The Evening Runway with Elliott Danker, Timothy Go and Chua Tian Tian

There is no better time to shop in a year with the upcoming year-end sales fast approaching. Shopping has become increasingly convenient and exciting with the rise of e-commerce and alluring sales, both offline and online. In tandem with this evolving retail landscape, how can retailers meet consumer demands and maximize profitability?  George Pepes, APAC Vertical Solutions Lead, Healthcare and Retail, Zebra Technologies explains the approaches retailers must take to satisfy shoppers’ needs for this upcoming holiday season as well as the key ingredients needed to successfully operate a modern store.

Singapore stocks were pulled into positive territory at the open after stocks on Wall Street and Europe closed the previous week higher. In early trade, the Straits Times Index headed up 0.2 per cent after 64.8 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch for today, we have Singtel. The telecommunications provider has secured its first green loan, amounting to S$535 million over a five-year tenure, from Singapore’s trio of local banks and Standard Chartered.  Elsewhere from Singapore getting ready to list active exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to China Evergrande granted an adjournment of a court hearing, more local and international headlines remain in focus. On Market View, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments with David Kuo, Co-founder, The Smart Investor.

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.

Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser died on November 29 at the age of 100. While he was an influential member of the US government under two Presidents, Kissinger was also seen as a controversial figure in global politics. In fact, his legacy in Asia has been much debated.  How will Henry Kissinger be remembered in Southeast Asia? And what impact will he have on world politics for decades to come? Pushan Dutt, Professor of Economics, INSEAD explains. 

Did you know Singaporeans generated more than 740 million kilograms of food waste in 2019? That’s equivalent to the weight of 51,000 double-decker buses! With more than 20% of people in Singapore still facing food insecurity issues, how can we change the conversation surrounding food to reduce waste? Nicol Ng, CEO, X-Inc & Founder, The Foodbank Singapore and YPO member shares how her organization is looking to play a bigger role in the reduction of food wastage and food insecurity. 

Singapore stocks were pulled into positive territory today after stock markets in the US and Europe ended mostly higher overnight. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent after 54.7 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch today, we have IHH Healthcare. The mainboard-listed company reported earnings of RM532.1 million (S$152.7 million) for its third fiscal quarter ended September. That’s more than double the earnings in the corresponding year-ago period. Meanwhile from CapitaLand Ascott Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Golden Agri-Resources, Keppel DC Reit and Suntec Reit added to the STI reserve list, to more on Sheng Siong and Cordlife Group, more local headlines remain in focus. On Market View, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian unpacked the developments withSunny Soh, Lead Technical Analyst (Capital Markets & Investor Education), SIAS.

In this digital age, people are heavily reliant on online payments and new payment technologies for transactions. Keeping up with the trend, fraudsters are continuously finding creative ways to perpetuate their scams.  What role can data analytics plays in financial fraud detection, and what are the best strategies that regulators can implement to prevent financial crimes? Ian Holmes, Global Lead for Enterprise Fraud Solutions, Director at SAS explains. 

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) advance report of how Singapore’s labour market fared in the whole of 2023, with high inflation this year eating into the spending power of Singapore residents, the real incomes for workers at the 20th percentile fell by 3 percent compared with the same period last year, while that for median workers dipped by 2.3 percent, even as nominal wages grew. Rahul Chawla, Partner and Head of Talent Solutions for Southeast Asia, Aon discusses with the report with us and the reason why employers are not keeping up pace with the rate of inflation. 

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.

Singapore stocks opened weaker today, following heavy losses of the top-traded counter. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.2 per cent to 3,078.74 points after 45.7 million securities changed hands in the broader market. In terms of companies to watch, we have Manulife US Reit. Units fell as much as 27.5% after the counter resumed trading today.  Its manager had earlier revealed plans to raise funds through a mix of asset dispositions and a sponsor-lender loan to remedy its financial covenant breach.  Elsewhere from Japan’s Nikkei rallying to log its best month in two years to Microsoft taking a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI’s board, more international headlines remain in focus.  On Market View, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian dived into the details with David Chow, Director, Azure Capital.