Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Singapore HeritageFest (SHF) 2023 returns with its 20th edition in May, presenting two refreshing new themes namely, Singapore’s sporting heritage, and public transportation history.  Qazim Karim, Festival Programmer, Singapore HeritageFest shares more with us on what visitors can expect from SHF 2023. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has been challenging for many businesses, but as we move forward, data shows the franchise industry is thriving.  After two years of economic uncertainty, more and more people are following their entrepreneurial dreams and taking control of their destiny through business ownership.  Choosing a franchise brand helps to alleviate some of the fears and the unknowns of starting a new concept from scratch. Hsien Naidu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, TreeAMS shares more with us on the franchising landscape in Singapore. 

From UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing his first big electoral test as PM in local polls and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surprise visit to Finland for Nordic summit. Trisha Craig, Vice President (Engagement) and Senior Lecturer of Social Sciences (Sociology and Political Science), Yale-NUS College gives us an analysis of those headlines and more. 

With the earnings season in full swing in Singapore, we want to turn our attention to REITs, and in particular we want to zoom in on AIMS APAC REIT, which has just announced its FY2023 results today.  Listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange since 2007, Aims APAC Reit invests in a diversified portfolio of logistics, business parks and industrial real estate across APAC, including subsegments like warehouse and hi-tech space in Singapore and Australia.  The REIT reported a 5.1% year-on-year increase in distribution per unit in FY 2023, representing a distribution yield of 7.5%. Its net property income also surged 18.7% to S$122.5 million for the year, while portfolio occupancy stood at a record high of 98%, with a tenant retention rate of 78.4%.  AIMS APAC REIT says the numbers were driven by higher occupancy in the Logistics and Warehouse segment, which has seen double digit growth across the four quarters thanks to demand coming in from third party logistics players.  But for how long will the logistics and warehouse segments remain defensive, and how will leasing demand look like in FY2024? On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Russell Ng, Chief Executive Officer, AIMS APAC REIT for more.

There’s a new k-drama series, and it screams Korean Deadpool. It’s called “Stealer: The Treasure Keeper.” And it’s a new caper comic action drama in which a mysterious cultural asset thief named Skunk and an unofficial heritage redemption team known as Team Karma collaborate to fight against those who cannot be judged by the law. 

Erling Haaland has broken the Premier League record for goals in a season - notching his 35th goal in 34 games to go one clear of Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, whose 34-goal tallies had come in a 42-match campaign. So is Haaland the greatest goalscorer the league has seen? And will he lead Manchester City to total dominance? Got a story to tell? Get in touch with us! edanker@sph.com.sg raushan@sph.com.sg

Singapore shares dipped slightly in early trade today following confirmation of a 25 basis point Fed rate hike. In early trade, the Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.1 per cent, to 3,257.8 points after 55.3 million securities were traded in the broader market.  In terms of companies to watch, we have  Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, after its manager announced a distribution per unit of S$0.0352 (3.52 Singapore cents) for the first half of FY2023, representing an 8.6 per cent year-on-year decline.  Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve soured the mood on Wall Street in the previous session by raising rates. Also weighing on investors are fears that US officials may fail to reach a deal on raising the US debt ceiling, triggering a damaging default as early as next month.  On Market View, the Drive Time team dived into the details with Terence Wong, CEO, Azure Capital.

Our next guest, sustainable packaging firm TRIA (pron as it is) together with KFC Singapore, has launched the world’s first closed-loop single-use packaging solution through a pilot programme in September last year. And their initiative aims to catalyse circularity in the F&B industry. But what goes behind the scenes when producing a sustainable food packaging product? Lin Qing Yao, Senior Operations Manager, TRIA shares more with us.

Supercars are on our agenda today, and this time, we want to talk about luxury car brand Lamborghini and its new hybrid model, the Revuelto. Priced at around US$600,000, the Revuelto is Lamborghini’s first ever plug-in hybrid.  The model, which was launched just back in March, already has a waiting list and two years worth of orders by mid-April, signalling the strength of the wealthy consumer amid a global economic slowdown.  But what will the rollout of the model look like with production scheduled to start in the second half of this year and delivery to the US to begin in the fourth quarter? Meanwhile, Automobili Lamborghini also reported a record breaking year for 2022. The company saw its best sales figure and delivered 9,233 cars worldwide - a 10 per cent increase over the previous year.  To what extent was this contributed by Asia and to what extent is the Chinese market a wild card?  On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Francesco Scardaoni, Region Director for Automobili Lamborghini Asia Pacific. 

He is a man with many talents - a man with many hats. He’s a multinational businessman & CEO Influencer, venture capitalist, lawyer, and a K-Pop artist. He’s David Yong.  And he has just released his newest Single - “Maybe Love” - and this is a collaboration with Moonbyul from MAMAMOO.  On K-influencers today, David Yong joins Hongbin Jeong to dive in further about his journey as a K-pop star, working in the Kpop industry as well as working with Moonbyul for his latest single.