His remarks come as the shipping industry grapples with softening global demand, capacity oversupply and depressed freight rates. He told a briefing for the upcoming Singapore Maritime Week yesterday that the industry needs to adjust to a “new normal” of slowing trade growth while preparing itself for the future. Tan said the industry remains a major pillar of Singapore’s economy, contributing about 7 per cent of GDP, with more than 5,000 maritime establishments here. “At the end of the day, we want to make sure Maritime Singapore emerges stronger out of this cycle.”

The Singapore Maritime Week, from April 17 to 22, aims to address the ways Singapore can maintain its competitive advantage on a global scale, given the choppy industry conditions.

It will feature 31 events, including 16 new ones, ranging from dialogues and forums to social events and public showcases.

The anchor event is the Singapore Maritime Lecture on April 18. It will be given by Kristian Siem, chairman of industrial holding group Siem Industries, and followed by a panel discussion with other prominent industry leaders. The 2nd Offshore Marine Forum, jointly organised by Seatrade and Singapore Maritime Foundation, will run on April 19. It will involve discussions with leaders of the offshore industry. Tan said: “Given the uncertain market outlook, Singapore Maritime Week 2016 will be about sharpening competitiveness in the industry by addressing the economic challenges and identifying unexplored areas for growth. “By creating awareness, building interest in the sector and enhancing understanding vis-a-vis our line-up of events, we hope to foster a stronger, more cohesive maritime community that will weather the headwinds and be well-positioned for growth opportunities that are inevitable.”

According to Decision 25/2016/ND-CP issued on April 6 on the group’s operation, the companies that VNPT draws capital from firms, funds and commercial banks including VNPT Land, Saigon Securities Investment fund A2 (SFA2), Vietnam Maritime Commercial Bank (MSB) and Post and Telecommunication Finance Company Ltd (PTF).

After the restructure, VNPT will have charter capital of VND72.2 trillion (US$3.23 billion). The group will include 71 affiliated units, two wholly owned affiliates in VNPT Media and Vinaphone and five other subsidiaries, as well as and three hospitals as services units in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phòng.

VNPT’s board will have seven members that will be responsible for all activities of the group.

In 2014, VNPT transferred its ownerships in Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company (VMS) and Post and Telecommunication Institute of Technology (PTIT) to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

In 2015, VNPT earned VND89.12 trillion of revenue, 7.5 per cent higher than 2014.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said evidences showed that the four companies should have established permanent establishments in Indonesia, but opted against doing so to avoid taxes.

A permanent establishment is a fixed place of business that is used by an individual or company which generally gives rise to income or value-added tax liability. Most multinational corporations choose to open representative office in other countries to enjoy lower taxes.

“The tax office will look into the back taxes of their business units. The companies earn income from Indonesia from advertising services, but listed them as the income of their Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore,” Bambang said in a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Since July 2009, PT Yahoo Indonesia has acted as a dependent agent of the Singapore-based Yahoo Singapore Pte Ltd. Likewise, PT Google Indonesia, which has been registered in Indonesia since September 2011, acts as a dependent agent of Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.

Meanwhile, social media companies Facebook and Twitter have representative offices in Indonesia. They registered their representative offices in February 2014 and April 2015, respectively.

“They are supposed to pay taxes based on their income in Indonesia,” Tax office head Ken Dwijugiasteadi underlined, adding that the government would go after the back taxes due to their profitable operations in the country.

Pham Nguyen said the financing would be used to support rapid growth by increasing production capacity for the company’s key brands. It would also help introduce new product categories and expand its distribution network in the country.

“The investment will allow us to reach more Vietnamese customers with our current and upcoming quality products,” said Pham Ngoc Thai, the company’s chairman.

Founded in 1990, Pham Nguyen is one of the leading companies in the confectionery industry. The company’s products are in four key categories of soft cakes, chocolate, biscuits and bread. The company’s products are distributed in over 52,000 retail locations and its products are exported to 16 countries and territories.

Mizuho Asean Investment LP is a private equity fund advised by Mizuho Asia Partners Pte Ltd, a Singapore-incorporated registered fund management company.

The fund seeks to invest growth capital and nurture promising small- and medium-sized companies in Southeast Asia, in part by leveraging Japanese connections.

The fight was about perception after a report by GMT Research cast some serious doubts on the accounts and financial practices of the low-cost airline.

Its shares were hammered down to a mere 78 sen as at August 26 last year, as confidence among investors was near rock bottom. Its units in Indonesia, the Philippines and India were bleeding profusely.

Confidence and AirAsia’s stock price took a hit, as the GMT report essentially cast doubt on AirAsia for using transactions with associate companies to boost earnings. AirAsia group’s flamboyant owner, Tony Fernandes, and his business partner Datuk Kamarudin Meranun were scrambling to give out bits of information to investors over the state of affairs at AirAsia, as their focus then was more on the non-airline-related business, leaving the airline on remote control.

Nine months on, there has been a stark difference.

Last Friday, the decision by Fernandes and Kamarudin to pump 1 billion ringgit (US$255 million) into the company has given rise to a new level of excitement. What that created were also questions over what was really behind the surprising move.

This will be done via a placement exercise which will raise their stake from 18.9 per cent now to 32.4 per cent. A total of 559 million new shares will be placed out at 1.84 ringgit per share to Tune Live Sdn Bhd, a company equally shared by them.

AirAsia shares have risen by some 3.27 per cent since then, despite the fact that the move dilutes other shareholders in AirAsia.

Fernandes has said that the move shows that he is putting his money where his mouth is, and that the money will come at a time when AirAsia needs it.

“It shows our belief in the airline. The Philippines, Indonesia, India and Japan business will need cash and they are also gold mines in the way Thailand AirAsia is. We were always told by analysts that Thailand would not make money, but look at it today,” Fernandes says.

The Indonesia, Philippines and India units were bleeding and needed cash to move on, while the cash cow were the Malaysian and Thai operations, funding all the operations.

AirAsia has operations in six countries – Malaysia, Thailand, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.

“We are also buying the new Neos aircraft (that we have to pay for),” adds Fernandes.

AirAsia has total borrowings of 12.72 billion ringgit and it has to pay for eight aircraft that it is taking delivery of this year.

Fernandes and Kamarudin got back to the foundation of the airline to rebuild the structure of the business. Both men have rolled up their sleeves and have separated the accounts of its units, including the aircraft separation and leasing arrangements.

“Many shareholders have been asking for our long-term commitment and we are back,” he adds.

GMT in its report pointed out that AirAsia needed billions of ringgit of capitalisation. In January, AirAsia wanted to raise 1 billion ringgit in multi-currency bonds, but the cost of funding was too high that it abandoned taking that route.

“We have worked hard in creating a prominent Asian airline. No other low-cost airline has our coverage. We have also more or less fixed the Indonesia and Philippines business and India looks more promising now. The Thailand and Malaysian operations are going to have golden years,” he says.

Fernandes adds that his biggest challenge has been market rumours.

“GMT was very damaging and in a way it showed me how fickle the market is and that analysts don’t really look at fundamentals. But it has made me more focused and determined to show the world, and God willing, we will do that as to us AirAsia is a jewel,” Fernandes says.

AirAsia India recently saw Tata Sons raising its stake to 49 per cent in the airline. That equals the stake held by AirAsia Bhd, besides undergoing some management changes.

Although Fernandes says the raising of the cash was needed, Maybank Investment Bank Research senior analyst Mohshin Aziz feels the whole recapitalisation exercise was unnecessary.

“It has good profit and cashflow, so we don’t think it was necessary, as the business is adequately capitalised. Its gearing is 2.3 times. That is why we see the capital raising as unnecessary. In fact, it came as a surprise,” says Mohshin.

About 34 per cent or 342 million ringgit of the 1 billion ringgit AirAsia will raise through the private placement to the founding owners will go to pre-payment and repay debts, 275 million ringgit for funding aircraft, spare engines and other aircraft parts and associated pre-delivery payments, about 103 million ringgit for the construction and development of AirAsia’s new headquarters at KLIA2, and the remaining amount for working capital and others.

This will help reduce the airline’s total borrowings of 12.72 billion ringgit to 12.3 billion ringgit after the completion of the exercise, which is expected in the third quarter of this year.

The gearing level will be reduced to 2.22 times from 2.79 times as at end-2014. The exercise will inflate the share base to 3.341 billion of 10 sen shares each from 2.7 billion now.

Fernandes says that it was the same analysts that had “put our pride down to 70 sen because our gearing was too high then. Cash is king and we are a long-term player. We have not been driven by short-term analysts,” he adds.

“Once upon a time, AirAsia had two planes and nobody believed in us. Look at us now.”

Why now and what’s behind the deal?

Why are Fernandes and Kamarudin agreeing to pump in 1 billion ringgit now and pay 1.84 ringgit a share when during the height of the crisis, the shares had fallen to 78 sen?

“Of course, we had thought about it then … but there was so much volatility at that point,” Fernandes explains.

There have been market reports that AirAsia’s major shareholder Tune Air was in talks with a Chinese company, China Everbright, to privatise AirAsia. But the airline denied such talk, saying that the founders and Tune Air indicated that they are not considering a privatisation at this stage.

That may be the case, but the market talk now is that the Chinese party may still be in the picture of the deal. Speculation is that the Chinese party may be involved in a back-to-back arrangement with Fernandes and Kamarudin to part-fund their 1 billion ringgit share subscription, in return for a business relationship that both parties are building. That business relationship could include AirAsia’s planned venture into China.

Another rumour is that Fernandes and Kamarudin have agreed to sell part of their soon-to-be-acquired block to a ready Chinese party.

But Fernandes denies that there are any such deals in existence.

“There are no back-to-back arrangements. I have no idea what the market is talking about.”

He also denies that there is a plan to privatise the company. It would have cost Fernandes and the related parties some 2.11 billion ringgit to take over AirAsia then based on the closing price of 78 sen on Aug 26, 2015. It is a fact that talk of privatisation has emerged six times since the airline was first listed in November 2004.

So, where is the funding coming from for the private placement?

“It will be debt and cash. What I can say is that the providers of the debts are well-known institutions but I cannot name them,” he says.

For a long time, the duo held less than 20 per cent in the airline. Some have questioned the urgency to raise the stake to close to the threshold of having to make a mandatory general offer, as there is speculation that the move was to prevent hostile bids for AirAsia.

Fernandes says he does not subscribe to such talk.

Nine months later, and he says things were looking good again but there is a lot to be done still.

“Our accounts be consolidated, the customer experience needs to be worked on, we need to respond to customers better and quickly.

“There is still work that needs to be done for AirAsia India, AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia Indonesia, and AirAsia Japan is driven closer.

“We also need to capture more opportunities in Asean. We are in six countries now and would like to add a couple more in Asean. It is nice to have an airline in all parts of Asean, say Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei and Loas. China is a big market for us. It is a dream, but let us now deliver what we have,” he says.

AirAsia reported a net profit of 554.2 million ringgit in the fourth quarter of financial year 2015 (FY15), compared with a net loss of 428.51 million ringgit a year ago. This was on the back of a 47 per cent increase in revenue to 2.17 billion ringgit and a 21 per cent reduction in the average fuel price from US$95 per barrel to US$75 per barrel.

For full-year 2015, AirAsia’s net profit grew more than six-fold to 540.96 million ringgit, from 82.8 million ringgit in FY14. Revenue was up 16.3 per cent to 6.3 billion ringgit for the period.

For the future, Fernandes says the “outlook remains positive.”

Although globally an economic slowdown is predicted, the first two months have shown positive travel numbers.

The International Air Transport Association says February showed continuing strong demand growth for domestic and international travel. Total revenue passenger kilometres rose 8.6 per cent, compared to the same month last year, and monthly capacity (available seat kilometres) increased by 9.6 per cent, while load factor declined 0.7 percentage points to 77.8 per cent.

CIMB Research analyst Raymond Yap reckons AirAsia will hit the 1 billion ringgit mark in net profit for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 on the back of 6.2 billion ringgit in sales. That puts its earnings per share at 37 sen and its target price for the share is 2.70 ringgit, while Alliance Research has a “buy” call at 2.20 ringgit a share.

US$1 = 3.91 ringgit

Eight stores in various malls showcasing the British brand New Look and French menswear chain Celio will close in the second half of the year, said distributor Jay Gee Melwani Group.

“The sales are not there and the costs are too high. We are consolidating and re-strategising which ones can work, which ones can’t,” Jay Gee Melwani Group managing director R Dhinakaran said.

The other brands Jay Gee distributes include Aldo, Levi’s, Dockers, Aeropostale, Converse and health supplement chain Holland & Barrett. Affected staff will have the option of being redeployed to other stores in the group.

Last week, conglomerate Al-Futtaim Group announced that it will shut 10 loss-making outlets here under its distribution and retailing arm RSH later this year.

Competition from e-commerce, weak consumer sentiment and rising business costs have dogged retailers in recent years, with no sign of a let-up.

Colliers International’s senior associate director of research and advisory, Anthea To, said: “With both the domestic and international economies experiencing some headwind, consumers are likely to stay cautious and prudent in their discretionary spending.”

Property consultancy JLL said vacancy rates in malls in Orchard, Marina and the suburban areas are still rising. Said Lee Siew Ling, director of retail at JLL: “Retailers are now focusing on key locations with proven footfall and are more risk-averse and tend to refrain from investing in new locations.”

The Marina retail submarket – which includes malls such as Marina Square and Suntec City – has the highest vacancy at 6.1 per cent, according to JLL data, followed by Orchard with 3.1 per cent and the suburban submarket with under 2 per cent.

Lee said the net take-up of retail space islandwide last year came in at minus 86,379 sq ft.

This means more space was given up compared with retail premises being occupied by replacement retailers and new entrants.

Shaw Centre, at the junction of Scotts Road and Orchard Road, appears to have trouble filling its units. About 25 units were still behind hoardings at the five-storey mall, including two on the ground floor facing Scotts Road, when The Straits Times visited last week.

About nine units were vacant on level four, where Seasons Nail Bar is located. The shop’s general manager, Roy Fong, said: “Sometimes I have one walk-in customer a week.

“There is no shopper traffic. I have to spend S$2,000 (US$1,479) to S$3,000 every month to do marketing. The management gave us a rental rebate, but that won’t help to improve sales.”

Jeremy Low said his Fox Studio hair salon is “still surviving” as it relies mostly on regular customers.

“They should fill up the mall quickly, perhaps with an education centre or health spa or yoga studio, to get people to visit,” he added.

“Maybe they can have a different theme on each floor.”

Shaw Centre declined to comment on the occupancy rate.

Marina Square Shopping Mall, which also has many unoccupied units, said it is working with tenants on advertising and promotions and holding events to drive shopper traffic. Its operator, Marina Centre Holdings, said the overall leasing outlook in Singapore will remain “difficult over the next 12 months as existing chain stores are expected to continue consolidating”. It expects to see more “pop-up” stores and new retail concepts.

Pop-up shop Excluniqueeee leased 1,000 sq ft at the mall at a “very low rate” recently to showcase its apparel and street art.

Store director Jason Wang said: “In good times, when the malls are doing well, there is no way for us to get retail space.”

Knight Frank Singapore retail head Wendy Low said pop-up stores are becoming more common as they “help landlords in filling up vacancy and also act as a test bed” for new retail concepts. Analysts said landlords could also offer more flexible tenancy periods and rental structures, review the tenant mix and step up marketing efforts.

(US$1 = S$1.35)

The number travelling abroad is increasing rapidly, especially of those going to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the US, and Cambodia, travel agents said.

Tran Thi Viet Huong, marketing director of State giant Vietravel, said last year the number of her company’s outbound customers grew by 145 per cent.

“If Vietnamese used to go abroad to satisfy their curiosity about a strange country, their travelling trends have changed.

“They travel abroad more frequently and for other purposes.”

Many other travel companies also reported 15-25 per cent increases in the number of outbound travellers.

Huong attributed this to the easing of travel regulations, including visa rules, and reasonable tour prices.

“Other countries have taken the initiative to promote themselves to Vietnamese tourists.

“These countries also offer promotions like paying after the visit or in installments.”

Thailand has even sent tour guides to Vietnam to learn the country’s language and understand Vietnamese tourists’ tastes and desires.

South Korea realised that Vietnamese like to watch its movies and began to offer tours to places featured in films.

Huong said many of Vietnam’s tour products are interesting, like visits to flower fields and relaxing in luxurious villas, but in general the country’s tourism is weaker than that of other countries.

Ly Truong Chien, an economist, said low-quality services, high prices, uncreative and uncontrolled exploitation are the reasons Vietnamese are not fond of travelling around their country.

“There are things we do purely for temporary benefit and destroy nature,” he said, citing the installation of cable cars, misuse of beaches, and renovation of relics as examples.

Dao Xuan Khuong, another economist, said, “In general, Vietnam’s tourism products do not satisfy tourists’ demands due to the lack of interesting products.

Travel companies should study the demands of tourists and create products accordingly, he said.

“Tour programmes should not just list places and foods.”

Unilever, a company owning 400 brands including Dove, Ponds, and Vaseline, announced last week that it would cancel its supplier agreements with palm oil producer and trader IOI over its involvement in Indonesia’s massive forest fires. The decision came after IOI was suspended by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a group of environmental stakeholders on the global palm oil sector, according to the Straits Times.

Because of the suspension, IOI’s reputation as a top-ten global palm oil company was tarnished. Unilever is one of the buyers of IOI palm oil.

Aside from Unilever, United States’ reputable food manufacturers Mars and Kellogg’s has removed IOI as their prime supplier of palm oil. Both companies initiated steps to drop contracts with IOI’s refining subsidiary IOI Loders Croklaan, which has refineries in Malaysia and Holland.

The immediate actions of the three global companies will tremendously affect the palm oil company’s sales.

Palm and kernel oil are main ingredients in most of the products people consume daily, such as ice cream, biscuits, soaps, shampoos, and many more.

The cancellation of IOI palm oil contracts will also have a domino effect on Malaysia’s palm oil industry as other global companies vowed to source their materials from suppliers that don’t violate environmental safety laws and never employ child workers.

Last July, Indonesian forests in West Kalimantan were scorched for weeks after ‘slash and burn’ forest practices caused the forest peatlands to ignite fire and haze. Palm oil and paper companies were acutely blamed for the environmental catastrophe.

Nikkei reported Rakuten will offer online brokerage services for investors in Malaysia with an eye toward acquiring a retail brokerage market share of around 20% in the future.

The joint company will be equally owned by Rakuten Securities and Kenanga. It will initially handle Malaysian stocks, with commissions held to the lowest level in the Southeast Asian country.

The report also while the value of trading on Bursa Malaysia was around US$130bil a year, individual investors account for about 20% of the sum.

In 2015, Rakuten acquired the Hong Kong unit of FXCM, a US provider of foreign exchange trading services. The joint company in Malaysia is its second overseas business outlet.

Maybank, which has a presence in every Asean country, said it recognised the “significant potential” within the region, arising from its growing middle-class, young population, SME segments as well as inter and intra-regional trade.

The strategic objectives are to become the top Asean community bank, the leading Asean wholesale bank linking Asia, leading Asean insurer, global leader in Islamic finance and to be the digital bank of choice.

Group president and CEO Abdul Farid Alias said the group had also strengthened its footprint in the region with the opening of a second branch in Laos and a new office tower in Cambodia this year.

“We will soon be opening a new branch in Shenzen – our fifth in Greater China- as we seek to tap into the Asean/Greater China trade flows,” he said after the group’s AGM here on Thursday.