This was on the back of increased infrastructure spending by the government and the continuing construction activities of the private sector, said Holcim chief executive officer Eduardo A. Sahagun.

Last year, local cement manufacturers sold 24.36 million metric tons, 14.3 percent higher than year-ago level. The growth was attributed to higher public spending and the continued confidence of the private sector in the economy.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Sahagun said that for this year alone, the public works budget was about P800 billion, equivalent to about 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic domestic product. Also, the private sector has been actively pursuing new developments not only in Metro Manila but also in other key growth areas in the country, including Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, and Bacolod. Such projects included housing developments and commercial structures.

He said the private sector usually accounted for some 60 percent of the total cement sales, while the balance is taken up by the government.

Also boosting this optimism was the presidential candidates’ expression of support for higher infrastructure spending.

“So hopefully, whoever sits in Malacañang (under the next administration) will continue the same kind of governance and focus on infrastructure,” Sahagun said.

For Holcim Philippines, however, Sahagun declined to cite projections with the nearing release of the company’s earnings report later this month.

Last year, Holcim Philippines sold more than 200 million bags of cement, up from 186 million bags of 40 kilograms each a year ago. This enabled the company to capture 32 to 34 percent share of the domestic market. At present, Holcim’s cement facilities in the country has about 8 million tons in capacity, equivalent to total production of about 220 million bags a year.

About 390 investors turned up for the AGM at Suntec Convention Centre and all 15 resolutions, including the re-election of chairman Richard Elman as director, received a majority backing but there was also plenty of dissent expressed.

Chief executive Yusuf Alireza told the meeting that Noble had delivered on all its key priorities for the second half of 2015. It generated a positive cash flow of around US$651 million in the period, reducing debt by around US$362 million and raising US$750 million in capital from the sale of Noble Agri.

But several shareholders still stepped forward to voice tough questions, including long-time investor Mano Sabnani, who felt the firm’s business margin was too thin to be sustainable.

He asked: “How are you going to maintain margins going forward? Your operating income margin was around 1.76 per cent but your average cost of debt was 3.8 per cent. Can you assure us that your business model is still sustainable?”

Alireza replied that more of Noble’s future funding will rely on the cheaper secured financing. Margins will also gradually improve as smaller players are forced out of the market due to a lack of capital.

Meanwhile, Noble will have around US$4.6 billion in potential liquidity to service the US$3.2 billion debt due by the end of next year, he added.

Accountant Fred Tan, 66, then challenged the management to provide more details on the basis of a US$6.2 billion fair value gain booked last year.

“We need to know the basis of your valuation, and whether there’s the possibility of a significant impairment,” he asked.

Questions surrounding Noble’s fair value model have hounded the firm since last year, due in part to persistent allegations by Iceberg Research that Noble had used aggressive fair-value estimates on the balance sheet to hide debt and liquidity issues.

Chief financial officer Paul Jackaman said yesterday there has been sufficient scrutiny and information on Noble’s mark-to-market assets.

Tan was not impressed, telling The Straits Times that Noble’s management and board had not done enough to inform small shareholders on its complex businesses. “There are a lot of things they are trying to evade, and they don’t even pay dividend any more. I plan to sell my shares,” he said.

But there were others who had differing views. An investor who wished to be known as John, 27, said: “I found this AGM better handled than last year’s, with more information to help me learn about the company’s business.”

The AGM concluded a very tumultuous year for Noble. Its share price plummeted around 60 per cent in 2015 amid the commodity crash and the Iceberg allegations, while the company also lost its investment-grade rating with Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

Alireza told the AGM that the investment grades are a “straitjacket” that he inherited but would rather not have, as the firm can now tap the cheaper secured financing, which is typically offered only to non-investment grade firms.

Noble shares closed down 0.5 cents, or 1.14 per cent, at 43.5 cents yesterday after the AGM.

Vice-chairman of the city’s people’s committee Vo Duy Khuong said the MoU was part of Microsoft Vietnam’s start-up support programme called “CLAS Expara Startup Accelerator.”

Following the agreement signed in HCM City last week, Microsoft Vietnam will support individuals and organisations in the city in developing the capacity of their business start-ups.

The central city established its Entrepreneurship Support Company last year to help young people develop opportunities and ideas for starting a business.

Director of Microsoft Vietnam Vu Minh Tri said the MoU was a result of their longstanding co-operation to support young individuals and groups in the central region.

Da Nang is also collecting the names of 100 individuals and groups as “seeds” for start-up business programmes.

The city educates 80,000 students, of which nearly 23,000 graduate from colleges every year.

In 2014, Microsoft Vietnam and the Da Nang University jointly debuted the Information Technology (IT) Academy, the first-ever IT training centre to meet international standards in the central and Central Highlands regions.

The academy aims to set up a data centre on a private cloud, provide Microsoft 365 applications to educational centres in the region and boost the university’s Software Development Centre as a Microsoft-authorised education reseller and member of the Microsoft IT Academy.

Prime Minister Najib Razak officiated the launch of I-Bhd’s first luxury project of 8Kia Peng, King of the Hill on March 14.

He pointed out that the development of i-City and now the 8Kia Peng, King of the Hill by I-Bhd are good examples of the private sector contributing to the economic growth of the nation.

The prime minister is confident that 8Kia Peng will create even greater awareness of the Malaysia My Second Home programme, convincing the people from around the world that Malaysia is a place you can call home.

Since then, the project has been receiving positive response from interested parties, way before I-Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong launched the 8Kia Peng sales gallery located at Menara Bangkok Bank@Berjaya Central Park, Kuala Lumpur, on March 31.

8Kia Peng may be a glamorous and luxurious concept, but its vision originated from the simple nostalgic sentiment of the self-made tycoon.

Lim, who ventured into the ultrapolis project of i-City after his retirement, confessed that 8Kia Peng, King of the Hill was born from his desire to share the vantage point afforded by his former home of 30 years.

8Kia Peng’s single tower block is located at the higher ground of the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur, and 80% of the units have direct view of both the Twin Towers and the central park.

The two-bedroom, fully fitted and furnished units with built-up sizes of 716 sq ft to 987 sq ft, provide comfortable living space in a ready to move-in condition.

8Kia Peng, poised to be a CONQUAS standard building, is expected to be completed in 2019.

Located within Zone One of KLCC, 8Kia Peng, King of the Hill is comfortably tucked away in a quiet enclave while in close proximity to numerous amenities in the heart of the city.

The project is targeted at global property buyers and those seeking the best views of KLCC and Petronas Twin Towers.

Besides the target market of 70% international buyers, the profile of the 30% local buyers are expected to be professionals of middle-to-upper income group.

“We would like to congratulate I-Bhd for coming to KL to build an iconic building for both locals and foreigners. I believe this project will help to enhance KL to be a liveable city, a world-class city Malaysians will be proud of,” said Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

The 8Kia Peng project with a gross development value of RM1bil is intended to cement I-Bhd’s position as one of Malaysia’s leading high-rise developers.

Members of the public are cordially invited to visit the StarProperty.my Fair i-City Edition 2016, which will be held at i-City from April 22 till 24, from 11am to 9pm.

The fair will be presenting notable projects in i-City such as i-Soho, i-Suite, Liberty Tower, Parisien Tower, Hyde Tower, as well as 8Kia Peng.

Visitors will be able to gain more insights into the property market through various talks by industry experts.

I-Bhd’s global partners Al-Rajhi Banking Group, Central Pattana Group Thailand and Rozel will showcase their products and services at the special event, including Hilton and Best Western, which will be serving free coffee for the visitors.

Founder and managing director of Rozel Corp Gan Tai Hwa said: “Given the quality and design of our products, we are very confident it will be at par with the commitment of i-City to its purchasers. Rozel sofa designs will bring out the modern, chic and refined interior of the project.”

To celebrate the special event, visitors will stand a chance to redeem the 1,000 complimentary theme park tickets given daily for three days, and join in the carnival fun on Saturday and Sunday.

The All-Day Happy Flea Market, food trucks offering culinary delights, magic shows and live band performances promise to create fun and unforgettable memories.

GS Realty director Datuk Seri Nelson Kee, who will be promoting the i-Suites, said that the early invitations have received good response from potential buyers, with around 500 confirmed participating while more are expected on that day.

For house buyers, great prizes await at the fair.

RedBricks will be sponsoring lucky draw prizes, including two return tickets to London for purchasers of Hyde Tower.

For Parisien purchasers, they stand a chance to win two tickets to Paris sponsored by Reapfield, while two round-trip tickets to New York await buyers of Liberty Tower, sponsored by Viva Homes.

The aim is to retain drivers who have begun to defect to the fast-expanding private-hire fleets run by the third-party taxi app providers.

The Straits Times understands that SMRT Corp, the third-largest taxi group here, has ordered a fleet of more than 300 new Toyota Vellfire MPVs, Corolla Altis sedans and some Lexus cars for this purpose.

In a recent announcement to the Stock Exchange, SMRT said it has set up a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary known as Strides Transportation with a capital of S$2 (US$1.50).

“The principal business activities of Strides Transportation are limousine and chauffeured services, and car rental,” SMRT said.

Trans-Cab, which is the second- largest taxi operator here, is doing likewise. Managing director Teo Kiang Ang said: “We’re just starting. We will have mainly the (Toyota Corolla) Altis as well as bigger cars.”

Teo said the changing industry landscape prompted him to move in this new direction.

In the last three years, third-party taxi apps have proliferated, led by Uber and Grab. Both companies are said to control close to 10,000 cars combined.

Tuesday’s announcement by the Transport Ministry – which said that transport app providers will be regulated with a “light touch” – is likely to spur the growth of the sector.

Taxi industry players noted that unlike cab companies, the newcomers are not required to meet service standards, their fleet expansion will not be restricted, they do not need to buy insurance policies that cover passengers, there is no restriction on vehicle age, and their cars attract far lower road taxes than cabs.

Others said the fast-expanding third-party fleet will eventually impact cabbies’ earnings as they are competing for a fixed market that is not growing nearly as fast.

Asked if Premier Taxi would also start a business unit to counter Uber and Grab, Premier Taxi managing director Lim Chong Boo said: “If there are no other regulatory changes, then we’ll be forced to look into it.”

The first to branch out into this new business was Prime Taxi, which started a fleet in 2014.

It has a private-hire fleet of 300 today, but managing director Neo Nam Heng said he now plans to raise it to “500-plus in the next one year”. The only company that is not jumping onto the bandwagon is ComfortDelGro, the biggest taxi operator here.

Dr Walter Theseira, an economist at SIM University, said: “Taxi companies have to understand that innovation in their business model is needed rather than just attempting to replicate or ride on the success of Uber and Grab.”

The only significant difference between taxis and private-hire cars is that the latter are not allowed to pick up street hails.

But Dr Theseira said: “If apps continue gaining in popularity, the street-hail monopoly will become less and less valuable, and that will make driving taxis less profitable than driving for Uber.”

RB’s chief executive officer Karam Chand said that this collaboration will align RB’s marketing efforts towards building better customer retention.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Chand lauded the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism’s (MPRT) plans to keep tourism promotion and marketing costs down via the use of information communications technology (ICT).

The CEO said the direction is a good start for Brunei to capitalise on digital marketing.

“We certainly cooperate with the MPRT, and we will continue to do that,” said Chand during the recent launch of RB’s refurbished Operation Control Centre (OCC).

Chand said RB’s current plan is focusing on digital marketing to put Brunei on the global map.

He added that the use of ICT tools would help travellers in transit to know more about the tourist spots in the sultanate.

“Our challenge is on destination awareness. The digital channel allows us to improve the destination awareness.”

“When people arrive here, they want Wifi. In the evening, there are travellers from London and the other one from Melbourne. There are a lot of passengers in transit.

“It’s important to tell them what they are looking for. It will be a great opportunity to connect with them,” said Chand.

During the interview, the CEO also said that RB will expand its fleet to meet the demand of local and foreign travellers. He said the company will receive its fifth Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner by 2018.

During the 12th Legislative Council meeting, MPRT Minister Ali Apong said the ministry will use ICT tools to promote and market tourism, adding that the allocated budget of B$250,000 (US$185,839) for tourism promotion would be sufficient in accomplishing this.

He said that the ministry is in plans to develop a system which would feed tourists with information on local attractions and places of interest upon arrival.

Meanwhile, an officer at the MPRT said in an interview last week that the ministry will come up with the system within this year to “ensure tourists are aware about tourist spots in Brunei”.

“I don’t know yet how the ICT system will work. But MPRT will work with any companies or industrial players to further improve our tourism industry,” said the MPRT officer who declined to be named.

The joint venture consortium will design and construct a new domestic terminal at the Phnom Penh Airport in Cambodia.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Muhibbah Engineering said the construction of the new domestic terminal would cater for the future growth of domestic traffic.

It added that construction had commenced and was expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2017.

Ho Manh Tuan, deputy director of Honda Viet Nam, told Viet Nam News that this year scooter sales would continue to rise, accounting for 55 per cent of the market.

By 2018 the ratio would reach 60 per cent, he said.

A member of the marketing staff of a foreign company known for its scooters concurred with him, telling Viet Nam News that scooter sales have kept rising in the current years, albeit in single digits.

Yano Takeshi, chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers and general director of Yamaha Motor Viet Nam, told Sai Gon Times online that in 2015 scooter sales had accounted for 52-53 per cent of the market.

Yamahas scooter sales are doubling every year thanks to new models, he said.

Last year they had achieved parity wit motorbike sales, he said.

The motorbikes falling status vis-a-vis the scooter was clearly on show at the first Viet Nam Motorcycle Show which ended in HCM City on Sunday.

Most of the nearly 200 vehicles on display were scooters and sports motorbikes.

Ngoc Tha of HCM City said he visited the exhibition to see new motorbike models, but unfortunately most of the vehicles on display were either scooters or concept and sports motorbikes.

Many reasons are attributed to the rising popularity of scooters.

Sellers said in big cities infrastructure has improved tremendously, enabling people to conveniently ride scooters.

Good design is another reason.

A HCM City-based seller said companies are now introducing many scooters with modern technologies at reasonable prices.

Takeshi said the new trend reflects also reflects the improvement in peoples living standards.

On the consumers side safety and ease of use are the main reasons for scooters popularity.

Asked why they would prefer to buy scooters, most people attributed it to their large storage space, saying it would help avoid robberies.

They also pointed to the ease of starting and riding scooters.

1st VN motorcycle show attracts 141,630 visitors

The Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers said more than 141,630 visitors came to the first Vietnam Motorcycle Show.

The four-day exhibition showcased nearly 200 motorbikes with advanced technologies from eight motorbike brands besides components and accessories made by 61 other companies.

This year the country’s motorbike market is expected to grow at a modest 2-3 per cent.

The plan seeks to grow annual business by about 20 percent a year from 2015 to 2020, culminating in an annual net profit exceeding P40 billion by the year 2020. Half of the profit will come from development assets such as residential property development and the balance from the leasing portfolio, including the shopping mall and office property operations.

“Our presence across the Philippines, with 18 established estates and a landbank of 8,948 hectares, enables us to take advantage of the growth of consumer spending, the steady remittance stream from overseas Filipino workers to the continuing robustness of business process outsourcing (BPO) and the thriving tourism sector,” ALI chair Fernando Zobel de Ayala said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday.

“We expect these strengths to remain as our anchors as we carry out plans to achieve a more balanced and sustainable company by 2020,” he said.

Apart from building more hotel rooms and shopping malls to support the 2020 vision, ALI president Bernard Vincent Dy on Tuesdat said that the plan was to build 1.8 million sqm of BPO office space by year 2020. “We have about 715,000 sqm operating now. There’s another 700,000 sqm under construction,” Dy said.

For BPOs, ALI senior vice president Jose Emmanuel Jalandoni said the group was still focused on growing the portfolio in Makati and Bonifacio Global City—two of ALI’s crown jewels—and elsewhere in Metro Manila. However, he said the group has likewise launched new office property developments in cities like Davao, which was now fully leased out, and Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo.

As of end-2015, ALI chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael estimated that new areas outside of traditional hubs accounted for 34 percent of total earnings. With projects in new areas like Pampanga (Alviera), Cavite (Vermosa) and Balintawak, Quezon City (Cloverleaf) as well as tourist estates in Palawan (Lio) and Sicogon Island, Ysmael said new areas would account for a greater share in earnings contribution.

To achieve the vision 2020, Ysmael said ALI would need as much as P90 billion in annual spending.

As of end-2015, ALI had 2,324 hotel room keys. Last year, it opened a 152-room Seda Hotel at Atria Park District in Iloilo, adding to its roster in BGC, Nuvali, Abreeza in Davao and Centrio in Cagayan de Oro alongside internationally branded hotels and El Nido Resorts.

More hotels under the homegrown Seda brand will rise at the site of the former Makati Intercon, in Makati Circuit, City Gate Makati, Bay Area and Vertis North while the Seda BGC will be expanded to provide 300 more rooms.

In the retail property business, ALI opened new retail hubs like Nuvali Solenad 3, Ayala Malls Legazpi in Albay, Shops at Atria in Iloilo, Ayala Malls Serin in Tagaytay, Circuit Lane in Circuit Makati and a new phase of UP Town Center. ALI thus ended last year with a total mall portfolio of 1.45 million sqm, half the footprint targeted by 2020.

Most of the coffee shops run their loyalty programme using paper cards, which Koh thought was inconvenient for customers because they had to carry too many cards. It was also inconvenient for merchants who could not track the frequency of the coffee-goers.

“I don’t really know how often customers come, whether they come during the weekend or weekdays, or how much they spend,” Koh said. “Sometimes the ladies carry too many bags and they don’t know where their coffee cards are. Sometimes the paper cards go bad because of the rain.”

Inspired partially by the Starbucks Loyalty Programme, which enables Starbucks’ customers to scan their smartphones at the store to gain reward points, Koh and his 10-member team are looking at launching Peko Peko, a mobile platform that allows users to accumulate reward points at coffee shops. It would also allow coffee merchants to track such users and monitor the loyalty programmes the merchants run.

The launch is scheduled to be in Hanoinext month, with the vision of expanding it to other major cities in Vietnam. So far, they have 10 coffee merchants signed up, and hope to hit 50 by next month.

Koh believes Vietnam is among the most attractive emerging markets for start-ups in Southeast Asia because of the young population and the many still untapped needs in the market.

“Everyone knows Singapore is a place to start, but it’s not really a place to make money because the market is very small. The population size of Ha Noi is like Singapore, and then you still have HCM City and Da Nang,” he said.

Koh was among hundreds of start-up founders attending the two-day Tech in Asia 2016 in Singapore this past week, pitching their start-up ideas to potential investors who have the same vision to tap into Southeast Asia’s emerging markets.

On Tuesday, the news also broke about Alibaba’s expansion into Southeast Asia with the US$1 billion deal to acquire Lazada, which sells products in Singapore, Indonesia,

Speaking at the conference, Facebook co-founder and Founding Partner of B Capital Group, Eduardo Saverin, noted Southeast Asia’s lack of infrastructure in many markets in the region as an opportunity to force entrepreneurs to innovate and think outside-the-box.

Besides, the region is a truly mobile-first environment where cheap mobile devices are making it much easier for people to access services and products, according to Saverin.

“Soon a young girl in rural Indonesia will have more information at her fingertips than I had when I started at Harvard,” Saverin said.

A report released last year by Ericsson suggested that almost two-thirds of mobile phone subscriptions in Southeast Asia and Oceania would be smartphones by 2020, reaching a staggering number of about 800 million people.

In Vietnam, the number of smartphone users is around 22 million, according to some reports, and predicted to reach 26 million in 2016.

The greater availability and affordability of smartphones has paved the way for strong download growth of mobile applications in the region, said Daniel Levitas, senior vice president for research and analysis at App Annie, a California-based business intelligence company and analyst firm.

App Annie considers Vietnam among the frontier markets for mobile application growth, with download growth of mobile applications having risen nearly 60 percent year-on-year in Việt Nam (2014-15). Notably, mobile games are undoubtedly a big part of Vietnam’s culture, accounting for nearly half of downloads on both Google Play and iOS in 2015.

The mobile-first environment and densely populated cities in Southeast Asia also make services such as ridesharing or other services in the so-called “sharing economy” continue to thrive, Levitas emphasised.

For Facebook co-founder Saverin, who has continued stepping up his investments in Southeast Asian start-ups, Southeast Asia is also a less crowded market for investors, and governments across the region are rolling out initiatives to support entrepreneurship.

The Vietnamese government has also stepped up efforts to support start-ups and cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country.

A new set of rules are being drafted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, aimed towards easing up procedures for local and foreign venture capital funds to operate in Việt Nam.

The government is ambitious about turning the country into a start-up nation with 5,000 tech firms by 2020. Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam called for a renewal in thinking in terms of supporting start-up initiatives to catch up with the rest of the world.

Topica Founder Institute, which offers training courses for start-up founders in Vietnam, estimated that at least 67 tech start-ups in Viet Nam received funding last year, with 48 percent of angle/seed deals coming from overseas investors.

Many start-ups in Singapore are also looking at Vietnam for users.

Rinita Vanjre, co-founder and CEO of BonAppetour, is among those. The Singapore-based start-up is about food sharing, connecting home cooks with travellers and foodies, for a unique local dining experience. A local host can post his or her offering on the site, prepare the meal, and then travellers can come to the host’s place to dine.

The concept of dining with strangers, Vanjre admitted, might be harder to take off in Vietnam due to language barriers and the fact that street foods are technically available for most of the day.

However, “there are already people who have expressed an interest in becoming a host on the site,” she said. “So we are very excited about that.”