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Round-the-clock service for Peugeot owners

HAVING a 24-hour hotline number is nothing new to car owners. There is almost nothing that compares to the convenience of knowing that you can call for help at any time. Almost. Peugeot Philippines understands this and is taking convenience to the next level by making its services available to customers 24/7. “With the worsening traffic situation, we understand how time is now a precious commodity,” Peugeot Philippines’ Technical and Warranty Manager Fritz Villanueva said. “With this value-added service, we are hoping to provide assurance to our customers knowing that they can have their vehicles serviced at any time on any day. Making our service facilities available is one of many confidence-building efforts of Peugeot,” he added.

The 24/7 Service Center at Peugeot Pasig is the country’s first-ever in-house service facility with 24/7 operations. Providing expert care and professional assistance to its customers, the Peugeot Pasig Service Center offers critical services such as 24/7 towing and assistance, overall vehicle maintenance and repair, preventive maintenance service (PMS), electrical system checkup and repair, drivetrain and suspension checkup and repair, computer diagnosis, parts replacement, air-con checkup and repair, mechanical system checkup and repair, and on-site diagnosis. “With our 24/7 service program, not only can Peugeot customers have their cars serviced at their own convenience, but they are also assured of faster turnaround times because work is done round the clock,” said Mr. Villanueva.

Peugeot is launching its 24/7 Service Center as part of its ongoing campaign to promote worry-free ownership to the next level. Aside from round-the-clock service, customers can expect excellent service through the brand’s expert and certified technicians, additional peace of mind through an extended warranty program for all brand new vehicles, and continuous parts availability across all service centers nationwide. “Our aim is to make the customer feel at home with Peugeot, knowing that they have access to all our services anytime and anywhere,” Mr. Villanueva said.

Customers can contact the Peugeot Pasig 24/7 Service Center through its hotline at (02) 514-5635. Peugeot Pasig is located at E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. corner C. Caparas St., Pasig City. Customers may also contact info@peugeot.ph or visit facebook.com/PeugeotPhilippines.

Sustainability efforts help boost companies’ value

By Jenina P. Ibañez

SUSTAINABILITY efforts can help boost the value of companies, according to speakers at the 17th Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) International CEO Conference on Tuesday.

“The trend overall is that more sustainable companies outperform on the stock market,” PwC South East Asia Sustainability and Climate Change Leader Andrew WK Chan said at the forum.

A sustainable company is one that minimizes its negative impact on the environment and society, as it considers not just short-term profit but long-term value.

Mr. Chan said investors now look at how sustainability initiatives create improved cost-saving, risk management, and brand reputation.

“[Investors] would take a broader lens across the region and see which companies are doing better when it comes to sustainability performance. Not just the disclosures the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is asking for — but are companies actually getting deeper into the quality of disclosures such that investors are able to see how that is actually impacting the performance of the company,” Mr. Chan said in an interview after his speech.

Publicly listed companies are required to submit to the SEC sustainability reports which detail the economic, environmental, and societal impact of their businesses.

Companies that are not prepared for climate change face greater risk.

“From today to 2070, the risk of your business being damaged or destroyed by climate change is going to rise by 70%. And this volatility in climate change is affecting your business in many ways. The volatility is going to affect your corporate rating. It’s going to affect the loans you will get from the banks,” Gate International Ltd. President Henry K. H. Wang said.

“Environmental costs for industries globally are rising tremendously. This is expected to double every 14 years, so you better budget for that,” he added.

Mr. Wang described the extreme weather events in the country, and quoted the World Health Organization in describing how climate events could cost the Philippines 2% of its GDP.

Mr. Chan said that there are still challenges in persuading businesses to measure and adopt sustainable practices.

“My concern is perception — perception that sustainability costs more money. Because the perception is that ‘we’ve got to now do disclosure, I need to allocate FTE (full-time equivalent) headcount to actually respond to these requirements,’ as opposed to taking the mindset that actually, there’s a lot of business value to be generated if I do this in the right way,” he said.

The recent PwC MAP CEO survey found that the biggest concern of CEOs in adopting more sustainable practices is high transition costs, followed by inadequate technology and the economic viability of sustainable practices.

For Mr. Chan, businesses must measure impact, not just on shareholders, but also in terms of social benefit — to stakeholders. He said that the ability to manage sustainability risks is noted by both investors and bank creditors.

He observed that in South East Asia, businesses are assigning sustainability requirements to corporate communications teams. He recommends that companies incorporate sustainability into their overall strategy.

Peso seen sideways ahead of Fed

THE PESO may move sideways this week amid expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions.

On Friday, the local unit ended the week at P51.91 against the greenback, stronger by two centavos compared to its Thursday finish of P51.93 per dollar.

Week on week, however, the peso depreciated from its P51.905-a-dollar finish last Sept. 6.

“The peso continued to be stronger versus the US dollar after the Trump administration said that it is looking at an interim trade deal with China that would delay or roll back some tariffs provided that China increase purchases of US agricultural products and protect US intellectual property rights,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.

Mr. Ricafort said the peso’s performance this week will be affected by several factors.

“Geopolitical risks especially the latest attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities that reduced oil production and oil exports. Offsetting factor is the possible 0.25-[basis point] Fed rate cut that could have a positive impact on the global financial markets,” he added.

With US-China trade tensions roiling markets, investors are counting on support for stocks coming from a Federal Reserve willing to keep cutting interest rates to help the US economy avoid a severe downturn.

A quarter-point rate reduction is widely expected when the Fed issues its next policy statement on Wednesday, which would be the central bank’s second such cut after lowering rates in July for the first time since 2008. That puts the greater focus on clues about how much further the Fed will go.

The central bank in July cited signs of a global slowdown, simmering US-China trade tensions and a desire to boost too-low inflation as it lowered borrowing costs.

Markets are pricing in a near 90% probability that the Fed will shave another quarter point from its current overnight lending rate of 2.00% to 2.25%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. There is a roughly 65% probability that the Fed makes at least one more quarter-point cut by the end of the year, according to FedWatch.

For this week, Mr. Ricafort said the peso is may move within the P51.70 to P52.20 band against the greenback. — LWTN with Reuters

Distributor seeking to expand use of rice combine harvester

ALL CERTIFIED Equipment Trading Corp. (ACETC), a supplier of farming equipment, said it is targeting more rice-producing provinces to grow the market for its rice combine harvester.

ACETC has been distributing various brands of farming equipment in the past eight years, and is seeking to promote the Massey Ferguson 2168 (MF 2168) Rice Combine Harvester from Massey Ferguson Ltd., based in the US state of Georgia.

“Positively, our goal in the following months is to promote and sell this product nationwide, especially in the major rice producing parts of the country,” ACETC President and Chief Executive Officer Benigno P. Limcumpao said in an email interview.

The MF 2168 was launched in the Philippines in 2017 and sells for P1.5 million per unit. Some 100 units are currently active in the Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Cotabato Province, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City (SOCCSKSARGEN), and Caraga.

The company claims that the MF 2168 can harvest and bag palay, or unmilled rice, in an hour, compared to 12–24 hours for a crew of 10 employing traditional manual methods. It said the combine has been optimized for Philippine conditions.

Mr. Limcumpao said mechanization largely explains the gap in production costs between the Philippines and Thailand. He said the Thai production cost is equivalent to P8.86 per kilogram, as opposed to P12.72 for the Philippines. The Thai farm mechanization rate is 4 horsepower per hectare against 2.31 for the Philippines.

“Evidently the level of mechanization greatly contributes in lowering the production cost,” he said.

He said mechanization also increases yields.

“The Philippines averages 16% production losses due to traditional post-harvest operations… Through this machine post-harvest losses due to harvesting will be greatly reduced compared to the conventional or traditional way,” he said.

“Less palay is lost (compared to) manual labor,” he said, because traditional methods expose the grain to heat, dirt and rain,” he said.

The government started this year its bid to improve the farm mechanization through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which has allotted P5 billion for such purpose.

“ACETC has been constantly and actively participating in government public biddings, a move that gives our farmers an opportunity to use quality farming machinery,” Mr. Limcumpao said. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

With frills and tulle, volume reigns at Molly Goddard fashion show

LONDON — British designer Molly Goddard focused on volume for women’s spring wardrobes at her London Fashion Week show on Saturday, presenting a colorful collection of puffy smock dresses, frilly skirts and plenty of her eye-catching trademark tulle frocks.

Ms. Goddard, whose dresses have been worn by singer Rihanna and featured in hit television show Killing Eve, kicked off her catwalk show with a long-sleeved cropped white top worn with a voluminous ruffled cream tulle skirt.

Models wore a range of tulle dresses and skirts in cream, black, bright blue, and coral that were ruffled, layered or deconstructed.

Ms. Goddard also scrunched colorful open-collar smock and taffeta frocks and used puffy floral dresses to play with volume.

“I have spent the last six months exploring ways of creating volume through pattern cutting and manipulation so that each garment holds its own shape with no hidden support,” Ms. Goddard said in show notes.

“The idea of pieces holding their own shape has a directness that has come to inform everything about this show.”

The spring/summer 2020 line also had dabs of denim that came in the shape of a V-neck jacket with puffed-up sleeves and a long dress with floral decorations.

Ms. Goddard put bows on her knitwear — on sleeves of jumpers and at the front of a cardigan.

Footwear consisted of colorful flat boots in black, red, and sky blue as well as slip-on peep toe sandals in similar colors, sometimes in shiny versions.

CHARITY SHOW
Also on Saturday, British model Naomi Campbell led a catwalk show for her charitable Fashion for Relief organization, which she founded in 2005 and said this year was raising funds for children’s education and skill development causes.

During the show, held at the British Museum, models strutted in an array of colorful and quirky outfits from a mix of designers that included floor-length gowns, such as one sequined dress with feathered sleeves worn by Campbell.

There were also deconstructed jackets and plenty of prints, including one top depicting a portrait of Campbell’s fellow 1990s supermodel Kate Moss. — Reuters

Subaru offers early Christmas treat for the Forester this September

MOTOR IMAGE PILIPINAS, INC., the exclusive distributor of Subaru vehicles in the Philippines, is offering an early Christmas treat for all variants of the Subaru Forester. Every customer who purchases in the month of September will be given P50,000 worth of free service.

There are also even more special deals for you to choose from for the 2.0 i-L:

Not to mention, Subaru’s comprehensive 5-Year Warranty Scheme will also be applied on top of the promo. New Forester owners are then assured of more confident drives! Head on to any of our showrooms nationwide and get yourself a pre-Christmas gift.

How China is using energy and tech to boost influence

By Arra B. Francia
Reporter

BANGKOK, THAILAND — Scholars and journalists highlighted China’s efforts to strengthen its presence in energy and technology projects in several countries, as part of the world’s second largest economy’s hegemonic strategy.

A speaker at the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum noted that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has already made $50-billion worth of investments in the energy sector.

“Investment in power plants and grids dominate China’s spending on BRI-related infrastructure, the rest was used for transport projects or more than $15 billion. Compared to energy, it’s relatively small,” the speaker said.

The Japan-ASEAN Media Forum, held last Aug. 24 to 26, invoked the Chatham House Rule, where participants are allowed to use the information they have received without identifying the speakers or that of any other participant.

While China has been focusing on energy projects, it has not necessarily leaned toward green projects or the revival of fossil fuel sources. China is said to be “playing both sides to cast influence and expand markets.”

A high concentration of China-led energy projects can be found in Latin America and Southeast Asia, or mostly developing countries. For instance, China is funding a fossil fuel-powered plant in Indonesia and a hydropower surge along the Mekong River in Laos and Cambodia.

During President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s state visit to China last July, Philippine and Chinese companies signed 19 deals worth $12.165 billion, including a 250 megawatt (MW) South Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Plant Project in Damulog, Bukidnon and thermal, hydro, and renewable power plants worth $1.5-2 billion with China Power Investment Holding.

Aside from developing countries, China also has energy projects in Australia and European countries such as Portugal, Greece, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Czech Republic.

Once it establishes these energy projects, China would then move to putting up China-centered supply chains around these structures. A speaker noted this would allow China to become a global leader in the energy field.

Aside from energy, China has also been using technology to boost its presence across the world, particularly through tech giant Huawei Technologies.

“China is trying to become a cyber superpower, and Huawei is one of the tools that they are going to use. Huawei obviously has that relation to many countries…Xi Jinping has already announced his ambition to become a cyber superpower. I think this will be through 5G,” a speaker said.

In the near future, digital technology is expected to be divided into two poles: Chinese 5G world, versus the non-Chinese 5G technology.

“I think the US will be leading the non-Chinese part, and probably Japan and Australia will be a part of the US, and maybe some ramifications will follow. This will be quite an interesting and significant separation of the world,” the speaker said.

However, there are already some counter measures being taken by the US and the European Union to counter China’s global hegemonic strategy.

“There is a heavy connotation of the more negative aspect of Chinese way of doing business. Their global hegemonic strategy will have more strength throughout the world, but there are some counter measures being taken by the US and the EU. We will also have to see how the less wealthy countries are going to react.”

The annual Japan-ASEAN Media forum aims to bring together journalists and scholars from different Japanese and Southeast Asian countries to discuss issues affecting the region.

Fashion (09/16/19)

Great Grand Prix Singapore

THE Grand Prix Season Singapore (GPSS) is ongoing until Sept. 22, highlighted by a mix of exclusive parties, food offerings, retail promotions, and music, sprinkled with a dash of culture and topped off with a whole lot of adrenaline. Shop till you drop along Singapore’s most famous shopping retail belt at the Orchard Road Precinct Party. Expect a range of activities, entertainment, F&B treats, exclusive wares and shopping promotions. Among the unique offerings exclusively available during GPSS, are Nodspark’s racing-themed nail polish wraps, which feature a mix of collaborative designs and house prints. Drop by Design Orchard for more festivities and exclusive treats. During the racing weekend, award-winning Singapore-based contemporary jewelry brand State Property is also set to launch Allotrope, an exclusive capsule collection of fine jewelry inspired by the spirit of racing. The designs will feature traditional fine jewelry materials combined with carbon fibre, produced in 18K Gold.

Melissa’s Mirror Collection

THIS SEASON, Melissa launches its Mirror collection, composed of a wide variety of styles, from sandals to sneakers. Inspired by the 1990s, Mirror includes shoes that bring back fond memories of that decade’s jelly shoes updated for a sleeker look. The Big Heart sandal line comes in metallic options with the Big Heart Chrome. Ladies who opt to wear closed shoes at the office can wear Melissa’s Pointy Heart flats. Meanwhile, the classic ballet flats’ designer collab series featuring Vivienne Westwood and Jason Wu have been updated. A top trend this season — the “tourist sandal” — has been tackled, resulting in the Melissa Papete + Rider adjustable sandals. For the rainy season in the city, Melissa has Line sneakers and the Ulitsa Sneaker Platform along with the Be Babouche slides and Twist mules. This October, watch out for new releases and promos as Melissa celebrates its 40th anniversary. The Melissa Mirror collection is available online at www.melissaphilippines.com, and in Melissa Shoes outlet stores nationwide.

Marvel at SM

CELEBRATING Marvel’s 80 iconic years of stories and characters, The Walt Disney Company Philippines and SM Supermalls have teamed up for the “Marvel 80 Years at SM” campaign. As part of this year-long celebration, SM has released a line of Marvel-themed merchandise. Marvel tees are available at SM Store’s Youth and Kids sections. Those who like hoodies will find muscle and sleeveless hoodies, and long-sleeved hoodies. Children and adult toy collectors can search for their favorite Super Hero with Hasbro’s Marvel 80th collection. This includes the Legends Series modeled as six-inch action figures with individual toys priced at P1,399.75, while the duo sets is sold for P3,499.75. All the toys are now available at Toy Kingdom stores.

Goldman uses JPMorgan’s own tactics in ETF battle

GOLDMAN Sachs Group Inc. is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at boosting its share of the $4 trillion US market for exchange-traded funds (ETF) — even mimicking one of its Wall Street foes.

The bank is adopting an approach pioneered by JPMorgan Chase & Co., filing for a line of broad-based index products that could start trading at rock-bottom prices as early as next week, regulatory records show.

After getting off to a blistering start four years ago on the back of a dirt-cheap factor ETF, Goldman dropped behind its Wall Street competitor, which has ridden a strategy dubbed “bring your own assets” to a $29 billion business.

Essentially cloning popular ETFs and moving client cash from those products into its own, the controversial approach may be Wall Street’s best hope for challenging the dominance of State Street Corp., BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group.

“As we continue to grow and build out our ETF business, along with our recent acquisitions, it just makes sense in some areas for us to have the building blocks that fuel those portfolios,” said Steve Sachs, head of capital markets for ETFs at Goldman.

Even before this latest chapter, the race between the Wall Street giants had enough twists and turns to power a thriller.

Goldman emerged in 2015, establishing itself as a leader in factor investing with its ActiveBeta US Large Cap Equity fund, ticker GSLC. The product wowed the ETF industry with a fee of just 9 basis points, unheard-of for smart beta strategies — but newer ventures have stumbled. This year, it introduced a handful of thematic strategies, but they’ve collected less than $50 million.

JPMorgan was relatively quiet until June 2018, when it kickstarted its business with a suite of vanilla ETFs called BetaBuilders. Unlike the more specialized products the bank was hawking up until then, the funds tracked broad developed-market benchmarks — at thrift-store prices.

It was an inspired play, tripling JPMorgan’s ETF assets to near $30 billion within a 14-month span and powering it ahead of Goldman.

“JPMorgan saw this as a smart move ahead of anyone,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas. “We’ve seen how hard it is to get any assets. But bringing your own assets gets you mojo, and mojo gets people in the door and investors on the phone.”

The bank made smart moves elsewhere, winning a foothold in the nascent but growing fixed-income ETF market, and planting a flag early in Europe, whose industry is around half the size of the US but growing rapidly.

Goldman has yet to list an ETF in the region despite some high-profile hires, though it plans to commence the business before year-end, a spokesman in London said. That puts it several years behind JPMorgan, which has $2.8 billion in assets there.

Now Goldman hopes to turn the tables on its investment-banking rival by embracing the bring-your-own-assets strategy. The firm already has some experience in the area as the largest owner of GSLC, and its latest foray is fueled by a recent acquisition spree. The bank scooped up S&P’s model portfolio business and United Capital this year, giving it fresh pipelines for flows into its own funds.

However, the approach isn’t without its critics, who argue there are conflicts in directing wealthy clients to a bank’s own ETFs.

The bank’s transfers into BetaBuilders have saved clients about $42 million a year thanks to their low price tag, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence.

Ironically, if Goldman succeeds in moving wealthy clients to its in-house products, BlackRock may turn out to be the biggest loser, according to an analysis of regulatory filings.

“The advisers — by being so brutal with cost obsession — have created this monster of cost migration,” said Balchunas. “By making moves like this, the banks are able to own the end client and the flows. It’s brutal out there.” — Bloomberg

BSP rate cut signals could provide initial lift

SHARE PRICES could rise this week as investors react to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) hint of more cuts in interest rates.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged 0.60% or 47.89 points to close at 7,992.32 on Friday. It ended the week 0.74% higher due to gains in the mining and oil sector as well as the financials counter.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the week at P419.5 million, while turnover stood at P30.81 billion.

“On the early part of next week the local market could climb past the 8,000 level following the rate cut hints of the BSP,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Associate Japhet Louis Tantiangco said in a mobile phone message on Friday.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said last Friday that a planned further reduction in interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) could take place before November. The BSP’s Monetary Board will hold its sixth policy review for the year on Sept. 26.

That would bring the year’s total interest rate reduction to 75 bps, after the BSP cut key rates by a total of 50 bps in its May 9 and Aug. 8 meetings. But that would still partially dial back last year’s cumulative 175-bp hike.

Mr. Diokno also said that monetary authorities are assessing whether to adopt further cuts in banks’ reserve requirement ratios in one go or in a phased manner.

Philstocks’ Mr. Tantiangco added that investors will also look at the Federal Open Market Committee’s own Sep. 17-18 policy review.

“If they lower their rates, then our local market could sustain ground above the 8,000 mark. If not however, we may fall back to our 7,800-8,000 trading range,” he said.

TIMELY
For AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun, investors may be holding on to their funds for the moment due to the number of firms scheduled to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) before the year ends.

“Overall, we remain bullish on local equities in the longer term. Right now may be a good time for investors to position themselves in this market as treasury bonds in the west have been giving negative yields. We may start to see money flow to emerging markets bonds and equities,” Mr. Mangun said in a market report.

This comes amid the general cautiousness seen in international markets due to fears on the global economy’s slowdown triggered by the US-China trade war and the yield curve inversion seen in the US.

“The general investor sentiment remains extremely cautious due to the slowdown in global economic growth and the looming fears over a recession in the world’s biggest economy. However, the Philippine economy could not be in a better spot,” Mr. Mangun said.

Mr. Mangun placed initial market support this week at 7,750-7,630 and resistance at 7,920-8,000. — Arra B. Francia

General Santos signs Pampanga trade deals

DAVAO CITY — General Santos City concluded partnership agreements with three Pampanga local governments as well as the Clark Development Corp. on Sept. 5, coinciding with the city’s annual Tuna Festival in early September.

Mayor Ronnel C. Rivera signed sister-city agreements with Angeles, Mabalacat and San Fernando, Pampanga and a separate deal with the Clark Development Corp.

The agreements were part of a plan to encourage trade linkages under the United States Agency for International Development’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth project.

In a statement, Mr. Rivera said: “We are excited to commence these new partnerships with the public and private sectors of Pampanga. These will truly empower and benefit our constituents which will support new development and sustainable growth in our city.”

One of the intended outcomes of the agreements is the eventual launch of direct air service between Clark and General Santos in southern Mindanao, he said, enabling stronger tourism and investment links.

Last month, the Metro Clark Advisory Council passed a resolution urging airlines to service the route. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 13, 2019

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, September 13, 2019.

 

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