The fuel marking system to be implemented early next year in the Philippines as part of the first tax reform package will generate 20 billion peso in additional revenue for the government as it is seen substantially curbing oil smuggling, according to officials of the Department of Finance.

Commissioner Isidro S Lapea told reporters recently the DOF-attached Bureau of Customs had created a technical working group on fuel marking as a means to collect the correct taxes from oil companies.

“We want to realise that as soon as possible but we are still firming up its mechanics, especially how to get the service provider. It could be auctioned off, it could be build-operate-transfer, or it could just be the service of maintaining the markers and then the BOC would just collect from those discovered not paying the correct tariff,” he said.

“Right now, we are thinking of a system similar to the cigarette tax stamps, although stamps are physical while this is chemical. For stamps, it’s a pass-on charge we collect from manufacturers. Here, we are working on a mechanism wherein the government will procure the fuel market and sell to oil firms,” Finance Assistant Secretary Mark Dennis Joven said.

Joven said the DOF plans to request 2 billion peso under a supplemental budget allocation next year for the rollout of the fuel marking scheme.

“We have the money for it; right now, we have the funds,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the private sector would still have to shell out nine centavos per liter for fuel marking fee. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

National Startup Summit aims to attract 5,000

Organisers of the National Startup Summit 2017 aim to attract 5,000 participants nationwide to the event scheduled to be held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD in South Tangerang, Banten from December 7 to 9.

“We aim to see 5,000 participants, including 3,000 start-up developers,” said Handito Joewono, export development vice chairman of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

The event is initiated by the National Startup Forum and supported by Kadin and the Association of Technology Startup Indonesia.

The event will comprise conferences, a start-up competition and pitching to potential investors, Handito added.

The organisers will select 100 start-ups from the competition to receive training.

The Association of Technology Startup Indonesia will prioritise start-ups in five sectors -digital, agriculture and food, tourism, trade and maritime and fisheries. – The Jakarta Post

Laos keen on Indonesian weaponry, fertilisers

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said that Laos was interested in buying the primary weaponry defense systems and fertilisers from Indonesia.

“Laos is interested in Indonesian products of the primary weaponry of defense systems and fertilizers,” he remarked, after accompanying Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to receive a state visit of Prime Minister of Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Thongloun Sisoulith, at the Bogor Palace, on Thursday. – Vientiane Times

The new airlines have applied for air operator’s certificates (AOC), with one already receiving approval and four more expected to be awarded within the coming year, said Sinn Chanserey Vutha, spokesman of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA).

He said seven airlines are currently licensed for operations in Cambodia, with two of the new air operator’s certificates (AOC) issued in recent months to JC International Airlines and Lanmei Airlines, while Small Planet Airlines was awarded an AOC but has yet to commence service. Additional licences are in the pipeline for KC International Airline, Air Siem Reap, Prince International Airlines and Cambodia Airways.

“We will complete the AOC for KC International Airlines early next year, then continue to issue the rest over the course of the year,” he said.

Earlier this month, the SSCA granted an AOC to Small Planet Airlines, allowing the Lithuania-based leisure airline to operate flights from its new regional hub in Cambodia. The airline, which operates charter flights to coastal resorts in the Mediterranean region from hubs in Lithuania, Poland and Germany, will use its new Cambodian base to overcome the challenges of seasonality in Europe by repositioning some of its fleet here during the European winter low season.

Erikas Zubrus, CEO of Small Planet Airlines Cambodia, said the airline will initially look to serve the Hong Kong, China and South Korean markets, while it has also applied for approvals to serve Thailand, Japan and islands in the Pacific region. “As for now, we have one aircraft registered in Cambodia, and it has completed its first test-flight successfully,” he said. “We plan to expand our Cambodian fleet to three aircraft this winter and six aircraft in the upcoming two years.”

KC International Airlines is the first airline in the queue for upcoming AOC approval. The airline startup, a US$100 million Chinese-Cambodian joint venture with ties to the ruling party, expects to launch service early next year to tap into the lucrative Chinese travel market.

Filling the niche

Vong Kong Leng, the airline’s director of administration and human resources, said the new airline will leverage its Chinese director’s 15 years of experience in the aviation business to fill a niche in the local market.

“We plan to launch in January and even though there are a lot of carriers competing in the aviation market it is still an opportunity for us because our strategy will be to operate to underserved destinations,” he said.Prince International Airlines and its sister airline Cambodia Airways have also applied for AOCs and expect to commence commercial operations in early 2018. The two airlines, a project of the Chinese investors behind Prince Real Estate, are headed by a former executive of Cambodia Bayon Airlines and will look to convert their board’s connections with Chinese travel agencies into ticket sales.

According to the company, PIA aims to launch with three A320 aircraft to serve the tourism charter market and two Gulfstream jets for local business clients.

Cambodia Airways has set plans to operate 10 Airbus 320s and two A330s within the next five years.

The airline is expected to operate scheduled flights to Japan, South Korea and Asean countries, as well as international routes to Europe and Asia.

Air Siem Reap, a joint venture between Thai “boutique” short-haul carrier Bangkok Airways and Cambodian tycoon and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat, has applied to operate flights out of Siem Reap International Airport.

The new airlines will tighten competition in Cambodia’s increasingly crowded air space where over 40 commercial airlines operate scheduled flights.

They could also put more pressure on locally registered carriers, particularly those that operate domestic services.

Cambodia has a reputation as one of the easiest markets for startup airlines to obtain an AOC and has been particularly attractive to operators targeting the high-growth Chinese market. Yet the kingdom has proven a challenging market, with a list of over 30 now-defunct airlines.

The most recent was Apsara International Air, which launched in October 2014 but within weeks had mothballed its sole Airbus 320 after incurring huge losses in a price war.

with other domestic carriers.In a report issued earlier this year, Australia-based aviation research and consulting firm the Centre for Aviation warned that startup airlines could face severe headwinds in Cambodia’s already oversaturated aviation market.

It said the existing local carriers – which at the time comprised Cambodia Angkor Air, Sky Angkor Airlines, Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Bassaka Air – had all set their expansion hopes on China but lacked the scale and resources to compete with foreign carriers on these routes, or each other.“Cambodia may not be able to support more than four local airlines over the long term,” it said. “The four existing airlines, none of which operate more than seven aircraft, lack the scale to compete effectively with foreign airlines, and the proposed startups will face similar challenges if they succeed at launching services.”Yet SSCA’s Vutha said Cambodia’s aviation regulator had no intention of capping the number of AOCs, though it could place restrictions on route permits.“We expect more airlines to operate in Cambodia’s aviation market as there is no rule limiting the number of airlines that can operate here,” he said yesterday.

“This is a free market and it is possible to see some airlines appear and others disappear, though we might consider limiting approvals on routes to the various carriers if there are no parking slots [at airports] available.”

Vutha added that with Cambodia’s tourism sector growing rapidly competition in the aviation sector was in the best interest of air passengers.

“The more airlines we have the more competition there will be, which will bring lower prices and higher quality service to the aviation market,” he said.

The plan is to use Vivocom as its vehicle to bid for large construction projects in Malaysia, sources said.

The potential new major shareholder is also looking to undertake a rebranding exercise, and this will involve a name change for Vivocom, said the source.

The Hong Kong listed company will take a stake at a slight discount to Vivocom’s current market price. There is also a three-year moratorium for this new shareholder, added the source.

Shares of Vivocom were among some of the actively traded stocks since last week.

It closed up 0.5 sen to 14.5 sen on volume of 34.89 million shares on Thursday. At this price, the stock is currently trading at a FY17 price earnings ratio of five times.

Vivocom has a market capitalisation of 480.5 million ringgit comprising of some 3.31 billion shares.

Golden Oasis Resources Sdn Bhd is the single largest shareholder with a 22.85% stake followed by Ang Li Hann with a 10.29 per cent stake.

“This Hong Kong-listed company, it is looking to make inroads into Malaysia, having established itself in Hong Kong and Singapore. This company has cash of some HK$2.2bil as of June 30, 2017,” said the source.

Vivocom is a mid-sized construction company but its earnings have been on a downward trend of late.

In the second quarter to June 30, 2017, it posted net profit of 5.72 million ringgit, sharply lower from 21.01 million ringit previously. Revenue dropped to 45.94 million ringgit from 121.57 million ringgit.

For the first half, Vivocom’s net profit fell to 10.96 million ringgit from 40.89 million ringgit previously. Revenue also dropped to 86.97million ringgit from 263.1 million ringgit.

The world’s biggest glove maker, said yesterday the earnings rose by 51 per cent from the 65.32million ringgit a year ago while revenue increased by 24.9 per cent to 902.42 million ringgit from 722.11 million ringgit.

Earnings per share were 7.87 sen compared with 5.21 sen. It rewarded shareholders with a final dividend of 8.5 sen similar to the previous quarter.

For FY ended Aug 31, 2017, its earnings fell 7.7 per cent to 332.70 million ringgit from 360.73 million ringgit in FY16 during which Top Glove benefited from positive external factors of currency impact and lower raw material prices.

“The spike in sales volume followed increased sales in all regions, as well as a replenishment exercise by customers, after having put orders on hold in 3QFY17, owing to higher raw material prices. Sales Volume also rose with additional capacity coming on-stream,” it said.

On the FY17 results, Top Glove said the higher sales revenue was underpinned by an increase in average selling prices (ASP) arising from a surge in raw material prices, as well as a strengthening of the US dollar over the course of FY2017.

The competitive electricity generation market (CGM) was launched in July 2012 to diversify power sources, reduce the country’s dependence on hydropower plants and make the power market more competitive.

MoIT Decision No 3698/OD -BCT that took effect on October 1 suspends the CGM operation to maximise the consumption of gas-based power production, thus benefiting gas power producers at least in the fourth quarter, according to HCM City Securities Co (HSC).

Until now, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) bought power from plants through bidding competitions based on the plants’ costs.

EVN will now buy power from the plants based on the prices stated in the power purchase agreements (PPAs) it signed with power producers.

For thermal power producers, the PPA price is calculated on the fixed cost plus operation and maintenance costs, varying cost and material transportation cost.

The PPA price for thermal power plants would be higher than the average CGM price.

However, the volume of power EVN purchases from those plants will be lower once EVN gives priority to gas power products, thus making earnings of those producers decline, HSC said.

For hydro and gas power plants, the PPA price is calculated by the fixed cost plus operation and maintenance costs.

Of the two types of power producers, HSC assumes hydro power plants would suffer as they have the lowest production cost, pulling the PPA price below the CGM average price by 20-30 per cent. EVN will also buy less from hydro power plants, therefore, their income will be badly affected, HSC said.

The gas power producers that could benefit from the decision are PetroVietnam Power Nhon Truch 2 JSC (Nhon Truch 2), Ba Ra Thermal Power JSC and PetroVietnam Power Company (PV Power), HSC added.

Kenny Ye, General Manager of Alibaba’ overseas business, said in a statement that UC Ads could help Indonesian brands to improve their products’ exposure and reputation, sales promotion and customer acquisition.

The ads platform was designed with big data analysis to track potential customers and deliver intended ads to customers, Ye added.

Ye said UC Ads was designed to answer users’ concerns about privacy and security.

“We are also working to comply with local regulations in each countries where we operate,” he said, adding that his company waited for users’ authorisation before gathering relevant data and also made sure the users’ data was encrypted.

Aside from Indonesia, UC Ads also has offices in India and China.

UC Ads will focus on several industries such as Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG), e-commerce, gaming, tourism and entertainment, among others and SMEs, according to the company’s statement.