Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube
Home Blog Page 13799

Japan’s Miniso ventures into Mindanao through SM malls

DAVAO CITY — Miniso, a Japanese lifestyle specialty shop that has partnered with SM Retail, Inc. for its Philippine operations, opened its second store in Mindanao Friday at the SM City mall here and is planning to open two more in the coming months.

In an interview during the store opening, Miniso Area Manager Khae E. Sumait said the third shop will be launched in September at the SM mall in General Santos City, and the fourth at the SM Lanang-Davao next year.

The first Mindanao store was launched last year in Cagayan de Oro City.

“Mindanao is fast performing when it comes to SM shopping malls, which is our basis to open in the SM branches,” Ms. Sumait said.

She added the retail company, which has a presence in more than 50 countries, aims to show its optimism in the economy of Davao and the rest of Mindanao with its venture in the country’s south.

Miniso, established in 2013 by Japanese designer Miyake Junya and Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu in Tokyo, positions itself as a retailer of high quality, low-priced and creative products, including home items, health and beauty, digital accessories, as well as food and drinks.

“We have quality products and we are doing good business because of that, plus our great customer service and we really make sure that everything is at a low price,” Ms. Sumait said.

SM Retail, on the other hand, is part of SM Investments Corp., the holding firm of tycoon Henry Sy. — Maya M. Padillo

Finding the Sweet Spot for a Pro-Poor Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax

Section 25 of House Bill 5636 (dubbed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN) aims to impose an excise tax of P10 per liter of soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened teas and coffees, to be annually increased by 4% effective Jan. 1, 2018. The sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax was incorporated into the Duterte administration’s broader tax reform agenda as primarily a health measure. According to the Department of Finance (DoF), increases in price will redirect consumption of beverages with high sugar content toward better food choices, while incentivizing industries to develop healthy alternatives.

Continue

Truck ban full implementation this week in underpass construction area

THE CEBU City Transportation Office (CCTO) will strictly enforce the truck ban policy in the south starting this week to ease traffic congestion along N. Bacalso Avenue where construction of the P638-million underpass started on Aug. 7. CCTO operations chief Francisco “Isko” Ouano told The Freeman that last week served as an adjustment and information period. This week, violators will be apprehended and charged a P500 fine. Trucks — including fuel tankers, cement mixers, dump trucks, garbage trucks, delivery trucks, and six-wheeler trucks, among others — are not allowed to pass through N. Bacalso Avenue from Barangay Bulacao to Barangay Mambaling from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. — The Freeman

Napocor adds over 28 MW to plants serving off-grid areas

THE National Power Corp. (Napocor) has installed power generation sets with a capacity of 28.686 megawatts (MW) to supplement the capacity of 38 power plants in off-grid areas — those belonging to the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG), the agency said over the weekend. 

Pio J. Benavidez, Napocor president and chief executive officer, said the deployment of the generation sets, which is expected to serve 176,000 households, is part of the company’s service upgrading in the countryside to ensure uninterrupted local business operations and implementation of the government’s development programs.

As of the first half, the generation sets were deployed and commissioned in various SPUG plants in 17 provinces such as Apayao, Batanes, Aurora, Quezon, Batangas, Romblon, Marinduque, Palawan, Albay, Masbate, Antique, Cebu, Bohol, Western Samar, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Sultan Kudarat.

“We are aware of the weight of our roles in the islands and off-grid areas. With power supply, we are able to improve commerce, health and education programs. This is more than enough inspiration for us to give our best in what we do,” said Mr. Benavidez in a statement.

Mr. Benavidez, who comes from the Bicol province of Catanduanes, an off-grid island, said the additional power will also meet the increasing demand in areas whose economies are improving or experiencing a boost from rural tourism. Napocor operates 275 SPUG plants in 189 municipalities in 34 provinces.

Napocor said another 17 plants outside the interconnected electricity grid have benefited from longer power operating hours. Two of these areas are San Vicente diesel power plant in Northern Samar, with eight hours added to its previous eight, and West Simunul diesel power plant in Tawi-Tawi, with six hours more from eight previously.

Under Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, Napocor is mandated to provide power generation and associated power delivery systems in missionary areas or islands and communities not connected to the main transmission grid. — Victor V. Saulon

Philippine taekwondo team ready for KL Games, says Alora

EXPECT the Philippine taekwondo team to be ready to compete when the 29th Southeast Asian Games fires off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this week. This was the assurance given by veteran team member and Philippine flag-bearer Kirstie Elaine Alora.

Continue

Oil spill off Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY — Emergency workers are battling to contain an oil spill near a joint Kuwaiti-Saudi oil field in the Gulf, an official said Sunday.

Continue

Peso seen sideways ahead of Fed

THE PESO may trade sideways against the greenback this week on the back of softer US inflation as well as bets of upbeat key economic reports and ahead of likely hawkish US Federal Reserve minutes.

The local currency closed at P50.98 per dollar on Friday, dropping 18.5 centavos from Thursday’s finish of P50.795 against the greenback. It was the peso’s weakest close in almost 11 years or since it ended at P51.05 per dollar on Aug. 29, 2006.

Week on week, the peso also lost 82 centavos from its P50.16-a-dollar close on Aug. 4.

Traders and analysts said the peso will take its cue from the US inflation report released last Friday, with geopolitical tensions between the United States and North Korea also expected to affect sentiment.

Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said the peso may initially strengthen versus the greenback this week due to weaker-than-expected US consumer price index (CPI) inflation data.

Reuters reported US consumer prices saw a slight uptick last month, fuelled by higher food costs, but was offset by a drop in the prices of other goods, which could signal a benign inflation and could delay the Fed to delay tightening rates by yearend.

The US Labor Department bared the consumer price index inched up to 01.% in July, steady from June’s reading, bringing year-on-year increase to 1.7% last month from 1.6% in June.

“The dollar might initially depreciate this week due to lower-than-expected US inflation,” he said in his weekly outlook, but noted the peso’s drop may be capped on bets of upbeat key US data and hawkish statements from Fed policy makers as shown in its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes.

“Early losses might be trimmed towards the end of the week amid expectations of stronger US retail sales and potentially more hawkish comments in the FOMC minutes about the US Federal Reserve’s balance sheet reduction,” Mr. Dumalagan said.

US retail sales data will be released on Tuesday night, while the US central bank’s FOMC minutes from their July policy meeting is set to be released on Thursday morning, Manila time.

Mr. Dumalagan added that the dollar’s anticipated gain against the peso could also be capped by bets of strong US economic growth in the April to June period.

“The greenback’s gain might be limited by likely upbeat Philippine GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the second quarter,” he said. The Philippine Statistics Authority will release official second-quarter GDP growth data on Thursday.

“The factors that could cause a significant reversal in the dollar’s recent upward trend include stronger-than-expected Philippine economic expansion in the second quarter, an upward revision in the euro area’s second quarter GDP growth, and unexpected dovish comments in the FOMC minutes. Geopolitical concerns abroad might continue to introduce volatility in the foreign exchange market,” Mr. Dumalagan said.

The exchange rate could settle within P50.60 to P51.10 per dollar, according to Mr. Dumalagan.

Meanwhile, a trader said by phone on Friday that the exchange rate could see a range of P50.90 to P51.30 this week.

“[This] week, should risk-off sentiment persist, we may see again another new high for the dollar-peso, and maybe could close at P51.50-per-dollar, so we’ll see if tensions happen over the weekend or a turnaround may happen, there could be a reversal on sentiment,” the trader said, referring to geopolitical tensions between US and North Korea after US President Donald J. Trump and Pyongyang traded warnings last week.

“In terms of data, markets will be watching closely on US CPI data as this will be a gauge on how the Fed will react, and I guess that will probably give more reason for the market to buy the US dollar,” the trader noted.

For his part, BDO Unibank, Inc. Chief Market Strategist Jonathan L. Ravelas said the peso may weaken to as low as P51.50 per dollar this week. “Chart-wise, the test of the P51.00 levels put the P51.25–P51.50 levels within striking distance. Continue to see the market to range between P50.70–P51.00 levels in the week ahead.” — Janine Marie D. Soliman with Reuters

Toyota expects to exceed 2017 car sales target

TOYOTA Motor Philippines (TMP) may surpass its full-year car sales target despite another looming price hike as a result of the depreciation of the local currency.

Mike G. Masamayor, TMP vice-president of sales planning department, told reporters last week the Japanese car manufacturer is “going to overachieve” its goal of selling about 175,000 units for the entire year. Year to date, the company has sold 103,000 vehicles. 

“Aside from growth from stable economic conditions, there is an ‘excise tax scare’ so everybody’s rushing to buy vehicles, especially the expensive vehicles,” Mr. Masamayor said, noting that sales are historically strong in the last two months of the year.

The government is mulling the imposition of higher excise taxes on vehicles to raise revenues, a move that has raised concern over its potential impact on domestic vehicle sales.

TMP President Satoru Suzuki had said the looming price increases as a result of the proposed new taxes will impact sales — initially, at least — with its chief admitting the company expects “some demand slowdown.”

In the first half, TMP sold 84,616 units, with record-breaking sales of 16,497 units in June, surpassing the previous monthly record of 15,791 units in May.

Sales may have been robust, but TMP experienced a 7% decline in net earnings to P6.3 billion in the first half of 2017 from P6.8 billion a year ago due to unfavorable foreign exchange differential and higher operating and overhead costs.

TMP implemented a 2% price increase across the board in March to protect margins. Another 2% hike will be seen in September.

“That level of price increase, customers can accept… Once that is spread through amortization, wala na siyang impact (there will be no impact),” Mr. Masamayor said.

First-semester revenues grew 15% to P82.1 billion from P71.3 billion. Toyota sold 85,728 vehicles during the period, up 18%, on the strength of the Vios, Fortuner, Innova and Avanza models.

TMP cornered the lion’s share of the market with 39% of the Philippine auto sector.

TMP is part of GT Capital Holdings, Inc., the holding firm of tycoon George S.K. Ty, which also has interests in banking, real estate, life and nonlife insurance and infrastructure. — Krista Angela M. Montealegre

Malaysian consulate, tourism sector planning Davao-KL ‘nights’ to help promote AirAsia flights

DAVAO’S TOURISM sector and the Malaysian consulate in the city are planning a promotional campaign to help boost passenger traffic for AirAsia’s Davao-Kuala Lumpur (KL) flights that will start Dec. 21. Malaysian Consul General Mohd Jafri Bin Mohd Sharif, in an interview with BusinessWorld, said they are looking at holding “Davao Nights” in KL and vice versa. “It’s an event or occasion to promote Davao in Kuala Lumpur. It’s not yet completely discussed but we already initiated this kind of event before,” Mr. Sharif said. “There’s a lot of people in Kuala Lumpur who don’t know what Davao is all about and it seems like Davao itself, they don’t know about Kuala Lumpur,” he added. AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Anthony Francis Fernandes announced the opening of the four-times-a-week Davao-KL flights during the 4th Davao Investment Conference in July. The new route would become the low-cost airline’s fourth direct route from Malaysia to the Philippines after Manila, Cebu, and Kalibo in Aklan. AirAsia Philippines already operates several domestic flights to and from Davao. Mr. Fernandes also said that AirAsia is considering Davao as a potential hub for connectivity within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The local business sector has called on the government to act on the pending rehabilitation plan for the Davao International Airport and create a separate agency that will manage its maintenance and operations. — Maya M. Padillo

DICT warns against budget diversion to fund free tuition

DEPARTMENT of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima said that he “cannot comply” with his mandate of improving ICT if the budget for his department is realigned by Congress.

His remarks follow the proposal of Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, Chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, to use supposed under-utilized budgets of certain national government agencies to fund the tuition fees of students of state universities and colleges (SUCs).

On Aug. 3, President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 1093, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

Prior to the signing of the law, the president’s economic managers warned that the measure will cost the government as much as P100 billion per year.

“You enacted RA 10844… the totality of the mandate is to improve the quality of life of the Filipino people, via the use of ICT… My budget is towards complying with the legal mandate, and I cannot comply with that mandate unless there is a budget,” Mr. Salalima said, referring to the law which established the DICT.

“It is the normal right and duty of our congressmen to scrutinize all the budgets of the departments, given that we are developing countries, and we are not flowing with much money…give them the benefit of the doubt that they are doing it for the benefit of the country,” Mr. Salalima said in English and Filipino on the sidelines of a conference.

Mr. Salalima noted that the underutilization of the estimated P3.2-billion budget allocated for 2016 was due to lack of manpower for executing projects, as the department was only in its first year of operations.

“Our budget is purely for countryside development, and our budget is for improving the telecommunications service in the country, and that includes precisely, the speeding up of the Internet. And you have to build structures. Without these structures, you cannot speed up the Internet.”

“We had P3.2 billion, which was under-utilized, in the sense that our structural organization was only approved this June 2017. Naturally, because we lack manpower, we cannot use all these for countryside development and…[ensuring] efficient telecommunications service,” Mr. Salalima said.

Mr. Salalima added: “We had to manage many projects at one time outside of those projects which we’re supposed to install last year under the mandate of the President, the Wifi Portal. So we had to prioritize that over other developments.”

Mr. Salalima also said that part of the under-utilized budget for 2016 went to projects under contract, projects under procurement, and projects that were completed but not yet paid for because the department is examining if the projects are “functioning effectively according to the terms of reference.”

Mr. Salalima said regarding the P6.2-billion budget for next year: “We can implement (the projects) and we can fully utilize (the budget).”

One of the priorities for the coming year is the augmentation of cyber security measures.

“We have to speed up the procurement of cyber security equipment, because cybercrimes and cyber-attacks are on the upswing as far as the number and gravity of attacks are concerned,” Mr. Salalima said.

Mr. Salalima maintained an optimistic tone regarding the state of the budget of the department: “I have no doubt that in the end, the legislators will be wise enough that I cannot legally comply with that mandate, unless they give me a budget.” — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Can the Mighty Mouse make his mark in coaching?

The common notion in basketball is not every great player can become a great coach. Allan Caidic was arguably the best pure shooter Philippine basketball has ever produced. A league Most Valuable Player at one time, he was the all-time record holder for most three-point shots made until Jimmy Alapag broke the feat.

Continue

Pyongyang ordeal

OTTAWA — A Canadian pastor imprisoned in North Korea for more than two years returned home Saturday days after being released, officials said.

Continue
1...13,79813,79913,800...14,215Page 13,799 of 14,215
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube