Anchanto aims to enchant traditional logistics players with its warehouse management system Wareo

PETALING JAYA: Anchanto aims to assist traditional logistics players embrace digital solutions for e-commerce with its warehouse management system (eWMS), Wareo.

Its founder and CEO, Vaibhav Dabhade (pix) observed that the majority of logistics players relied on inventory management systems, order management systems or other traditional enterprise resource planning solutions for all their logistics needs, while a minority employed outdated eWMS solutions.

“What they need to understand is that they need a comprehensive solution/system that can cater to all their requirements at once, while aligning with their existing processes and workflows,” he told SunBiz in a recent interview.

With that in mind, Dabhade said, Wareo was built to cater to the current environment, where the system interfaces with multiple software applications to ensure the best productivity from the operations team.

Hence, the solutions are able to furnish businesses such as third party logistics (3PLs), warehousing, brands, e-distributors, service providers and postal associations with e-commerce capabilities.

He said Wareo offers ready integration with the rest of the ecosystem partners that ship the orders, with over 35 last-mile delivery companies to facilitate seamless shipping for warehouse operators.

In addition, Wareo has ready integrations with leading marketplaces such as Lazada, Zalora, Shopee, PrestoMall, Etsy and eBay, among others.

This year, Anchanto has expanded into Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong, in addition to its existing markets in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and India.

Dabhade said the decision to enter a new market centres on its e-commerce growth trends and potential.

“Another important factor is the cross-border e-commerce & import-export potential in the region,” Dabhade said.

“For instance, cosmetics from Korea are quite popular across multiple markets in Southeast Asia and Australia. Similarly, there is heavy demand for Australian wine, dairy products and health supplements in China.”

Moving forward, Anchanto has set a target for itself in 2020, which is to hit a threefold increase in its revenue from the previous year.

“Due to the recent outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, we are facing challenges to schedule meetings & meet potential customers,” said Vaibhav, explaining that building close relationships are the key to its success and event cancellations have hindered them from building such relationships.

Despite the setbacks, he is quite confident of achieving its ambitious target, as the startup has rolled out upgrades for its platform, SelluSeller.

“Moreover, we are continuously hiring new team members to join us across our offices in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia and Philippines and we are also working to launch two new products this year.

“With a massively upgraded platform, team members, and new senior leadership onboard, we are confident of achieving our targets, and offering an enchanting experience to all our customers,” he said.

For the future, Dabhade said Anchanto is exploring new markets and potential partners across the Middle East, North Africa, North America and Europe.

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/anchanto-aims-to-enchant-traditional-logistics-players-with-its-warehouse-management-system-wareo-BX3808517

Weak Q2 corporate earnings not a surprise to analysts

PETALING JAYA: Weak second-quarter earnings reported by Bursa Malaysia-listed companies are not surprising, according to analysts, as the three-month period coincided with disruptions to the economy attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and the containment measures.

Despite the poor results, Public Investment Bank (PIVB) Research said, the market is likely to have seen the worst, barring a second wave of coronavirus infections, which could lead to targeted shutdowns.

For the second quarter, earnings disappointments were aplenty, although it thought that post-first-quarter earnings reductions were already sufficiently accounted for.

PIVB Research listed sectors most vulnerable to “economic standstills” such as banks, property, real estate investment trusts, airlines and gaming as the standouts.

With that, the research house has revised its growth assumption for 2020 and 2021 to -21.4% and +26.2% from its first-quarter estimate of -12.8% and +15.9%, respectively, due to prevailing weak conditions.

“While adjustments to earnings this current quarter should result in a reduction of our end-2020 FBM KLCI target to 1,430 points, we are maintaining our expectation of a 1,480-point closing this year-end owing to liquidity-driven ‘exuberances’,” it said in a report.

PIVB Research elaborated that the market appears to be still underpinned by expectations at this juncture, such as a V-shaped recovery in earnings and in economic growth.

“The flush liquidity amid interest rates which have been cut to all-time lows, conditions we last saw in 2008/2009, is feeding the hunger for investment returns, hence the market not reacting particularly negatively to supposedly ‘bad’ earnings reports, this quarter and the last (1Q’20).”

In terms of its sector picks, the research house said manufacturing, banks, construction and power (renewables) may garner interest in 2021.

“For stocks, we retain our preference for smaller-capitalised names with strong growth stories, near-term challenges notwithstanding, namely Johore Tin, Magni-Tech Industries, Mega First, Sarawak Plantations, Serba Dinamik, SKP Resources, Chin Hin Group and D&O Green Technologies,” it said.

CGS-CIMB, however, has lowered its end-2020 FBM KLCI target to 1,520 points, from 1,550 points previously, to reflect earnings downgrades made during the results season.

For the second quarter of the year, it has seen companies that posted results above its expectations rise to 25% from 13% in first-quarter 2020, as well as a lower share of underperformers of 36% from 44% in the previous quarter out of 130 companies it actively covers.

The research house revealed that its key takeaways for the results season were the improving earnings revision ratio attributed to higher overachievers in the quarter, the 56% year-on-year decline in corporate earnings due to the movement control order, and interim dividends were mostly below expectation for banks.

CGS-CIMB noted that most of the companies that were loss-making were in the airline, auto, construction, property, media and gaming sectors.

“Following our latest earnings revisions, we now expect the KLCI’s 2020 core net profit to decline by 16% (vs 11% previously), as we adjust for earnings downgrades in the Genting Group, Tenaga, MISC and IHH,” it said.

“We expect corporate earnings to be stronger quarter-on-quarter in 3Q’20F and in 2H’20F, as earnings recover from the lockdown due to pent-up demand, rebuilding of inventory and stimulus measures.”

For its top three picks, the research house has replaced Top Glove with Public Bank and Yinson with MPI, while retaining Tenaga Nasional, to reflect its view that investors are likely to rotate in the later part of the year to cyclical sectors which will benefit from the recovering economy post-Covid-19.

Its top picks also include IJM Corp, KPJ Healthcare, MPI, Pentamaster, Petronas Gas, and Ta Ann.

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/weak-q2-corporate-earnings-not-a-surprise-to-analysts-HK3804955

United Airlines to start laying off up to 16,000 workers on Oct 1

NEW YORK: United Airlines said Wednesday it plans to lay off up to 16,000 workers starting in October amid a prolonged industry downturn due to the coronavirus.

The big US carrier, which had previously said as many as 36,000 workers could be terminated, said early retirement and other programmes had lessened the need for even deeper cuts, but the "devastating" impact of Covid-19 on airline travel still required layoffs.

Even with those voluntary programmes and other cost-cutting, the savings "have not been enough to avoid involuntary furloughs entirely," the company said.

"Today, each of our operations leaders communicated directly with their teams to share the heart-wrenching news that approximately 16,000 United employees will be notified of an involuntary furlough effective as early as October 1."

The cuts affect nearly 7,000 flight attendants and almost 3,000 pilots, among other staff.

"The pandemic has drawn us in deeper and lasted longer than almost any expert predicted, and in an environment where travel demand is so depressed, United cannot continue with staffing levels that significantly exceed the schedule we fly," the company said.

"Sadly, we don't expect demand to return to anything resembling normal until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine."

United was among the airlines that received federal funding under the federal Cares Act, which barred involuntary staff cuts through the end of September.

United said it was working with its unions to press the government to provide another emergency aid package with an extension of payroll support for airline workers. However, that bill remains stuck in a partisan fight in Washington. – AFP

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/united-airlines-to-start-laying-off-up-to-16000-workers-on-oct-1-CL3814271

TikTok suitors said to be pursuing four options in effort to revive talks

NEW YORK/BEIJING/HONG KONG: TikTok's prospective buyers are discussing four ways to structure an acquisition from its Chinese owner ByteDance, which include buying its US operations without key software, after Beijing stalled a deal which could be worth US$30 billion (RM124.4 billion), sources said.

Other options being considered include asking for Chinese approval to pass TikTok's algorithm on to the acquirer of the short video app's US assets, licensing the algorithm from ByteDance, or seeking a transition period from a US national security panel overseeing the deal, three sources said.

ByteDance had been looking to pick a buyer for TikTok assets by this week so it can finalise a deal by mid-September and comply with President Donald Trump's order to divest them, after US officials raised concerns over the safety of the personal data of US citizens handled by TikTok.

"TikTok is loved by 100 million Americans because it's a home for entertainment, self-expression, and connection. We're committed to continuing to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform for many years to come," a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement.

Beijing last week updated its export control rules to restrict the sale of technology such as the one used by TikTok to recommend videos to users, raising questions over whether it would veto a deal and giving prospective buyers Microsoft and Oracle pause for thought.

ByteDance and the bidders for the TikTok assets are now discussing four ways to structure the deal, the sources, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

It is not clear which, if any, of the options will be pursued. As days pass, the odds of a deal lengthen as TikTok faces a US ban on Sept 20 if no sale agreement has been reached. It has challenged this ban in court.

One possibility being discussed is to sell TikTok without the algorithm it uses to make recommendations to users. While this would circumvent China's export control rules, it would present a significant gamble for Microsoft and Oracle, which would have to quickly come up with a substitute.

Another option is to negotiate a transition period of up to a year with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is overseeing the deal talks, the sources said. It is not clear, however, whether China's new rules would allow this in the time frame required.

A third option is seeking approval from China to pass on TikTok's algorithm to the buyer of its US assets, the sources said. This would amplify the geopolitical risk, given worsening relations between the world's two largest economies over trade, cyber security and the spread of the coronavirus.

The fourth scenario involves ByteDance licensing the algorithm to the buyer of the TikTok assets, the sources said. However, this could worry CFIUS, which wants ByteDance to forego any relationship it has with TikTok in the United States.

ByteDance, Microsoft and Oracle declined to comment. The White House, CFIUS and China's Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

TikTok is functionally and technically similar to ByteDance-owned Douyin, which is available only in China, and shares technical resources with it and other ByteDance-owned properties, sources have previously said.

While the code for the app, which determines the look and feel of TikTok, has been separated from Douyin, algorithms for moderating and recommending content and the management of user profiles are shared.

While TikTok is best known for videos of people dancing going viral among teenagers, US officials have expressed concern that user information could be passed to Beijing. TikTok has said it would not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.

ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok's North American, Australian and New Zealand operations since last month. And in a sign of founder and CEO Zhang Yiming's concern, TikTok engineers were told last week to make contingencies should it need to shut down its U.S. operations.

Walmart Inc said last week it was joining Microsoft in its bid for TikTok's US assets, hours after the app's recently named chief executive, Kevin Mayer, said he would step down.

Oracle, whose chairman Larry Ellison is one of the technology world's few supporters of Trump, has partnered with some of ByteDance's investors, including General Atlantic and Sequoia, on its bid for the TikTok assets. – Reuters

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/tiktok-suitors-said-to-be-pursuing-four-options-in-effort-to-revive-talks-NL3814249

Investors shun Thailand as economic growth weakens, political protests hot up

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG: A selloff in the Thai baht, underperforming stocks and pressure on the bond market reflect growing concern from global investors over political instability and the growth outlook in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, analysts and fund managers say.

Thailand suffered its deepest economic contraction in two decades last quarter and a long haul to recovery looms as the Covid-19 pandemic has hammered its mainstay tourism industry.

At the same time, the government is facing a student protest movement which is gathering momentum and disruption to its policy agenda by the surprise resignation of Finance Minister Predee Daochai on Tuesday, after less than a month in the job.

"I think no other country has these two or three problems going on at the same time, as if the Covid-19 situation isn't bad enough," said OCBC Bank economist Howie Lee.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has said Predee's exit, for health reasons, would not affect economic plans, but he did not outline a timetable for appointing a new minister.

"If there is no minister, then there are deputies and assistants," Prayuth told reporters after a meeting of a special economic task force. "I also drive the policy myself as head of the economic team."

The government announced measures on Wednesday worth 68.5 billion baht (RM9 billion) to add jobs and spur consumption.

Prayuth said he saw no impact on confidence from Predee's exit.

Experts say his departure could create uncertainty in policymaking and the government's efforts in managing billions of dollars of stimulus to aid an economy that could shrink a record 8.5% this year.

"This may delay some matters we are waiting for," said Vichit Prakobgosol, president of Association of Thai Travel Agents. "We want to have a new finance minister quickly so that the economy can move ahead".

Business wants Prayuth's multi-party government to prevent "internal politics" from affecting policies, said Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of The Federation of Thai Industries. "If not, it will be difficult. Protests are another issue to monitor," he said, referring to frequent anti-government demonstrations.

"We hope they can get the right people as soon as possible," said Stanley Kang, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand. "This position cannot be vacant for a long time ... this is a very challenging time".

Prayuth urged the public to have faith in the government.

"I want everyone to be confident and I want to convey my message overseas. We are moving forward in all dimensions like before," he said.

The baht fell and has dropped about 0.6% on the dollar since Tuesday on the news, its steepest two-day slide in about two weeks. It now sits where it traded in June despite a slide in the greenback over the past few months.

Thailand's benchmark stock index is down 17% for the year, having suffered foreign outflows in every month till August – lagging a 5% gain in Asian markets.

"The only foreigners left in Thai equities really are the passive investors, the ETFs and the funds which track the index. The active managers are gone," said Jeep Chatikavanij, founder of the Ton Poh Fund which manages US$150 million (RM621.8 million).

A global selloff in longer-dated government bonds has also hit Thailand slightly harder than elsewhere, as investors struggle to digest the big debt sales that are paying for governments' spending.

Widening corporate credit spreads, as investors demand a greater premium for lending to Thai firms, also shows creeping default risk, said BNP Paribas' head of Asean Economics, Arup Raha.

"With headline inflation now being negative for several months, income growth is poor. That is causing some stress in the corporate sector." – Reuters

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/investors-shun-thailand-as-economic-growth-weakens-political-protests-hot-up-NJ3812917

Returning to public debt markets after six years, Dubai gets US$2 billion

DUBAI: The government of Dubai sold US$2 billion (RM8.29 billion) in dual-tranche bonds on Wednesday, its first sale in public debt markets in six years, as it seeks to boost finances hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Dubai sold US$1 billion in 10-year sukuk, or Islamic bonds, at 210 basis points (bps) over mid-swaps and US$1 billion in 30-year conventional bonds at 4%, according to a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal and seen by Reuters.

It received more than US$6.5 billion in orders for the sukuk and over US$3.5 billion for the bonds.

"There is no value in the sukuk but there will be local buyers," a fund manager who declined to be named said on the initial pricing, which was tightened during book-building by 40 bps for the sukuk and 37.5 bps for the conventional notes.

"It's attractively priced for Dubai ... less money on the table for investors," said Tim Ash, emerging markets senior sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management.

The Middle East trade and tourism hub's first public debt issuance since 2014 comes amid a sharp economic downturn that has revived concern over its finances and revived memories of the 2009 debt crisis that wobbled its economy.

That crisis caused Dubai's real estate market to crash, threatening to force some state-linked companies to default on billions of dollars of debt. Its oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) central bank provided Dubai US$20 billion of debt in its aftermath, facilities that were refinanced for five years in 2018 and 2019, a bond prospectus showed.

Dubai has budgeted a US$3.2 billion deficit this year, the prospectus showed. It also showed that while the government's direct debt amounted to nearly US$34 billion at the end of June, Dubai had no consolidated estimates for the outstanding total debt of government-related entities.

"It's always been one of the big negatives of Dubai, but it's really the worst-kept secret. Clearly the market doesn't take the numbers at face value either," a second fund manager said, adding spreads on Dubai's existing bonds are not "commensurate with what the headline debt and deficit numbers suggest". The fund manager also declined to be identified.

Dubai is unrated, which may exclude a pool of investors from its debt offering, said advisory and research firm Azure Strategy.

"A rating process would require a more granular disclosure of Dubai's credit profile," it said in a report on Tuesday.

In July, ratings agency S&P said Dubai's economy could shrink 11% this year, as it cut the credit ratings of two of the emirate's biggest property firms to "junk" status.

The issuance comes as the UAE and Israel work to promote investment between the two countries, after agreeing to normalise relations last month. – Reuters

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/returning-to-public-debt-markets-after-six-years-dubai-gets-us-2-billion-HJ3812900

India bans 118 more mobile apps, including Tencent’s PUBG

U NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday banned another 118 mobile apps including Tencent Holdings's popular videogame PUBG, as it stepped up the pressure on Chinese technology companies following a standoff with Beijing at the border.

The list of 118 mostly Chinese apps also includes applications from Baidu and Xiaomi's ShareSave.

These "apps collect and share data in a surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and information of users that can have a severe threat to the security of the State," India's technology ministry said in a statement.

It added the apps threatened India's sovereignty and integrity.

Tencent declined to comment, while the Chinese embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest ban comes a day after a senior Indian official said troops were deployed on four strategic hilltops after what New Delhi called an attempted Chinese incursion along a disputed Himalayan border.

Tension between nuclear-armed India and China has simmered since June when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a border skirmish with Chinese troops.

New Delhi has since begun eroding China's dominant position in India's internet economy. It began with a ban on 59 apps, which included ByteDance's popular video-sharing app TikTok, Alibaba's UC Browser and Xiaomi's Mi Community app.

Following that ban in June, New Delhi outlawed some mobile apps of Chinese companies, such as Xiaomi and Baidu, sources told Reuters last month.

This prohibition on about 47 apps comprised mostly clones, or different versions of the already-banned apps, but also some new apps. – Reuters

source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/india-bans-118-more-mobile-apps-including-tencent-s-pubg-BJ3812883