Author: Marie Jones

BANGKOK — Fast-growing SET-listed digital finance firm Group Lease Public Company Limited (SET:GL) has posted net profits of 324.4 million baht in the three-month period ending 2016, which marks a new record high for the ninth consecutive quarter. Adding that to the 738.4 million baht profits in the first nine months of the year, all-year 2016 profits topped 1.062 billion baht, which represents a whopping 82.34% increase from the year before. The all-year 2016 profits, which exceeded the management’s target of 1 billion baht, reflected improved financial performance in all the markets in which GL operates, particularly in the two key…

Still room for improvement for the newly-listed and new index constituents HONG KONG — The Hong Kong Institute of Directors (“HKIoD”) has today announced the results of the “2016 HKIoD Corporate Governance Score-card”. The surveyed sample consisted of 120 firms versus 121 in the last survey in 2012. The survey also corresponded to the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (2015 edition) to include new areas of assessment, such as risk management structure and functions, CSR reporting timeliness and quality, and structure of the corporate governance committee, reflecting corporate governance development that took place in the past few years and latest requirement.…

International Energy Group’s revenue and profit for the six months ended 31 December 2016 far surpass its performance for the entire previous financial year SINGAPORE — New Silkroutes Group Limited (“NSG” or the “Group”), an investment holding company with core capabilities in energy trading and healthcare management, said today its wholly-owned International Energy Group Pte Ltd (“IEG”) has achieved its biggest quarterly revenue and net profit since the oil and gas subsidiary started operations in June 2015. Summary of Results: https://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_NSG_1HFY2017_1.jpg IEG’s revenue for its fiscal second quarter ended 31 December 2016 (“2QFY2017”) rose to US$123.7 million from US$5.8 million for…

TOKYO — nexo Standards, the open standards association dedicated to the creation of implementation specifications for card payment acceptance globally, and JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., today announced that JCB became the Principle Member of nexo Standards in its Card Schemes category. nexo Standards, headquartered in Brussels, works on behalf of all card payment stakeholders to harmonise contact and contactless card payment acceptance. By developing new protocols and implementation specifications which promote interoperability between card acceptance and acquiring solutions, together with integrated retail and terminal management systems, nexo Standards is developing a new generation…

HONG KONG — Sino Harbour (Stock code: 1663) today announced its unaudited results for the nine months ended 31 December 2016. During the period under review, profit after tax up 152.3% year-on-year to RMB79.5 million. During the first nine months, Sino Harbour’s revenue increased by 27.5% to approximately RMB605.2 million, mainly attributable to the delivery of residential units of Nanchang Sino Harbour Kaixuan City Zone 3 and Fuzhou Hua Cui Ting Yuan Phase 3. Gross profit margin improved by 8.5 percentage points to 22.0% thanks to a higher profit margin of Nanchang Sino Harbour Kaixuan City Zone 3. As at 31…

By Peter Sartori, Head of Equity, Asia, and Peter Monson, Senior Equity Analyst, Nikko Asset Management, 9 February 2017 TOKYO — This paper reflects on recent industry research into ESG and Nikko AM’s own experience in applying ESG analysis – particularly Asian EM stocks, as well as what we see as key lessons learned. – Using Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in the search for alpha is complex, particularly in Emerging Markets. — Investors will often have their own standards for what constitutes acceptable ESG criteria. — The contribution of ESG to investment performance is often difficult to establish, especially…

HONG KONG — Ausnutria Dairy Corporation Ltd (“Ausnutria” or the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”; stock code: 1717.HK), has announced that it expects to record an increase by not less than 315% in its profit attributable to the shareholders, in the range of RMB210 million to RMB219 million for the year ended 31 December 2016 when compared with the same period of 2015 of RMB50.6 million. Austnutria is a dairy company which specializes in the manufacture and distribution of infant formula and nutrition products with production facilities based in the Netherlands, the PRC and Australia, The significant increase was…

HONG KONG — Miricor Enterprises Holdings Limited (“Miricor” or the “Group”, stock code: 8358), a medical aesthetic service provider in Hong Kong, today announced its third quarterly results of FY2016/17 after its successful listing on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 10 January 2017. The Group’s revenue increased by 21.9% to HK$74.5 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2016 (the “Period Under Review”), comparing to the corresponding period of 2015. The increase was primarily attributable to the successful launch of member referral scheme and the introduction of two new treatments for facial and body. Net profit during…

HONG KONG — Northern New Energy Holdings Limited (“Northern New Energy” / the “Group;” stock code: 8246) has today announced a positive profit alert. Based on information currently available, Northern New Energy is expected to record a substantial increase in the net profit for the year ended 31 December 2016, mainly attributable to (i) a substantial increase in total revenue and resulting profit of the Group mainly generated by the Group’s new energy business; and (ii) a decrease in the unaudited consolidated loss attributable to the Group’s catering business as a result of effective cost reduction and control measures plus having…

Almaty, Kazakhstan and Tokyo, Japan — JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., announced the launch of JCB card acceptance through Kazkommertsbank (Qazkom), which is one of the largest commercial banks in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the largest by assets in Kazakhstan. This arrangement was achieved based on the strategic relationship between Discover and JCB starting in 2006, which has enabled JCB card acceptance on the Discover Network in the U.S., and Discover card acceptance on the JCB network in Japan. Kazkommertsbank is the leading bank with the largest network in the…

Jakarta, Indonesia and New York, USA — Global public health experts Vital Strategies today congratulated health advocates, artists and the people of Kali Code village, Yogyakarta, on the unveiling of “Show Your True Colors,” a community project to paint anti-tobacco graphic murals (designed by renowned graffiti artist Koma) throughout the village. This initiative subverts the actions Philip Morris International, which gained national and international notoriety in 2015 by painting the village in the colors of one of its tobacco brands and cynically using it as part of its “Show Your Colors” marketing campaign. A conservative analysis by Vital Strategies estimates that…

Four Designers Rock the Museum with AW17 Collections HONG KONG — The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) presented a Fashion Hong Kong runway show that featured four leading Hong Kong designers – Kenax Leung, Dora Chu, Kay Li and Vickie Au during the stunning Copenhagen Fashion Week (AW17) and Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF) from 31 January to 3 February 2017. For the first time, the Fashion Hong Kong show (31 January) was held at Thorvaldsens Museum, a historic venue built in 1848 and surrounded by world-class art and sculptures unique to Copenhagen. Together with the inspiring fashion designs,…

TOKYO — Nikko Asset Management has been recognised for excellence by Hong-Kong based Asia Asset Management. The firm won the Best of the Best Country Award for Japan in three categories: Best Institutional House, ETF Manager of the Year and Best Responsible Investor. This is the fourth consecutive year for Nikko Asset Management to be honored by Asia Asset Management. The Tokyo-headquartered asset manager was recognised as Japan’s Best Institutional House for its ability to provide progressive solutions for institutional investors amidst Japan’s negative interest rate environment in 2016. In response to the Bank of Japan’s introduction of negative interest rates,…

HONG KONG — Hong Kong Investor Relations Association (HKIRA) is pleased to announce that public nomination is now open for HKIRA 3rd IR Awards 2017 (the Awards). The Awards presented annually to recognize and honor investor relations excellence and best practices among Hong Kong listed companies and IR professionals. “Continuing the success in the past two years, we are glad to launch the 3rd IR Awards 2017 to recognize the outstanding IR efforts made by companies and individuals and to promote best IR practices,” said Dr. Eva Chan, Founding Chairman of HKIRA. “To better cover and honor excellence in various IR…

KUALA LUMPUR — Main Market-bound first hybrid community-centric retail Real Estate Investment Trust, KIP REIT, recently held its balloting ceremony at Malaysian Issuing House Sdn. Bhd.(MIH) where its 10,200,000 Offer Unit made available to the Malaysian Public has been oversubscribed by 5.07 times. The Institutional Offering of 220,650,000 Offer Units have also been oversubscribed. PublicInvest and RHB Research have both issued IPO notes providing target prices of RM1.07 and RM1.09 respectively, paying particular attention to KIP REIT’s relatively higher dividend yields and its potential asset injection pipeline. Key highlights of KIP REIT included its demographics of shoppers being low and middle…

SINGAPORE — New Silkroutes Group Limited (“NSG”) will acquire an 80% stake in New York-based CG Capital Markets Holdings LLC (“CGCMH”) and all its subsidiaries, including FINRA-registered broker-dealer CG Capital Markets LLC (“CGCM”), for US$14.4 million, in a major push to expand its own investment business and diversify its business lines. Founded in 2015, CGCM specialises in fixed-income market making and provides capital raising and advisory services to companies and projects in sectors including technology, life sciences, natural resources, real estate and energy. In addition to New York, CGCM maintains trading operations in New Jersey and Florida. It also has representative…

BANGKOK — VGI Global Media PCL (SET:VGI), or VGI’s board declared interim dividends at THB 0.035 per share (approx THB 240mn in aggregate) to preserve investors’ confidence amid a q-o-q slowdown in Q3 of FY2016/17 due to reduced advertising spending during the 30-day national mourning period and investment expenditure to bolster regional growths. They are confident that successful construction of the ‘Data Centric Media Hypermarket’ platform will bring in substantial revenue in FY2017. Surachet Bumrongsuk, Chief Executive Officer of VGI Global Media PCL, or VGI, a data centric media hypermarket, revealed the decision adopted at the 1 Feb 2017 board meeting…

CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC Telecom CPC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (“CITIC Telecom”) (SEHK: 1883) announced it has finalized the acquisition of the telecommunication business of Linx Telecommunications B.V. (Linx Telecommunications), following completion of all regulatory clearances. The acquisition further extends CITIC Telecom CPC’s global infrastructure and points of presence to the Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe markets, including regions encompassed by China’s “One Belt, One Road” economic cooperation initiative. “One Belt One Road is an important part of our growth strategy. We believe Linx’s acquisition is fully complementing CITIC Telecom’s development strategy…

SINGAPORE — As Asia and the world prepare to celebrate the Lunar New Year, CropLife Asia encouraged those ringing in the ‘Year of the Rooster’ to remember the smallholder farmers and their immense contributions to ensuring a safe, sustainable food supply for the region and world – and who grow many of the foods we’ll enjoy during the festive season. The Lunar New Year, also known in Chinese culture as the Spring Festival, is widely celebrated across Asia. The history of the festival is deeply rooted in the cyclical pattern of agriculture in ancient China, with farmers relying on the lunar…

HONG KONG — AAG Energy Holdings Limited (HKEX stock code: 2686) is pleased to announce its operation update for the 4th quarter of 2016. AAG Energy CEO & President, Jing Li commented: “2016 was a challenging year for most upstream operators under the continued low oil & gas price environment. We are happy to have had another year of robust production increase from Panzhuang and significant progresses made on the Mabi pilot program and ODP I approval. With continued improvement in operations efficiency and cost control, AAG is well positioned to further expand our business and provide more clean energy to…