DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 10, 11, 12 & 13 Jul 2020 (Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon)

Singapore Real Estate

HDB resale volume jumps 6.7 times in June: SRX
Almost seven times as many Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flats were sold in June compared with May, according to flash data released by real estate portal SRX Property on Thursday. Estimates showed that about 2,450 HDB resale flats were sold in June, up from 364 the month before.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hdb-resale-volume-jumps-67-times-in-june-srx
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/hdb-resale-volume-surges-in-june

Singapore Economy

June reopening can’t save Singapore’s Q2 GDP, economists warn
Singapore’s economy was likely a washout in the second quarter, with most private-sector analysts tipping a median double-digit contraction. Even the earlier-than-expected economic reopening on June 19 will not offer enough rebound to move the needle for the April-to-June period;
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/june-reopening-cant-save-singapores-q2-gdp-economists-warn
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/double-digit-gdp-drop-for-singapore-likely-in-april-june

Singapore secures three of top five S-E Asia deals despite Q1 slump
Singapore clinched three of the top five private equity and venture capital deals struck in the region in the first quarter amid markedly slower economic activity across South-east Asia due to the pandemic. There were 141 such deals worth US$1.4 billion (S$1.95 billion) in the region in the three months to March 31, Ernst & Young noted.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/spore-secures-three-of-top-five-s-e-asia-deals-despite-q1-slump

S’pore tops index as key global shipping hub for 7th straight year
Singapore retained its top position as the world’s most important shipping hub on the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development (ISCD) Index. This is the seventh consecutive year for Singapore to be ranked first on the index based on its advantages of geographical location, shipping industry ecosystem and supportive government policies, according to the Xinhua-Baltic Report 2020 released on Saturday.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/spore-tops-index-as-key-global-shipping-hub-for-7th-straight-year

Companies’ Brief

Ascott Residence Trust H1 2020 DPS expected to fall by 65-75%
Ascott Residence Trust’s (ART) distribution per stapled security (DPS) for the six months ended June 30 is expected to fall by 65 per cent to 75 per cent from the 3.43 Singapore cents recorded in the first half of 2019, the managers said.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/ascott-residence-trust-h1-2020-dps-expected-to-fall-by-65-75
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/ascott-residence-trust-flags-65-75-fall-in-half-year-dps

CDL’s hotel operations segment to sink into red with ‘significant’ loss
City Developments Limited (CDL) on Monday said it expects the group’s pre-tax profit for the first half this year to reduce “substantially” from a year ago, dragged by its hotel operations segment amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cdls-hotel-operations-segment-to-sink-into-red-with-significant-loss
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/cdl-warns-hotel-business-to-post-120-140-million-half-year-pre-tax-loss

Cromwell E-Reit to invest in London, Frankfurt data centres
Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (Cromwell E-Reit) has signed a heads of terms agreement with its sponsor and Stratus Data Centres, to co-invest directly into 50 per cent stakes in two European data centre projects, subject to various milestones.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cromwell-e-reit-to-invest-in-london-frankfurt-data-centres
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/cromwell-e-reit-to-invest-in-london-frankfurt-data-centres

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

A tale of two different but intertwined stories
Chia Ngiang Hong, President, Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS)
The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt an unprecedented adverse impact on the economy and severely shaken the stock market. Likewise the swift, extensive and concerted monetary and fiscal policy actions by central banks and governments to shore up economies and markets is unprecedented in scale.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/views-from-the-top/a-tale-of-two-different-but-intertwined-stories

Can the global financial safety net rescue Asia?
The global spread of Covid-19 and subsequent Great Lockdown to mitigate the health impact has brought unprecedented disruptions to economies across the world. Emerging economies in Asia and elsewhere experienced abrupt and sharp reversals in portfolio flows in the first few months of 2020 following a spike in global risk aversion and a generalised flight to safety.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/can-the-global-financial-safety-net-rescue-asia

A V-shaped recovery could still happen
Since March, I have been more open than other commentators to the possibility of a “V-shaped” recovery from the pandemic-induced downturn (though I have also consistently warned of structural challenges facing many economies in the decade ahead). Wherever I have expressed this optimism…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/a-v-shaped-recovery-could-still-happen

Crisis management in the boardroom
Throughout history, businesses have had to weather crises in many forms. Some are firm specific, such as the 2019 Johnson & Johnson baby powder recall after the US Food and Drug Administration discovered traces of asbestos in the product.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/crisis-management-in-the-boardroom

Human behaviour is a key factor in curbing the pandemic
Global outlook on the Covid-19 pandemic ranges from cautious optimism in countries that handled the outbreak well to gloom in places that did not. The bottom line is, the pandemic is not going to end any time soon. If anything, it is accelerating. And even if it moderates, we will have to live with the virus as a fact of life for the foreseeable future.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/human-behaviour-is-a-key-factor-in-curbing-the-pandemic

The six biggest post-lockdown challenges for organisations
Gradually, apprehensively, entire nations are emerging from the bunkers after bending the novel coronavirus infection curve. Millions of people are once again heading back to offices after months of enforced isolation at home, many of them wearing masks and armed with hand sanitiser.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/leadership-management/the-six-biggest-post-lockdown-challenges-for-organisations

Asia-Pacific 2019 wealth growth trails US, Europe: Capgemini
The wealth and number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the Asia Pacific grew at a slower pace than the US and Europe for the first time since 2012, the latest World Wealth Report 2020 by Capgemini has found.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/asia-pacific-2019-wealth-growth-trails-us-europe-capgemini

A better normal through leadership team coaching
Most people are familiar with the benefits of individual coaching, but few understand the intrinsic value of team coaching in organisations. Aren’t leadership teams supposed to be already high-performing? Why do they need team coaching, some may ask? If individual leaders are lacking in terms of certain capabilities or leadership behaviours, wouldn’t individual coaching help?
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/leadership-management/a-better-normal-through-leadership-team-coaching

Rethinking the civil service in the post-Covid era
Is your civil service fit to handle today’s problems and anticipate those of the future? This, arguably, is the sort of question the government of any country should ask itself, and on a yearly basis. For the responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the administrators who form the civil service vary all the time, as new technologies become available, and public expectations rise.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/rethinking-the-civil-service-in-the-post-covid-era

Building future systems with cloud
If you ran a global enterprise, would you be confident enough to migrate 200 servers and your business-critical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to a public cloud?
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/building-future-systems-with-cloud

In financial services, we don’t trust
One of the most alarming findings of our global survey on the impact of the coronavirus on the capital markets – and there were many – was the threat the coronavirus posed for ethical lapses in the investment management industry.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/wealth-investing/in-financial-services-we-dont-trust

Adapting to Covid’s unexpected surges
The experience with Covid-19 around the world over the last six months has shown that the outbreak tends to have multiple waves or can resurge unpredictably. This has happened in several countries. Even those that had been successful at containing the spread of the virus at first, such as China, South Korea, Australia, Japan and Germany, unexpectedly experienced a wave of new infections subsequently. Premature reopenings of economies in some parts of the United States led to a surge of new cases.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/adapting-to-covids-unexpected-surges

South Korea opens three more start-up centres, including in S’pore
South Korea is set to push 92 start-ups onto the global stage this year with the launch of three more K-Startup Centres this week. The new locations – in Singapore, Stockholm in Sweden and Helsinki in Finland – bring the total number of centres to six, with the others in Seattle, Tel Aviv and New Delhi.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/south-korea-opens-three-more-start-up-centres-including-in-spore

World to keep warming over next 5 years
Geneva • Global temperatures will continue to warm over the next five years, and may even temporarily rise to more than 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said yesterday. That does not mean the world would be crossing the long-term warming threshold of 1.5 deg C, which scientists have set as the ceiling for avoiding catastrophic climate change.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/world-to-keep-warming-over-next-5-years

World must hold onto climate change wins from Covid-19
As governments, multilateral organisations and corporations around the world rush to find solutions to address the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the environmental crisis has come into sharp focus, perhaps as never before.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/world-must-hold-onto-climate-change-wins-from-covid-19

Cutting down the use of CPF for properties
If you have regular income but find that the balance in your Central Provident Fund Ordinary Account (OA) is still low, it could be a sign that you have used too much of it to pay for your home. Almost every member looks to their CPF to fund the purchase of property, whether in lump-sum down payments or to meet the monthly mortgage.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/cutting-down-the-use-of-cpf-for-properties

What’s next for the travel industry?
Hotel businesses have been severely hit in the wake of Covid-19, as governments around the world have closed off their country borders in a bid to curb the rampant spread of the virus. A report by HVS, a consulting firm focused on the hospitality industry, said hotel occupancy decreased by an average of 27 per cent in March in Asia-Pacific alone.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/leadership-management/whats-next-for-the-travel-industry

Crucial for Singapore to tap ageing workforce
The coronavirus pandemic is crowding out pretty much everything else these days, but a sea change in Singapore’s employment law that will affect everyone at some point is steadily moving ahead.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/crucial-for-singapore-to-tap-ageing-workforce

GE2020 Results
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/ge2020-results
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/2020-general-election-the-results

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

S’porean worker at Shatec is only community case among 178 new cases
A 67-year-old Singaporean man, who is a non-teaching staff member at hospitality school Shatec, has been confirmed to have Covid-19 and is the only new case in the community as of noon yesterday. The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the man had been detected as a result of its expanded testing regime. He had an onset of symptoms on July 6 and was confirmed to have the infection on Saturday.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sporean-worker-at-shatec-is-only-community-case-among-178-new-cases

Airborne transmission unlikely to be big driver of Covid-19, says expert
While the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged the possibility of airborne transmission of Covid-19 last week, this is unlikely to be a big driver of the disease, says a WHO representative and senior infectious diseases expert here.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/airborne-transmission-unlikely-to-be-big-driver-of-disease-says-expert
*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation