, the firm said it plans to “refresh and modernise” Popeyes outlets across Singapore by revamping storefronts, introducing new menu items and adjusting recipes to better suit the Asian palate. But what can we expect on this front? Also, Fei Siong Group is also looking to have 50 outlets in Singapore within the next 10 years, but what is the basis behind the expansion plan? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Jedrick Tan, CEO, Fei Siong Fast Food (Popeyes PL Singapore). 

A switchboard is known as a piece of equipment that directs all phone calls made to and from a particular building and area. But what about a switchboard that automatically helps enterprises direct and organise data into dashboards for business leaders to carry out data-driven projects on revenue operations, deal plannings, and campaign performance?  Well, that’s exactly what our guest Switchboard does. Founded in 2014 by the former Google BigQuery employees, Switchboard provides a platform for revenue and marketing teams to launch and maintain data projects at scale without the need for specialised data engineering teams.  The firm said its platform can make it 10 times faster for firms to implement data projects as compared to hiring a team of data engineers and managing vast amounts of data on their own.  Its software serves clients from a wide range of industries ranging from retail, technology, franchise operations and financial services. This includes a number of notable players such as Spotify and Orangetheory Fitness.  But what do clients in these industries require and how does Switchboard plug the gaps? Meanwhile, Switchboard had in July this year received US$7 million in a Series A funding round led by GFT Ventures and Quest Venture Partners. But what opportunities do investors see in them? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ju-kay Kwek, CEO, Switchboard AND Joseph Lee, Partner and Head of Investor Relations, GFT Ventures.

Today we’re going to bring you an inside look into the largest liquor company in the Philippines that is also the world’s biggest brandy manufacturer. Founded in 1979, Emperador is a holding company that operates an integrated business of manufacturing, bottling and distributing distilled spirits and other alcoholic beverages from the Philippines and Europe.  Its consolidated portfolio includes brands like the Emperador Light and whisky brands such as The Dalmore. It also entered the global Scotch whisky business through the acquisition of Whyte and Mackay in 2014.  The Manila-listed firm made its debut on the Singapore Exchange last July, and became a constituent of the Straits Times Index last September, making it the second regional spirits company listed on the SGX after Thai Beverage. So what is the role of Emperador’s Singapore business in the bigger scheme of things? Meanwhile, the company saw revenues increase by 10 per cent year-on-year to P47.1 billion in the first nine months this year. Emperador said its international business continued to experience double digit growth particularly in Asia and North America.  But why is this the case, and what are the key drivers of growth for the firm in the near future? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Glenn Manlapaz, CEO, Emperador International Division.

What do you think of when you hear of the 32-year-old Sonic the Hedgehog? Well, how about Sega? Founded in 1960, Sega Corporation is a player in the games business, having been engaged in the planning, development, sales and operation of games for home video game consoles, PCs and smartphones.  The firm was a major player in the console space back in the early 1990s, having about a 65 per cent share of the 16-bit console market in North America back then, against players such as Nintendo and the Sony Playstation.  A lot has changed since, especially after a number of moves including the failed  launch of the Dreamcast in 1998. Sega stopped the production of consoles in 2001 to become a third-party video game developer. Fast forward to the present, the firm’s boasts over 12 major games titles within its console business division including the Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, the Football Manager 2022 and the Sonic Frontiers.  It is also seeing a number of exciting developments of late. In 2021, the firm said it is exploring a strategic alliance with Microsoft to develop big budget titles using its Azure cloud platform.  This April, it announced a plan to purchase Angry Bird maker Rovio Entertainment for US$776 million to bolster its mobile gaming business. But what does the road ahead look like for Sega in the billion dollar global video game market and what will be its key drivers of growth? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Yoshinori Akiyama, Managing Director, SEGA Singapore.