Under The Radar

Have you ever tried picking up a foreign language? And if so, are you still using it? According to a report by TechRepublic, citing data from FlexJobs, there were over 1,700 bilingual remote jobs listed as at early 2021, which is a 30% increase from the figure in February 2020. And it seems like job demand for bilingual speakers is on the rise as the world becomes increasingly globalised.  Question is - how do we master a new language? And how do we get ourselves familiarised with some of the jargons used in professions such as law and finance?  Well, one startup in Singapore is aiming to address that. It crafted a business language app to provide professionals with contents and tools to operate proficiently in Business Mandarin.  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Daphne Tay, CEO and Co-Founder of Bluente to find out more about Bluente’s value proposition, funding situation and expansion plans.

Stamps, parcels and postage fees - that’s right - we are putting the spotlight on the postal and parcel industry today.  In particular, we’re going to be looking at Singapore Post, which has seen a number of developments of late. The company is raising postage rates for postage, package delivery and doorstep parcel delivery this year as a result of the Goods and Services Tax hike as well as other inflationary cost increases.  On the investment front, SingPost will dilute and potentially sell its stake in Chinese e-commerce provider, Shenzhen 4PX Information and Technology,  Yet at the same time, the firm also expects to eventually acquire the whole of Freight Management Holdings, a leading 4th party logistics service company in Australia, to tap the fast growing market there.  What are the reasons behind the rebalancing of its portfolio and the adjustment of prices, and really, what’s next for SingPost?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s Finance Presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Lee Eng Keat, Head, Strategy & Programs Office at SingPost.

Ever wondered who are the ones keeping our work desks clean and tidy when we return to work on a Monday morning? Well, today we’re going to look at how facility management companies position themselves in a market that is set to reach around US$121 billion globally by 2030.  This is also an exciting time for the industry, as it tries to convince clients on the need to automate and reduce reliance on manual labour amid an ongoing manpower shortage.  But how successful are players in gaining industry buy-in, and what are facility management companies doing to move workers to higher value roles with automation? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian spoke with Gina Toh, CEO of ISS Facility Services, Singapore for more.

The online brokerage industry is at the heart of our discussion today.  The pandemic-induced retail trading frenzy has led to a boom in new online brokers in Singapore as more people put their dollars to work on digital platforms.  But with the country now back to Dorscon green, how would companies position themselves for the future? We’re going to speak with online trading platform moomoo to find out more about their future plans.  The company is apparently also serving financial institutions, and is the main placement agent for the IPO of the maker of the TraceTogether token. But why is it diversifying to serve institutional clients? How much money is in it for them to do so? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Gavin Chia, Singapore Managing Director at moomoo.

On that note, did you know that Singapore was the first country to approve the sale of cell-based meat in 2020, with the product coming from Good Meat? In fact, the world’s first commercial cultured meat production facility also started here in Singapore in 2021 when a local contract development and manufacturing organisation, Esco Aster, was given approval to produce the novel food.  The company is also a strategic partner for Eat Just and cultivated meat pioneer Mosa Meat. But hey - ever wondered how a white label manufacturer for cell-based meat operates?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Xiang Liang Lin, Founder and CEO of Esco Aster.

Supply chain snarls and high inflation have weighed on economies around the world for much of the past year, especially with China sticking to its strict zero-COVID strategy.  But how have things changed as China reopens for business in 2023 and the country puts the Lunar New Year holiday behind it? What are the key trends within the logistics and supply chain industry and how are players grappling with high inflation? Today we speak with the world’s largest contract logistics provider, GXO Logistics to find out how they view the supply chain landscape, as well as their business strategy ahead.  The company also recently held its Investor Day conference not too long ago, where it expects to triple its adjusted EBITDA or earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, between 2021 and 2027. But what will the company need to do to achieve this? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Mark Manduca, Chief Investment Officer at GXO for more. 

We’ll give you an inside look into a Swiss private bank founded in not 1996, but 1796!  With 358 billion Swiss Francs worth of total client assets, we’ll find out how Lombard Odier positions itself amid changing demands from private clients such as high net worth individuals.  Apparently private clients are getting increasingly worried about market volatility and the negative impact on portfolio performance amid rising inflation and a recession on the horizon. Lombard Odier spoke with over 450 high net worth individuals across Asia Pacific and over two thirds of high-net worth individuals in APAC have acted decisively to realign their portfolios. But what role do banks play in this regard? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian spoke with Stephane Monier, Chief Investment Officer at Lombard Odier for more. 

Coffee is on the agenda for us today, with Starbucks Corporation set to unveil its results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 today.  According to Yahoo Finance, analysts are expecting an 8.6% on-year improvement in revenue, amid accelerating same store sales and unit growth, as well as a margin explosion.  Aside from the sales figures, it is also an exciting time for Starbucks in the US, with changes to its rewards programme and more. But what is the situation like for operations in Singapore, which is owned by Hong Kong-based Maxim’s Caterers?  How will Starbucks Singapore navigate issues surrounding its relationship with its customers, workers, and fellow industry players? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Patrick Kwok, General Manager of Starbucks Singapore for more.

In our first episode of Under The Radar, we talk about REIT managers and what’s next as they put their FY 2022 earnings behind them. Our guest for today is from OUE Commercial Reit, which has a property portfolio  comprising approximately 2.2 million square feet of prime office and retail space, and 1,643 upper upscale hotel rooms in Singapore and Shanghai. The real estate investment trust company recently announced their earnings for FY 2022 earlier this week, where net property income increased some 8.6% on a yearly basis to S$103.3 million. And as the travel resumes and borders reopen, we want to find out what’s next for the company in 2023.  On Under The Radar, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Han Khim Siew, CEO of Commercial Reit for more.