Globe is now the largest telecommunications company in the Philippines in terms of market capitalization. Globe, with trading symbol GLO at the Philippine Stock Exchange, now has a market value of over P363 billion as of end-August trade.
Globe’s high market capitalization shows investors’ confidence in the company’s prospects, including its strategy to invest and diversify into adjacent sectors.
Once a telco business only, the Globe Group of Companies has expanded into various digital solutions businesses, leveraging its substantial customer base, distribution capabilities, deep market knowledge, and synergies with its strategic partners.
Globe has successfully transformed its telco business into a technology-based solutions provider with a footprint in fintech, healthcare, entertainment, adtech, e-commerce, manpower, IT services, and venture capital.
Likewise, Globe’s dividend payments are consistent, given its healthy operating results and cash flows. The company returns to its shareholders dividends equivalent to 60%-75% of its prior year’s core net income. Service revenue was at P37.6 billion in the second quarter, while EBITDA was at P19.1 billion. Net income and Core net income for the April to June period came in at P5.7 billion and P5.8 billion, respectively.
“Over the years, Globe has shown remarkable growth as a result of its exemplary performance and sound management decisions. This, in turn, earned the trust of our stakeholders whose support allows us to continuously expand our businesses, offer quality products and services, and reach more customers,” said Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO.
To further secure its position as an industry leader, Globe continues to look for new ventures that are ready to scale. Its wholly owned corporate incubator company 917Ventures is expanding aggressively into new areas that would address various consumer pain points.
Its recent success with the GCash e-wallet service is proof that gains from diversification can manifold at the right time.
Thus, beyond serving the communications and connectivity requirements of its over 85 million mobile and broadband customers, Globe’s digital solutions are enabling a robust digital ecosystem for the Filipino.
Affiliates and subsidiaries of Globe include Kickstart Ventures, Asticom Technology, Yondu, and 917Ventures which operates Mynt, KonsultaMD, HealthNow, AdSpark among others. Its other notable brands include Globe Studios, Globe Live, GOMO and TM.
It is understood that the “ApeAvatar” event comprises two major sections – charity avatar claiming and the sale of select mystery boxes.
APENFT will create well-designed cyberpunk-style NFT avatars of 50 global influential people, including Justin Sun (founder of TRON) and Changpeng Zhao (founder and CEO of Binance), for them to claim. For each of the avatars claimed, APENFT will donate $5,000 to international philanthropic organizations such as One Tree Planted and Koala Clancy Foundation, in support of their tree planting projects.
In addition to the novel “celebrity + charity” activity, a select series of mystery boxes in a similar style to the celebrity avatars will also be launched at the event. This series features the classical Mona Lisa and David of Michelangelo, with each image composed of three independent parts – body, clothing, and colors – to endow the NFTs with uniqueness.
Earlier in June, APENFT joined hands with Binance and TRON and hosted the first auction on Binance NFT, which was titled Genesis. At the exclusive auction, the NFT version of Three Self-Portraits by Andy Warhol, a household pop artist, was sold for a spectacular $2.8 million. A total of 100 NFT artworks from the three series derived from Three Self-Portraits were sold out on Binance NFT as well. The auction concluded with record success on all fronts, including the quality and quantity of auction items and the closed deals.
APENFT and Binance are working together again to launch the ApeAvatar event, drawing on the clout of KOLs on social networks for charity auctions and leveraging the blockchain technology and NFT to boost support for philanthropic activities. This event showcases the potential in NFT, as well as the commitment of APENFT and Binance to the NFT field.
APENFT is backed by the underlying technology of top-notch blockchains Ethereum and TRON with support from the world’s largest distributed storage system BitTorrent to deliver the mission of registering world-class artworks as NFTs on the blockchain. The foundation owns a collection of works by famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and crypto artists Beeple and Pak, with a total value of more than $30 million.
Embodying the combination of “art + technology”, ApeAvatar guides people to co-build the Metaverse and to create a new era of digitalization, during which APENFT and Binance NFT will serve as a bridge for this great migration while fulfilling their own missions.
Under the theme “Driving Growth through Fostering Regional and International Trade”, the sixth Belt and Road Summit brought together more than 17,000 participants from about 80 countries and regions.Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), spoke at a session titled “Belt and Road and RCEP: Enhancing Regional Business Connectivity”.Teresa Cheng, Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR, highlighted the “incredible opportunities” afforded to Hong Kong’s legal sector by the 14th Five-Year Plan and Greater Bay Area Outline Development Plan.
Under the theme “Driving Growth through Fostering Regional and International Trade”, the two-day summit featured more than 80 government and business leaders from countries and regions along the Belt and Road, along with investors from Mainland China, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as project owners and professional investment advisers. They all came together to discuss the latest developments driven by the Belt and Road Initiative.
Investment projects drive geographical connections
Holding the conference virtually presented no barrier to meaningful exchanges among participants. In addition to various breakout discussion sessions, the 2021 summit featured one-to-one business matching meetings and project pitching sessions that proved popular among both project owners and participants. The summit received over 260 investment projects from 42 countries and regions along the Belt and Road and beyond, including the Greater Bay Area, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Italy, Egypt, UAE, Djibouti and others, focusing on four major areas – (1) energy, natural resources and public utilities; (2) innovation and technology; (3) urban development; and (4) transport and logistics infrastructure.
Belt and Road and RCEP foster global growth
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has become a key milestone in regional cooperation, developing significant synergies with the Belt and Road Initiative. In a plenary session titled “Belt and Road and RCEP: Enhancing Regional Business Connectivity”, Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, remarked that Hong Kong’s strategic location makes the city a gateway for trade, investment and business between Mainland China and other RCEP economies, particularly countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “Hong Kong’s trade in goods with the 15 RCEP economies last year totalled US$772 billion, accounting for about 73% of our total merchandise trade. In 2019, our trade in services with the RCEP was worth US$103 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of our services trade. China’s 14th Five-Year plan supports Hong Kong’s status as an international financial, transport and trade centre, and it encourages our continuing cooperation and exchanges with countries and regions around the world,” Mr Chan said.
Huang Zhaohui, CEO and Chairman of the Management Committee, China International Capital Corporation (CICC), stated that the RCEP covered about one-third of the world’s total population and accounted for one-third of global GDP, making it the world’s largest free trade agreement. He believes the RCEP will bring great benefits to regional trade and investment. “The RCEP will deepen trade and economic connections between leading countries in the region through tariff reductions. We expect that China-Japan trade tariffs will be significantly reduced while China and Korea will further promote trade facilitation in key areas. This in turn will effectively increase the volume of trade between member countries and enhance regional economic vitality and competitiveness. At CICC we have decided to increase our overseas deployment, especially in Belt and Road countries. We are looking forward to long-term investment, leveraging our financial capabilities to assist the economic and capital market development of these countries.”
Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR, added that Hong Kong has been striving to expand its economic and trade network worldwide through regional cooperation. “While we are seeing some backpedalling in certain areas of the global economy, there are sufficient incentives and also momentum to move towards to more regional cooperation. Hong Kong stands ready, as always, to be the platform and also the conduit for freer trade, not just in our part of the region, but also in the wider sense of the global economy.”
Opportunities abound in Greater Bay Area
The 14th Five-Year Plan highlighted how the development of the Greater Bay Area will lead to boundless opportunities. This year’s summit included the new GBA Track thematic series that featured plenary and panel discussion sessions, thematic breakout sessions and a virtual exhibition, covering a wide range of topics, including capital raising, green finance, digital technology applications and start-ups. Sun Yu, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive, Bank of China (Hong Kong) noted, “Infrastructure construction is the key to success of the Belt and Road Initiative, as infrastructure construction has a strong correlation with GDP growth. The tremendous demand for infrastructure investments along the Belt and Road has presented new business opportunities for commercial banks. Hong Kong commercial banks can take up the role as the project financing advisor and solutions provider. Through collaboration with policy banks, insurance companies, law firms and business consultants, they can build a financial services ecosystem, and make good use of market-oriented mechanism to provide systematic, diversified and innovative solutions, as well as financing support for suitable infrastructure projects.”
Teresa Cheng, Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR, delivered a welcome speech in a session titled “Fostering Trade and Resolving Disputes in the Post-COVID Era – Hong Kong’s Legal and Dispute Resolution Services”. She mentioned the business opportunities and unique advantages of Hong Kong under “one country, two systems”, explaining that the 14th Five-Year Plan and Greater Bay Area Outline Development Plan explicitly support Hong Kong as the centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. “These two national policies have afforded incredible opportunities to the legal sector and therefore the businesses that utilise our legal and dispute resolution services,” she said.
China International Capital Corporation Ltd serves as the Strategic Partner of the sixth Belt and Road Summit; Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd as the Regional Banking Partner; China Merchants Group as the Sapphire Sponsor; China Taiping Insurance Group as the Affiliated Insurance Partner; and China Mobile International Limited as the Platinum Sponsor.
About HKTDC
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong’s trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn
State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is urging pensioners to do their transactions online such as compliance with the online Annual Pensioners Information Revalidation (APIR) and loan applications to protect them from COVID-19 infection.
“Kaligtasan, kalusugan, at kaginhawaan ng aming pensioners ang priority ng GSIS lalo na ngayong may pandemya. Since last year, we have put in place online methods of transacting with us so that our pensioners need not leave their homes and do it any time, any day,” GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet announced.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) also issued Resolution No. 100 directing “pension-issuing agencies to adopt alternative modes of validation for senior citizen pensioners in lieu of personal appearances or submission of documents” starting March 1 especially with the various COVID-19 variants’ entry into the country.
GSIS pensioners must renew their active status by complying with APIR on their birth month to ensure the continuous receipt of their pension and if applicable, the grant of milestone benefits and their availment of the Enhanced Pension Loan. Through APIR, only qualified pensioners are paid the monthly pension, safeguarding the viability of the fund in the process.
“Magpadala lang po kayo ng text o email request sa inyong GSIS handling branch para sa online APIR schedule kung nasa Pilipinas kayo. Para sa mga nasa abroad, magpadala ng request sa email address na pensionglobal@gsis.gov.ph o sa GSIS Skype Appointment System na nasa aming website,” explained PGM Macasaet in lieu of personally going to any GSIS office or using the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GWAPS) kiosk.
Those who were previously being home-visited yearly due to advanced age (80 years old and above), sickness, disability, or other health issues affecting their mobility must now request their online APIR schedule through email or text to eliminate the risk for both GSIS pensioners and employees.
The ASEAN Member States are working to address their needs and gaps in funding biodiversity conservation activities in protected areas. Several sustainable mechanisms, such as carbon financing and payment for ecosystem services have been identified to bridge these gaps.
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim said that although funding remains a challenge, sustainable finance mechanisms to address protected area needs are within the reach of the ASEAN region.
“While much progress has been achieved in addressing the challenges in funding protected areas in the ASEAN, the work ahead may require us to establish means to incorporate biodiversity considerations into the overall budgetary systems,” said Dr. Lim in her opening remarks at the third session of the webinar series on sustainable financing for ASEAN Heritage Parks last week.
The webinar series is being organised by the ACB in cooperation with the European Union, German Development Bank (KfW), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the Biodiversity Conservation and Management of Protected Areas in ASEAN (BCAMP) Project, Small Grants Programme (SGP), and the Institutional Strengthening of Biodiversity Sector in the ASEAN II (ISB II) Project, respectively.
Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) Assistant Director Amelita Ortiz of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines shared that the realignment of domestic and subnational government budgets to the pandemic response and reduced revenues from tourism and other activities in the protected areas have made the sustainable financing of protected areas even more challenging.
“We need to shift our paradigm to focus not only on how much and where the money comes from but on creating more inclusive and enabling financing conditions,” Ortiz said.
The Asia-Pacific Housing Forum‘s Innovation Awards recognize and celebrate innovators and disruptors in the affordable housing sector. Startup and scaleup companies, policymakers and advocates, architects and engineers are invited to submit sustainable and practical solutions for affordable housing.
“The Asia-Pacific region faces complex housing challenges, compounded by rapid urbanization, natural and human-made disasters, the negative effects of climate change, and persistent poverty and inequality,” said Luis Noda, Asia-Pacific vice president of Habitat for Humanity. “We need everyone working together and every possible creative solution that is locally adapted to address the housing deficit.”
“The recognition allowed us to expand our circle of influence, created more awareness about our advocacy in the community and open more opportunities to help others,” said Paulette Liu, president of SKILLS and a 2019 Innovation Awards winner.
The Innovation Awards (visit aphousingforum.org/innovation-awards) underscores the importance of strategic collaboration, specifically by multiple sector partnerships that foster innovations. The Awards are organized by Habitat for Humanity in collaboration with the Hilti Foundation, Whirlpool and the European Union-funded SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility.
There are three award categories: ShelterTech, Public Policies, and Inspirational Practices. The ShelterTech category seeks technology innovations (product & services) led by the private sector; while the Policies category promotes innovative public policies across all government levels to help reduce the housing deficit while taking into consideration specific needs of minorities, vulnerable and marginalized populations. The third category recognizes practices from public or public-private partnerships that contribute to improved communities and settlements and increased access to affordable housing for the most disadvantaged segments of society.
A special Sustainability Award, sponsored by the SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility, will be given to the innovator who will score highest in showcasing scalable solutions for sustainable housing, regardless of the category. The EU and its SWITCH-Asia Programme recognize the critical importance of the housing sector to sustainable consumption and production, and promote sustainable housing and buildings as part of their support for green, circular economies in its 24 target countries in Asia.
“For Asian countries to achieve more sustainable consumption and production in the housing and building sector, it is vital that we heed diverse experiences and adapt these to local realities. The SCP Award will showcase one solution that is particularly inspiring, and we are looking forward to supporting its winner in connecting with EU SWITCH-Asia stakeholders,” said Zaida Fadeeva, Team Leader of the SCP Facility.
The top 12 finalists will get to present their ideas in front of a jury panel and the public during the virtual Innovation Awards Grand Premiere on December 1. Winners will be announced on December 8, 2021 during the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum. Each winner will receive a trophy and a US$ 5,000 cash prize. Deadline for submission is September 12, 2021.
The Forum, with the theme “Building forward better for inclusive housing,” includes program tracks on resilient cities and communities, innovative housing solutions and technologies, sustainability in the housing sector, and financing affordable housing. It includes a training course on land tenure and markets and a youth congress that will highlight the need for decent, affordable housing and the ways in which the youth can contribute to addressing the housing challenge.
Register for complimentary access to the fully virtual Asia-Pacific Housing Forum at aphousingforum.org.
About Habitat for Humanity
Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort and has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 70 countries. In the Asia Pacific region since 1983, Habitat for Humanity has supported millions of people to build or improve a place they can call home. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. To learn more, donate or volunteer, visit habitat.org/asiapacific
About EU SWITCH-Asia Programme
Launched in 2007, the SWITCH-Asia programme is the largest European Union-funded programme promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) supporting 24 countries in Asia and Central Asia. The programme has funded around 130 projects, supporting over 500 Asian and European non-for-profit partners, about 100 private sector associations and 80.000 Asian MSMEs. The SCP Facility, one of SWITCH-Asia Components, aims at strengthening the implementation of SCP policies at the national level, facilitating the coordination of all components of the programme through information sharing. In addition, it carries out analyses on the results of the pilot projects and supports dialogue with stakeholders.
The EU and its SWITCH-Asia programme have recognised the critical importance of the housing sector to sustainable consumption and production or SCP, and the construction, housing and buildings cluster is a major pillar of EU policy and SWITCH-Asia activities. It is highlighted as part of the green transition in the flagship EU Green Deal (2019) and the Circular Economy Action Plan (2020). To stimulate further green innovations, the EU has also put forward legislation including its Construction Products Regulation. As the housing and building stock in Europe is not expected to grow as dynamically as in Asia, one of the focus areas for the EU is the renovation of existing buildings for increased energy efficiency, through its “Renovation Wave” strategy (2020), which prioritises social housing. In the SWITCH-Asia programme, several national assignments focus on implementing SCP principles in the buildings sector, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan.
Media contact:
Maetavarin Maneekulpan
+66-2260-5820 mae@tqpr.com
More than 800 businesses have already signed on to use Bussr’s platform, 100 of which, amounting to US$150 million in annual sales, will go live in 2021.
Bussr believes that every trip and transaction should empower people to move and connect, with the smallest carbon footprint possible. Every Bussr trip considers distance and environmental impact as well as the ability to reduce urban congestion.
Bussr is also in the advanced discussion stage with the Indonesian Government to digitize the metro transit ecosystem, with an expected 10 million daily users.
Bussr’s innovative offerings extend to disrupting the last-mile logistics space; delivery brands and retailers will have a simple, automated way of integrating and adding the most relevant payment options to their business model, delighting their customers with affordable same-day delivery.
The mobility sector is an immense $2 trillion market that still relies on paper cash, fax machines, and manila envelopes. By 2050, the global population is projected to increase to around 9.8 billion, with more than twice as many people living in urban areas than in rural settings. The need for innovation in the mobility and logistics payments sector is clear.
“We are tackling a massive $2 trillion market, developing modern software for an industry that still relies on woefully outmoded paper-based systems. We bring security, efficiency, and joy to a paper-based pillar of the global market economy. We want to empower mobility and logistics partners with the right tools for their users. Mobility providers will be able to offer seamless payment options across the entire mobility ecosystem,” said Hussein, CEO of Bussr.
Bussr’s payment solutions platform allows mobility businesses of all types to have bespoke booking and ticketing solutions for their respective markets. For operators, brands, and retailers, getting onboard with Bussr is a near-effortless three-step process:
1. Get your branded mobile app and website
2. Add your product with prices and descriptions
3. Choose your payment options and start selling
The overarching theme of efficiency runs deeper — Bussr understands that its responsibilities will ultimately impact people and the planet alike. This means that every trip and transaction should empower people to move and connect, all the while with the smallest carbon footprint possible. Every trip considers distance and environmental impact as well as its ability to reduce urban congestion.
With the complex goal of changing the way people connect across cities and countries, Bussr benefits from its strong leadership trio: tech entrepreneur Hussein Abdelkarim, former Rocket Internet founder and CEO, I.M. Shousha, veteran technology consultant and co-founder, and Ajay Bhandari, former Microsoft Chief Architect, CTO, and co-founder.
It’s no surprise that Bussr promises an exciting ride ahead for all on board. To learn more about Bussr, and its goal to digitize mobility and connect the world, join the dialogue at www.bussr.com.
W.Media will be hosting our final round of regional technology summits across Asia Pacific in tandem with the 2021 W.Media Cloud & Datacenter Awards. Join globally-recognised experts and industry professionals in celebrating their outstanding technological achievements over the past year.
Attendees will get to network with hundreds of industry peers online, as well as be part of an array of keynote presentations, panel discussions, and LIVE Q&A sessions. W.Media will be joined by speakers from Huawei, PwC, Panasonic, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers, and many more to share their insights on the latest market trends, challenges, and opportunities in Southeast Asia.
This October, the Summit will be focusing on developments in 3 key markets: Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. The event details are:
Southeast Asia Awards Digital Summit 2021
Singapore | Indonesia | Thailand
Date: Thursday, 14th October 2021
Time: 9:25AM – 12:00PM (GMT+8)
Registration: https://w.media/sea-awards-summit-2021-day-2/
Registrations are now open! Sign up for exclusive access to the insights and discussions shaping the future of Southeast Asia’s digital economy.
There are many ways to get involved with the W.Media Awards season–from nominations to digital summits to the end-of-year galas. Participation and Sponsorship slots available for each stage of the Awards season from now till December 2021.
W.Media is a global B2B technology marketing agency specialising in PR, Media, and Events. It is the anchor of the cloud, datacenter and cybersecurity communities in Asia Pacific, combining market knowledge and network to uplift brands via targeted communication. W.Media educates both industry stakeholders and the public on the latest developments in these industries through personalized engagement with the marketplace.
From its founding in 2018, W.Media began organising Cloud & Datacenter Conventions throughout the APAC region, in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea. In 2020, W.Media complemented its in-person events offerings by launching a series of webinars to connect top industry professionals in the three pillars driving tech today: Cloud, Cybersecurity, and Datacenters.
Beyond events, W.Media works closely with its clients to curate effective content marketing, editorial coverage, and digital advertising campaigns. This expertise and expansive regional network make W.Media a key player in Asia’s Cloud and Datacenter market.
The Executive Centre (TEC) and Standard Chartered Bank found that successful strategies for implementing flexible work practices boiled down to physical, digital and social transformation
The office of the future must be an inspiring physical space that facilitates communication, cooperation and collaboration in order to encourage employees to come into the office, according to the latest case study by The Executive Centre (TEC), the leading premium flexible workspace and Standard Chartered Bank.
Sheridan Perkins, Property Program Director of Future Workplace, Now at Standard Chartered Bank said, “Initially, we assumed maybe 50% of our employees wanted Flex, but actually from our survey we found that over 75% wanted it. Typically, this was 2-3 days at home and 2-3 days at the office or a third space. Despite some regional nuances, this finding was reasonably consistent across all regions.”
The case study reviews the learnings from Standard Chartered Bank’s exercise and provides a roadmap for other organisations that realise the value of flexibility but find it challenging to create an architecture to empower change.
One of the key learnings is that for companies to successfully transition towards flexible working practices, they need to understand their business requirements and priorities first, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. They must also interview and collaborate with their employees extensively, conduct research to make informed decisions, seek external consultations from multiple industry partners, and understand where their operations need to be geographically and how the occupants will use that space. While the company approach must be tailored, there were three factors that all companies should consider in their workplace strategy: Physical, Digital and Social.
— Physical transformation: As people will be coming into the workplace to perform activities that they cannot do at home, office design will become one that facilitates communication, cooperation and collaboration.
— Digital transformation: With an increasing demand to work flexibly and remotely, technology and digitalisation of workflows will play a pivotal role in enabling day to day productivity.
— Social transformation: As the office will become a place where employees choose to work from, greater incentives will be needed to attract people into the office.
For its Greater Bay Area location, Standard Chartered Bank realised it required private office spaces and
meeting rooms in a CBD location which would allow for multiple business units to operate, and a flexibility to scale up or down as their business needs changed. The Executive Centre’s flexible workspace solution gave them the ability to mitigate their risks and reduce costs while remaining in the heart of Guangzhou’s central business district.
“As a solution, flexible workspaces provide ready to use, fully furnished and serviced workspaces for the headcount that’s needed at hand. This ability to scale up or down or move locations at relatively short notice is a highly intelligent way for companies to address their workspace requirements,” said Paul Salnikow, Founder & CEO of The Executive Centre.
Shelley Boland, Head of Property Asia Pacific, Standard Chartered Bank added, “The talent of the future are expecting flex; whether that’s flexible work hours or locations. Successful adopters of flex will be those that have the foresight to model and visualise how workplace changes may affect business outcomes, operations and employees, and be agile enough to constantly evolve their workspace to those needs. We see flexible office spaces playing a greater role in that strategy.”
See the full case study from the below link for more insights and best practices from Standard Chartered Bank and The Executive Centre’s Future of Work collaboration.
About The Executive Centre
The Executive Centre (TEC) opened its doors in Hong Kong in 1994 and today boasts over 150+ centres in 32 cities and 14 markets. It is the third largest serviced office business in Asia with annual turnover in excess of US$237 million.
The Executive Centre caters to ambitious professionals and industry leaders looking for more than just an office space – they are looking for a place for their organisation to thrive. TEC has cultivated an environment designed for success with a global network spanning Greater China, Southeast Asia, North Asia, India, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, and Australia, with sights to go further and grow faster. Each Executive Centre offers a prestigious address with the advanced infrastructure to pre-empt, meet, and exceed the needs of its Members. Walking with Members through every milestone and achievement, The Executive Centre empowers ambitious professionals and organisations to succeed.
Privately owned and headquartered in Hong Kong, TEC provides first class Private and Shared Workspaces, Business Concierge Services, and Meeting & Conference facilities to suit any business’ needs.
Citi views Yeahka’s strategy stable fee rate and revenue sharing trend to boost merchants base “as largely in line with overall industry outlook”, and believes “that continued investment to acquire traffic and investment in business (such as in-store ecommerce services) will make more meaningful contribution in the longer term leveraging Yeahka’s solid execution”.
A CLSA report expects Yeahka’s GPV continues to increase, while the technology-enabled business achieving fast growth. “The company also started to provide in-store e-commerce services in Dec 2020, business that is upgraded from marketing services, to provide closer connection between merchants and consumers, and to create direct sales growth for merchants. Revenue was Rmb44.9m in 1H21, with the number of paid consumers more than 1.42m and GMV exceeded Rmb71.0m,” the report noted. It expects the new business to “serve as a new engine for growth”.
Guosheng Securities expects Yeahka’s annual revenues from precision marketing, merchants SaaS product, and in-store ecommerce service to reach 2.8 billion, 4.2 billion and 7.2 billion RMB in the next three years, while net profit attributable to parent company reaching 476 million, 517 million and 1.039 billion RMB. This estimation, based on Yeahka’s closing price of 27 HKD on Aug 25, gives the company PE ratio from 2021-2023 at 39, 36, and 18 times.
Guosheng sees the company benefit from acquisition of Chuangzinzhong, and efforts in online advertising service, as both agent and producer. With access to media platforms including TikTok, Toutiao, and Kuaishou, the services will promise more users to Yeahka’s marketing service.
Guosheng also sees Juhuisaosao, Yuehuiquan and Haoshengyi, of Fushi, as gateways for Yeakha to introduce its other products. That will help boost the company’s merchant SaaS users, as well as bringing high rise to ARPU.
“We stay confident with the long-term prospect of the company’s payment and technology-enabled business services,” Zhongtai International holds a similar view, noting Yeahka’s businesses are closely inter-connected.
Yeahka would first boost its merchant base through payment services. As more transactions happen, Yeahka would then get deeper understanding of merchants’ activities, and, through this process, accumulate a massive data of user trend. Based on data analyses, it would then offer different VAS to make monetization possible, and further expanding its business to achieve continued growth, Zhongtai further elaborates.
