Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Singapore’s recent budget announcement has placed the ageing society in Singapore as a key priority.  And this means that the entire care ecosystem in Singapore must play its part in enhancing the accessibility and affordability of treatments, to ensure the elderly and their caregivers fulfil the promises of the Budget 2024. Raman Singh, CEO, Juniper Biologics shares how his company is looking a making quality therapy accessible to our silver generation. 

From the Chinese embassy urging its citizens in Singapore to ‘stay away’ from gambling to the US House of Representatives approving a bill that could force the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance to divest from the company.  Dr. Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow, Singapore Institute of International Affairs gives us an analysis of those headlines and more. 

Manchester United kept their trophy hopes alive for this season and ended Liverpool's quest for four trophies with a dramatic extra-time victory in an FA Cup quarter-final. Amad Diallo was the match-winner right at the death, completing a memorable comeback to set up a semi-final clash against Coventry City. So did Manchester United win it, or did Liverpool lose it? We discuss! Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

Selling your entire business is different from selling your shares. When you sell your business, the business’ existing assets and liabilities are taken over by the buyer and this is unlike a share sale where, save for the change of shareholder, there is no change in the owner of the business’ assets. Our next guest sold his marketing and strategy business, he was thrilled with that until he found out the buyer would have paid 300 percent more. Rob Follows, Founder and Chairman, STS Capital Partners shares his experience selling his business and how he is helping his clients in doing so now.

Singapore stocks opened relatively unchanged this morning after data from Enterprise Singapore showed that the country’s non-oil domestic exports fell 0.1 per cent year-on-year in February, weighed down by a decrease in the non-electronics sector. This represented a reversal from the previous month’s 16.7 per cent expansion and missed the 4.7 per cent median growth forecast by private-sector economists. In terms of companies to watch, we have Sats, after the company said it has sold its ground handler unit Maytag Aircraft for an enterprise value of US$46 million.  Elsewhere, from more on UOL Group and Singapore Land Group to some 90 per cent of Bank of Japan watchers seeing the risk of authorities ending negative rates tomorrow, more corporate and international headlines are 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.

Curious about where branding trends are headed in 2024? Branding trends are constantly evolving alongside trends in fashion, interior design, pop culture, and general consumer taste. Knowing these trends gives a company the upper hand in communicating their products and services to the right customers. So wil we be seeing a shift towards authentic, no-nonsense branding and a heavy emphasis on an emotional connection to people in 2024? David Haigh, Chairman & CEO, Brand Finance shares his views.  

We’ve talked in depth about semiconductor makers on the show, and today we want to go one step further to look at the largest manufacturers of semiconductor equipment in the US.  With an annual revenue of US$26.52 billion, our guest Applied Materials is a leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world.  The chipmaking tool giant counts tech titans Intel and Samsung among its customers. It had in February reported first quarter revenue of US$6.71 billion, beating estimates, with China’s sales of US$3 billion accounting for 45 per cent of total revenue, up from 17 per cent seen a year ago.  But how does the firm assess the wider business environment given increasing US-China tensions and US curbs to export chipmaking equipment to China, and the increased adoption of innovative solutions like chiplets?  Meanwhile, Applied Materials had in 2022 announced that it is building a S$600 million plant here to expand its manufacturing and research operations with plans to further expand in the city state before the end of the decade. But what was the rationale behind the move? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Brian Tan, Regional President, Southeast Asia and Vice President, Applied Global Services, Applied Materials.

The US House of Representatives passed a Bill on March 13 that would give TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets of the short-video app used by about 170 million Americans or face a ban. What will happen to TikTok if the US bans the app? Who will be the potential buyers  lining up to take over the social media company? Could the ban fuel Meta's advertising dominance, and how will Google and YouTube also stand to benefit? Pushan Dutt, Professor of Economics, INSEADweighs in.

England take on Brazil and Belgium at Wembley this month in the last fixtures before manager Gareth Southgate names his squad for Euro 2024. With some eye-catching inclusions and omissions, we assess the Three Lion's chances ahead of the showpiece event happening in June. Is this Southgate's final chance..especially with one Jose Mourinho lurking? Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg | raushan@sph.com.sg

Bacardi Limited has recently released its fifth annual Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report, anticipating the key trends that will redefine cocktail culture and the spirits business in 2024.   And for the first time, Singapore was one of the key countries surveyed to create the report, alongside global cocktail giants such as the US, UK and Tokyo.  Does this mean Singapore has made it in the world’s cocktail scene? How high is Singapore's barometer when it comes to cocktail trends? Jacob Briars, Global Advocacy Director, Bacardi, shares with us more findings from this study and where Singapore stands in the world's cocktail scene.