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Metro Ayala Cebu to reopen by mid-2019

METRO RETAIL Stores Group, Inc. (MRSGI) targets to complete the first phase of the rebuilding and recovery program of Metro Ayala Cebu by the middle of 2019, after the mall caught fire in January last year.
“We are well on our way to restoring the Metro Supermarket and Metro Department store in Ayala Center Cebu…We expect that the first phase of the redevelopment to be fully operational by mid this year as we continue to build a much better and more vibrant store for our patrons,” MRSGI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Gaisano said in a statement.
The listed firm’s Metro Ayala Cebu store was razed by fire that lasted two days in January 2018.
MRSGI then opened a temporary supermarket covering 900 square meters in Ayala Center Cebu three months after the incident.
Aside from rebuilding its Metro Ayala Cebu store, MRSGI is also pushing through with its expansion in Visayas and Luzon. The company opened Metro Department Stores and Supermarket at Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City and Bacolod last year. It also broke ground for Super Metro Hypermarket Baybay in Leyte.
MRSGI earlier said it looks to double its 2015 gross floor area to 800,000 square meters, with an investment of P10 billion over the five-year period through 2020.
The company currently operates 53 stores across Central, Western, and Eastern Visayas. It also has a presence in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and South Luzon through three formats, namely department store, supermarket, and hypermarket.
MRSGI has recently named Manuel Luis C. Alberto as its new president and chief operating officer, following the retirement of Arthur Emmanuel.
The company’s net income went down by 17% to P454.93 million in the first nine months of 2018, after gross revenues also dipped seven percent to P22.97 billion.
Shares in MRSGI firmed up 1.86% or five centavos to close at P2.74 apiece on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

Demand for BSP’s term deposits rebounds

BSP
DEMAND for term deposits rebounded following the holidays. — BW FILE PHOTO

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
DEMAND FOR term deposits recovered yesterday across all tenors, showing improved liquidity after some tightness observed during the holiday season.
Banks put forward P73.514 billion in bids for the term deposit facility (TDF) on Wednesday, surging past the P50-billion auction volume and the P46.086 billion received by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last week.
Appetite improved across the board as demand recovered after Christmas, which sees a seasonal spike in demand for cash that leaves banks with a smaller stash of idle funds.
Bids for the seven-day tenor more than doubled this week, reaching P35.34 billion versus the P16.731 billion a week ago. This allowed the central bank to fill its P20-billion offering, and even pulled down the average yield to 5.0706% compared to the 5.0784% fetched previously.
The 14-day deposits also saw more action this week, with banks wanting to place as much as P23.297 billion, settling higher than the P20 billion on the auction block. This improved from the P15.092 billion which players wanted to park under the TDF on Jan. 2.
Despite this, the average yield inched up to 5.153% this week from 5.1319% as banks asked for returns ranging from 5.1-5.2%.
On the other hand, a minimal uptick was seen for the 28-day papers, which saw demand inch up to P14.877 billion versus P14.263 billion the past week. This was more than enough to fill the P10 billion that the BSP offered to sell, which also pulled up the average yield to 5.1694% from 5.1672%.
The TDF stands as the central bank’s primary tool to capture excess money supply in the financial system. Through the weekly auctions, the BSP ushers market and interbank rates closer to its desired range of 4.25-5.25% through the yields which they accept.
The window has seen narrower bids over the past few weeks as banks chose to hold more cash, in response to a seasonal demand from clients for Christmas. Yesterday’s demand is the highest seen since Dec. 12, which saw offers hit P85.065 billion.
For BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo, this week’s auction shows that liquidity has started to return to normal levels.
“Given the oversubscription across maturities, we believe the exodus back to BSP of banks’ excess funds will continue at least for a couple of weeks more,” Mr. Guinigundo said in a text message to reporters.
“[O]ver the next few weeks, the large oversubscription would continue to soften as funds previously withdrawn from the BSP continue to return to the BSP itself… After the holidays, we should be seeing lower oversubscription as liquidity normalizes.”
The central bank is keeping its offer volume for next week steady at P50 billion — P20 billion apiece for the seven-day and 14-day tenors and P10 billion in the 28-day term deposits.

When the spice is right


By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter
CUISINE and culture in many nations can be classified into several levels. As high culture and haute cuisine go hand-in-hand, so do home-cooking and pop culture. A restaurant called Siam Sukh Jai Thai Home Cooking in S Maison claims that they can serve Thai cuisine as it is found on the streets and homes of Bangkok.
“We don’t claim to be really hotel or high-class Thai food. Our ambition or purpose was to bring the way that Thai food [is] as my wife and I experienced it in Thailand — in the homes, and in the streets,” said the restaurant’s co-founder Digs Dimagiba (who was once Country Director for Facebook in the Philippines; he has since worked in a bank). Mr. Dimagiba shares credit for the restaurant with his wife, Des Dimagiba. Both lived in Thailand for spells in the early 2000s and the early 2010s.
“We believe that the food cooked at home, whether it’s in Thailand, or the Philippines, is actually the best kind of food,” he added during a tasting in December.
Be warned that the food is authentically hot — when this reporter went to the restaurant last month for a tasting, the heat from the dishes in Siam Sukh Jai was probably instrumental in temporary clearing up this reporter’s cold. The Thai Green Curry, for example, made me scribble “ouch” on my notes, while fresh spring rolls cooled my palate afterwards. I would advise ordering several bowls of rice to go through each dish, as well as downing them with copious amounts of milk tea. More remarkable is the traditional tom yum goong, spiced with kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and chilis. In your face and aggressive, it reminds one of the jungle.
There are several Thai restaurants in the Philippines, perhaps due to Filipino affinity for similar flavor profiles. Thai cuisine was tailor-fit to duke it out in the heat of Thailand. “When you experience Thai cooking in a hotel or someplace that’s extremely polished, the food, will, of course, be very well-polished,” said Mr. Dimagiba, speaking about the that home-cooking experience. As for food cooked in homes and the streets, he said, “Maybe it’s not as perfect… but it’s those little quirks… that tickle your palate.”
Going back to the tom yum goong, its in-your-face taste could be credited to the fact that they flew in a Thai chef as well as the spices and flavor bases for the dishes. For those items that won’t stand up to the rigors of shipping, Mr. Dimagiba planted his own — he has his own kaffir lime trees, for example.
While some people relish the beads of sweat on their lip that appear while dining, others may not, and for this, Mr. Dimagiba points them to less-challenging items in the menu. After all, he says, there are some dishes where the spiciness is part of the flavor. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be true. And they wouldn’t experience it the way that we wanted to for them.”
Siam Sukh Jai Thai Home Cooking is at 2/L, S Maison, Marina Way, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City. For details call 821-6141.

Intel working with Facebook on AI chip coming later this year

INTEL CORP. said on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it is working with Facebook Inc. to finish a new artificial intelligence chip in the second half of this year.
The chips are Intel’s gambit to retain hold of a fast-growing segment of the artificial intelligence computing market but will face competition from similar chips from Nvidia Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services unit.
The new chip will help with what researchers call inference, which is the process of taking an artificial intelligence algorithm and putting it to use, for example by tagging friends in photos automatically.
Intel’s processors currently dominate the market for machine learning inference, which analysts at Morningstar believe will be worth $11.8 billion by 2021. In September, Nvidia launched its own inference chip to compete with Intel.
In November, Amazon also said it had created an inference chip. Amazon’s chip is not a direct threat to Intel and Nvidia’s business because it will not be selling the chips. Amazon will sell services to its cloud customers that run atop the chips starting next year. If Amazon relies on its own chips, it could deprive both Nvidia and Intel of a major customer.
Also at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, Intel said that Dell Technologies Inc. will feature Intel’s next generation of processors in its XPS line of laptops. The so-called 10-nanometer chips have been plagued by delays.
But Navin Shenoy, Intel’s data center chief, reiterated that the new chips will be available in laptops by the 2019 holiday shopping season and in data centers by early next year.
Also at the conference, Amnon Shashua, the head of Intel’s Mobileye self-driving car computer unit, said Mobileye has mapped out all of the roadways in Japan, using cameras that were already embedded in vehicles produced by Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. that come with Mobileye systems from the factory. Intel’s tech rivals such as Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. are gathering mapping data through special vehicles with cameras mounted on top of them. — Reuters

PSE: Shariah-compliant listed firms drop to 56


THE NUMBER of listed firms compliant with Islamic principles of finance dropped to 56 as of Dec. 25, according to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
A quarterly review posted on the PSE website on Tuesday showed the removal of Ayala Land, Inc., IRC Properties, Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Mabuhay Vinyl Corp., Philippine H2O Ventures, Inc., and SPC Power Corp. from the list of Shariah-compliant firms.
On the other hand, Greenergy Holdings, Inc., Macay Holdings, Inc., and Prime Orion Philippines, Inc. made it to the list.
The quarter ending Sept. 25 showed 59 firms to be compliant with Islamic finance principles.
Being Shariah-compliant means that companies are not involved in conventional interest-based lending and financial services such as insurance, mortgages and leasing, and other derivatives.
It also bars companies from engaging in businesses involving pork, alcohol, tobacco, arms and weapons, embryonic stem-cell research, hotels, gambling, casinos, music, cinema, and adult entertainment.
The PSE engaged IdealRatings, Inc., a firm specializing in screening securities for Shariah compliance, for the quarterly review. — Arra B. Francia

Treasury raises P20B from bond tap facility

THE GOVERNMENT raised an additional P20 billion via the facility. — KARL ANGELO N. VIDAL

THE GOVERNMENT raised another P20 billion through the 10-year bonds on Tuesday after it opened its tap facility to accommodate strong demand from investors.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) made a full award of the Treasury bonds (T-bond) it offered through a tap facility, which was opened from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday for its market makers.
The 10-year instruments, which fetched a coupon of 6.875%, carry a 6.829% average based on the yield fetched during the bond auction. The average rate is 14.6 basis points lower than the 6.975% rate fetched when the 10-year bonds were last offered last month.
The Treasury has already raised a total of P75.91 billion from the tap facility after opening it for six straight auctions.
Last Monday, the Treasury also offered one-year Treasury bills through tap facility, accepting all bids amounting to P300 million.
The 10 market makers allowed to participate in the tap facility are Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank, Inc., China Banking Corp., Citibank Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., First Metro Investment Corp., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and Security Bank Corp.
These financial institutions are given privileges such as the facility in exchange for obligations like submitting rate bids within a prescribed range.
Following Tuesday’s auction proper, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said market participants are now looking to park their funds in longer-dated bonds as inflation is expected to decelerate and amid ample liquidity onshore.
Following its policy meeting last December, the central bank said it expects inflation to return below four percent by the end of the first quarter, well within the 2-4% target band of the government.
Sought for comments, a bond trader said Tuesday’s tap facility offer was a successful one on the back of strong demand from market players.
“It was a success given the strong demand for the 10-year bonds, since it fetched tenders reaching P50 billion during the T-bond auction,” the trader said in a phone interview.
The government plans to raise P360 billion this quarter through domestic means. Some P240 billion will be borrowed through 12 weekly T-bill auctions during the three-month period, while P120-billion worth of T-bonds will also be issued through six fortnightly auctions.
The state wants to borrow P1.189 trillion in 2019 to fund its spending plans. Of the amount, 75% will be sourced domestically while the remainder will be from foreign creditors.
However, the 2019 national budget has yet to be passed by Congress and signed into law, leaving the fiscal program hanging so far. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Seya tackles classics with a twist and urban farming


By Michelle Anne P. Soliman, Reporter
SANDWICHED between two pet service stores along Katipunan Ave. in White Plains is a two-month-old restaurant adorned with produce — white bitter gourd, chili, tomatoes, and edible flowers — in pots of varying sizes.
According to restaurant owner and chef Isaiah “Seya” Ortega, he originally wanted to pursue a farmer’s kitchen concept for his new business. To avoid the notion of the place as “too healthy” or “very farm to table,” he and his partners decided to name the restaurant after him since it was a chef-driven establishment. “Hopefully, the food will stand out. Never mind the name, the food should be the real star,” Mr. Ortega told BusinessWorld during last week’s visit.
Compared to his previous business ventures — a small mall-based food business and a restaurant specializing in sinigang (sour soup) — where he was restricted to theme-based dishes, Mr. Ortega said that opening this restaurant has allowed him to explore his creativity as a cook. “In terms of the menu, I have more freedom since we serve [a mixture of] Filipino and international cuisine,” he said.
“I don’t want to stick to a certain cuisine. With my background in cooking, you’ll have the urge to really practice what you’ve learned,” added Mr. Ortega, who took up a vocational course in culinary studies for two years at Center for Culinary Arts Manila before earning a degree at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).
Seya’s Kitchen serves 13 main dishes to keep the choices concise and simple for the diner. Changes in the menu are done every month which allows the chef to create and explore more dishes.
Mr. Ortega noted that the dishes are not fusion but a “use of the available ingredients to enhance a cuisine.”
For lunch that day, Mr. Ortega served coconut garlic squid adobo (meat stewed in vinegar) which he explained includes Japanese ingredients such as bonito flakes. The torch salmon fillet with Thai basil lemongrass broth was a prepared with a combination of cooking techniques as the salmon done in Japanese aburi style (flame seared) and flavored with Thai herbs. The roast pork for the special lechon bagnet with lechon sauce and vinegar went through a 48-hour cooking process to achieve the right flavor and texture; Mr. Ortega describe it as “how you would cook bagnet (a deep fried crispy pork belly dish) but season lechon (whole roast pig).” For dessert, he served salted caramel and moist chocolate liquor cakes in cans by Pastry Amore.
Mr. Ortega plans to convert the restaurant’s outdoor space into an edible landscape. He said that having an urban farm in Manila makes the ingredients more accessible for him rather than sourcing them from his farm in Batangas. In the future, he plans to include the produce of his small urban farm as part of the restaurant’s product line.
Mr. Ortega noted cooking a better version of dishes as his philosophy as a chef. “It is very easy to cook something so good. But it’s very hard to cook something so bad,” he said.
PLANTING IN YOUR OWN SPACE
Mr. Ortega’s introduction to farming began with planting his own herbs which he used in cooking competitions he joined as a culinary student. He further enriched his knowledge through attending seminars, and reading magazines and online articles on urban farming.
“When you say urban farming per se, [it means] you’re producing more than enough for yourself. It will depend on how big your space is for it,” Mr. Ortega explained, differentiating it from gardening which is done as a hobby or to “supply enough for yourself.” He added that vertical farming is the current popular method.
There is no minimum area requirement for farming he said, noting that gardening may be done in spaces as small as one’s window or porch. “It’s not really a space issue. It’s more about how you creatively utilize the space for your crop,” he said.
Given an example of a family of five, Mr. Ortega explained that “what they eat within a week is more than enough for them to have a cycle of food when they try to plant their food.”
For households that plan to start growing their own food, composting is practiced in order to produce organic fertilizer.
He pointed out that using banana peels and eggshells in compost give “more than enough calcium for the soil for an entire month.”
Companion planting or planting crops in proximity with each other is another suggestion. “Some types of plants grow better if they are accompanied by certain type of plant of a different variety since they benefit from each other,” he said.
For Mr. Ortega, learning about farming alongside cooking makes one aware of a crop’s distinct taste and the best time for it to grow. Cautioning that it may sound boastful, he said, “It will make you a better cook.”
“If you learn both practices, you get to be more intimate with the ingredients,” he added. “Most of the time, the chefs would work with farmers. They ask about how you cook it. But they fail to ask how you plant it and care for it.”
Based on Mr. Ortega’s observations, one advantage of growing your own food is a decrease in food expenses.
“I think farming should be a common knowledge for everyone. It’s more rewarding to take care something, harvest it, and not just rely on groceries or other food sources.”
He pointed out that for most of history the majority of humans were involved in farming and raising livestock. That changed with industrialization. Now farmers are in the minority. “So, for me that’s quite sad. It developed a negative connotation of being ‘dirty’ and ‘muddy.’ It’s part of it. But it’s not like that. There’s more to it than just that,” said Mr. Ortega.
Farming requires planning and patience. “It took me a really long time to really somehow understand. I’m not saying I mastered it. It takes time,” he said.
Seya’s Kitchen is located at 42 Katipunan Ave., White Plains, Quezon City. It is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and 6 to 10 p.m., and Sundays at 10 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and 6 to 10 a.m. For inquiries, call 911-4734 or 0917-674-1445, or visit www.facebook.com/seyaskitchen/.

Wireless firms put big 5G gambles on display at CES

FIFTH-GENERATION wireless technology may one day handle sci-fi tasks like guiding driverless cars, but today’s consumers are more concerned with making their phones work faster — and that’s not lost on mobile carriers headed to CES in Las Vegas.
In coming weeks, AT&T Inc. will introduce an interim “5G E” service that promises 50% faster Internet speeds in many places. Verizon Communications Inc. was out first in September with a 5G home service, pitching ultra-high-definition TV and speeds up to 20 times faster.
Whether it’s the more-distant future or improvements just around the corner, CES is the place for carriers to connect with investors and members of the media who’ll carry their message to consumers. Verizon and AT&T have bet their futures on the next generation of wireless technology and are eager to show what it might look like.
Full-fledged 5G networks are still more than a year away, but selling investors on the idea, and touting eye-popping speeds to jockey for the lead in consumers’ minds is every bit the game — even if it means slapping that label on technology that isn’t really fifth generation.
AT&T is on a multistep path to 5G. Starting this spring, it will rebrand recent models of 4G Android phones as 5G Evolution or “5G E,” a transitional step intended to reflect speed and capacity upgrades to the carrier’s current network.
NOTICEABLY FASTER?
And if it’s noticeably faster, mobile customers might not split hairs about 5G definitions, BTIG LLC analyst Walt Piecyk said in a note Monday.
“The broad availability of ‘real 5G’ could be years away, providing AT&T with a window of opportunity to surpass Verizon’s historical dominance as the wireless network leader in the US,” he said.
Verizon Chief Executive Officer Hans Vestberg is hosting his company’s CES demonstration Tuesday and will attempt to show, through several examples, how 5G is entirely different from current technology. He’s expect to demonstrate how the new technology can virtually eliminate latency — those annoying delays when you’re trying to connect — enabling services that aren’t possible now.
Beyond speed, Verizon will try to show how 5G networks can support 200 times more connections than 4G — or more — within the same service area.
On Wednesday, AT&T plans to reveal deals to help cities automate some services and embed more communications technology in cars — steps that are consistent with its slower run-up to genuine 5G technology. Late Monday, the company said it will work with Toyota Motor Corp. and telecom provider KDDI Corp. to provide customers with services like Wi-Fi hot spots, remote starting and remote diagnostics on its existing network.
5G ARMS RACE
In addition to serving as a theme for this year’s tech show, 5G shoulders some other heavy burdens, including in the area of national security.
China, for example, has made leading transition to 5G a priority and that’s set off warning bells among US executives and the military. Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network Corp., has accumulated billions of dollars in unused bandwidth and likens his development of a network to the Manhattan Project — the US race to be first with a nuclear weapon.
Last week, a retired US general said China’s desire to dominate new wireless technology poses a global threat that should be thwarted by a new, secure network.
China will gain a capability for mayhem and mass surveillance if it dominates advanced 5G networks that link billions of devices, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding said in a memo that was obtained by Bloomberg News.
“The more connected we are, and 5G will make us the most connected by far, the more vulnerable we become,” said Mr. Spalding, who left the National Security Council last year.
Beyond the military implications, the build-out of 5G could also unleash some $200 billion in estimated spending on product development and networks. And for carriers including Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc., which are awaiting approval of $26.5 billion merger, 5G can open the door to sales of advanced services like nationwide broadband and TV. — Bloomberg

DoubleDragon partners with Cargill-Jollibee JV

DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. has teamed up with the local unit of multinational firm Cargill for the development of industrial facilities in the country.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the listed property developer said its industrial leasing unit CentralHub Industrial Centers, Inc. has formed a strategic partnership with Cargill Joy Poultry Meats Production, Inc. (C-Joy) for the expansion of its industrial leasing facilities.
DoubleDragon said the partnership will enable Cargill to achieve its target to have about 30 hectares of industrial development space in several locations in the country.
C-Joy is a joint venture of the US-based Cargill and Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC). It currently operates a poultry processing plant in Santo Tomas, Batangas, which supplies dressed and marinated chicken for JFC brands such as Jollibee, Mang Inasal and Chowking.
“This partnership with Cargill is in line with DoubleDragon’s vision to make CentralHub the leading provider of industrial complexes in the Philippines. These industrial facilities will add a substantial amount of leasable space to our growing leasable portfolio nationwide,” DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar J. Sia II said in a statement.
CentralHub targets to have 100,000 square meters of leasable industrial space from a total of eight projects by 2020. The sites are spread out across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
“We are very optimistic for the growth prospects of CentralHub as we expect the demand for modern industrial complexes to continue to increase significantly as more companies will require modern standardized multi-use warehouses suited for commissaries, cold storage, light manufacturing and logistic distribution centers,” DoubleDragon Chief Investment Officer Marianna H. Yulo said in a statement.
Ms. Yulo added that CentralHub has the potential to be the first industrial REIT (real estate investment trust) in the country.
Industrial leasing is one of the company’s four segments, the others being mall, office, and hotel. Mr. Sia earlier said the company will generate P10.52 billion in sales and rental income from these four units in 2019.
DoubleDragon, which is led by Mang Inasal founder Mr. Sia and JFC founder Tony Tan Caktiong, is ramping up its expansion to have 1.2 million sq.m. an overall leasing spaces by next year. This will include 100 CityMalls, 5,000 hotel rooms under the Hotel101 and JinJiang Inn Philippines brands, and eight industrial hubs.
DoubleDragon generated a net income attributable to the parent of P966.02 million in the first nine months of 2018, 19% higher year-on-year, following a 16% uptick in gross revenues to P4.72 billion.
Shares in DoubleDragon jumped 5.15% or P1.05 to close at P21.45 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

zGlue pitches ‘chiplets’ to make custom chips for start-ups

A VETERAN of the world’s two biggest chipmakers is hoping to make affordable custom silicon chips for start-up companies by rolling out new software on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Custom-designed chips power top-tier smartphones from companies such as Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Ltd. But they are costly to design and difficult to make, requiring huge teams of engineers and years to complete, with special design software that can cost millions of dollars a year.
Ming Zhang founded Mountain View, California-based zGlue Inc. after a career at Intel Corp. and the chipmaking division of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., where he helped work on Intel’s first mobile processors and the designs for some of Samsung’s chips. zGlue, itself a small start-up with only a few dozen employees, aims to decrease the complexity and cost of custom chips and launched its full system on Monday.
To do that, Mr. Zhang’s zGlue has broken up complicated chip designs into “chiplets” that can be combined on a single chip using free Web-based software. The chip uses a special bottom connective layer that gives the chiplets a speedier connection and smaller footprint than if they were each made as individual chips on a circuit board. The process is similar to technology recently introduced by Intel to stack different circuits together for faster chips.
zGlue offers three things to start-ups: A pre-set library of the chiplets, software to combine them without having to know complicated chip-design rules, and managing the relationship with the sprawling centralized chip factories that will ultimately manufacture them.
Foundries like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. are accustomed to dealing with large customers such as Apple or massive chip firms like Nvidia Corp. or Qualcomm Inc.
But Mr. Zhang told Reuters the key for start-ups is to get the chips made at a price they can afford. To that end, zGlue on Monday also introduced a program where zGlue will pool its small customers’ orders and work with TSMC’s chip factories to get them made faster than if the start-ups went to TSMC on their own.
“We are trying to make this available to anyone. We have a software tool so that anyone can go from a design on a napkin to receiving a chip in a month,” Mr. Zhang told Reuters in an interview. “All these [larger] companies are making amazing technology, but they’re keeping it for themselves.” — Reuters

Now under Udenna, Conti’s plans for more branches with Instagrammable interiors

CONTI’S Bakeshop and Restaurant, the well-loved source of holiday Mango Bravo cake along with other goodies, was gobbled up by Davao-based Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. last year. As it stands, expect a few changes in the coming year for the familiar brand including a major expansion.
Conti’s officially opened its newest branch at Gateway Tower in the Araneta Center, Quezon City on Jan. 8. It is the chain’s 22nd branch, and the second to open since its Udenna Corp. acquisition (the first was in Festival Mall).
The chain was founded by three sisters: Cecille Maranon, Carole Sumulong, and Angie Martinez, who shared the maiden name Conti. The bakery and restaurant was founded in 1997 from their kitchen in Parañaque. The sisters expanded it to 20 branches around Metro Manila, and currently hold 30% of the company, while the majority of 70% has been bought by Udenna Corp.
Joey Garcia, CEO for Conti’s, told BusinessWorld that the changes to expect with Conti’s in 2019 would include a thrust in store development: from redesign to expansion. “Hopefully, we can open another 20 stores,” he said. Conti’s Business Development and Marketing Director, Michael Martinez, said, “Make it 30.”
In any case, Mr. Garcia plans to double the store count for Conti’s, citing to their advantage good relationships with developers and landlords. “A lot of these developers are looking forward to working with us,” he said.
He also cited as a thrust the improvement of store designs for added efficiency. As well, there’s a search for relevance in the younger market. “Our stores, I must say, were not that ‘Instagrammable’,” said Mr. Garcia.
In line with the goal of a doubled store count, is the goal of bringing Conti’s locations closer to Metro Manila’s neighborhoods.
As well as Conti’s, Udenna Corp.’s shopping spree included the purchase of Enderun Colleges back in 2017. The company added these to a portfolio which includes the franchise for Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart. The company also has dealings in shipping and logistics via Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., real estate and infrastructure ventures through Udenna Development and Udenna Infrastructure, respectively, and Phoenix Petroleum.
Speaking about the diversity of the Udenna Corp.’s holdings, Mr. Garcia said, “For us, I think what we bring in to the group is our expertise in shared services.” For example, since the culinary programs of Enderun Colleges are within Udenna Corp.’s reach, the chefs behind those programs can help with research and development of products and the restaurants.
If one worries about changing too much of the familiar, however, Mr. Garcia assured BusinessWorld that since the original founders are still on board, the changes won’t be too radical. “We will maintain what they have started, and we will get better,” said Mr. Garcia.
Earlier in a statement announcing the acquisition in September 2018, Udenna Corp. Chair and Founder Mr. Uy said, “We are very bullish on the Philippine food industry, which has expanded with the growing demand for convenience. Specifically, the Philippines food service industry amounts to roughly $7.2 billion and over the past decades has had annual growth of 15% to 20%. We believe this transaction brings strong synergies with our existing portfolio, which includes hospitality and tourism.”
“Having Conti’s is just one step,” said Mr. Garcia. “We will still want to grow our F&B group under the Enderun Food Group, which is part of the Udenna Corp.”
“Eventually, you will hear more news about Enderun Food having more brands.” — Joseph L. Garcia

Owner of Friday’s Boracay resort sees lower sales in seven months

BOULEVARD Holdings, Inc. said its Friday’s Boracay Resort reopened on Oct. 30, 2018. — HTTPS://WWW.FRIDAYSBORACAY.COM/

BOULEVARD Holdings, Inc. (BHI) reported a decrease in sales in the seven months ending December, as operations were still affected by the six-month closure of Boracay.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the company said sales dropped by seven percent to P10.74 million in December. On a seven-month basis, BHI’s sales further fell 42% to P29.42 million, versus P50.52 million in the same period a year ago.
BHI owns Friday’s Holdings, Inc., which in turn operates Friday’s Boracay Beach Resort.
The company attributed the negative performance to the closure of Boracay Island from April to October last year, upon orders by President Rodrigo R. Duterte to rehabilitate the renowned tourist destination.
BHI said it resumed the hotel operations of Friday’s Boracay Beach Resort last Oct. 30, and is upbeat on the business prospects on the island.
“With the reopening to local and international tourists which started on Oct. 26, 2018, Friday’s Boracay Resort management and staff are excited to welcome their guests on a successful relaunch with our continued efforts to make resort experience more enjoyable to our guests around,” the company said.
The company is also banking on the increase of travel agents promoting Boracay’s cleaner environment, which it said is comparable to its state in the 1980s. This could ensure the continuity of their business operations. — Arra B. Francia

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