Asia Outlook Issue 3

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Singapore?

Hamilton: BACK ON TRACK IN

Investment profile

Raising the bar in sustainability

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Vietnam

Southeast Asia: A region on the rise 22

Asia Outlook talks to Geodis Wilson’s Rene Bach-Larsen

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Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates

Best when fresh

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CoffeeWORKS is Thailand’s leading coffee shop roaster

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W E L C OM E Growth, coffee, logistics...and sustainability We’ve a real mixed bag for you this month, from Asia’s richest to the latest news and events from around the continent and everything in between.

This issue, like those before it, has a common theme: growth; growth in Southeast Asia’s emerging economies to be more precise. And whether it is natural resources, infrastructure, energy or tapping into the growing consumer class, there is plenty to get excited about.

CoffeeWORKS is one firm looking to tap into growth in its core markets.

Fresh from moving into a new roastery, it is planning to capitalise on the Thailand’s booming cafe culture. Read more on page 36.

Logistics firm Geodis Wilson is another firm chasing growth in the region. On page 22, we talk to Rene Bach-Larsen, the company’s cluster managing director of Singapore and Southeast Asia, who says that Southeast Asian nations – particularly Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand – represent a region of rapid economic growth. His task is to task is to develop the business in one of Asia’s most dynamic economical hubs.

For me though, the standout story this month is that of cement and aggregates supplier Holcim Singapore. The past six years have been very good to the firm and CEO Dr Sujit Ghosh. Its market share has grown to almost double what it was when he took over the role and its brand image has been “strengthened dramatically”.

There are several factors behind its success. A major one is an unrelenting focus on sustainability.

Read more on page 28.

Ian Armitage We’ve much, much more inside. I Editor, Outlook Publishing suggest you get reading...

Editorial

Editor: Ian Armitage ian.armitage@outlookpublishing.com Production Manager: Clare Durrant clare.durrant@outlookpublishing.com

Business

Sales Director: Nick Norris nick.norris@outlookpublishing.com Sales: Eddie Clinton eddie.clinton@outlookpublishing.com Sales: Donovan Smith donovan.smith@outlookpublishing.com Projects Director: James Mitchell james.mitchell@outlookpublishing.com Project Managers: Debbie Clark debbie.clark@outlookpublishing.com Sheridan Halls sheridan.halls@outlookpublishing.com Stuart Shirra stuart.shirra@outlookpublishing.com Jason Gilkes jason.gilkes@outlookpublishing.com

Accounts Financial Administrator: Abby Nightingale Suzanne Welsh accounts@outlookpublishing.com Office Administrator: Daniel George daniel.george@outlookpublishing.com Magazine Design: Optic Juice Ltd Images: Getty Digital & IT: Hamit Saka Helpdesk: James LeMay

Outlook Publishing Managing Director Ben Weaver ben.weaver@outlookpublishing.com Chairman Mark Weaver Contact Asia Outlook / UK 22 Wensum Street, Norwich, UK, NR3 1HY Sales: +44 (0) 1603 559 551 Editorial: +44 (0) 1603 559 144 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 559 553 Subscriptions Tel: +44 (0)1603 559 144 ian.armitage@outlookpublishing.com

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In this issue of Asia Outlook...

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NEWS All the latest news from across Asia

Supply chain

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A region on the rise Asia Outlook talks to Rene Bach-Larsen, Geodis Wilson’s cluster managing director of Singapore and Southeast Asia

Singapore GP Preview Asia Outlook looks ahead to the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix M ONEY

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Top 5: Asia’s richest

Real estate is the place to be when it comes to generating massive personal fortunes

CONSTRUCTION Raising the bar in s u s ta i n a b i l i t y Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates.

It is also a leader in sustainability

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BUSINESS

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Fo od & Drink

Investment profile: Vietnam

Asia Outlook takes a closer look at Vietnam’s business and investment potential

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Best when fresh CoffeeWORKS is Thailand’s leading coffee shop roaster delivering to over 500 outlets throughout the country E V ENTS Asia’s biggest upcoming events

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Finance

Tesco, CRE in China merger talks

ICBC first half profit up 12.4% The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has announced that its net profit rose 12.4 percent year-on-year for the first half of 2013, helped by interest income growth.

Net profit stood at 138.35 billion yuan compared to 123.16 billion yuan from the same period last year.

The bank’s net interest income grew 5.8 percent to 215.89 billion yuan and net fee and commission income rose 23.0 percent to 67.38 billion yuan.

“In the first half of 2013, in response to the complex economic conditions both domestically and globally, ICBC forged ahead with its business transformation that strengthened cost control and enforced strict risk management,” ICBC said in a statement. “These initiatives helped to enhance the support of the real economy in terms

of quality and efficiency, while maintaining a steady and healthy growth momentum.

“ICBC has been proactively responding to the new changes on the economic and financial landscape, as well as new trends in relation to the economic transformation,” it added.

China’s biggest lender by assets was deposed as the world’s largest lender by market capitalisation by Wells Fargo in July.

ICBC has 17,125 domestic branches and claims nearly 400 million corporate and individual customers.

Finance

China Telecom first-half profit up 15% Profits at Chinese state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom rose 15.9 percent year-on-year in the first six months of the year, the company has announced.

It also recorded double-digit growth in revenues, which jumped 14.1 percent to 157.52 billion yuan.

China Telecom said growth in its 3G mobile operation was behind the profit and revenue increase.

The number of 3G subscribers in the first half jumped 26.5 percent.

“In the second half of the year, we will firmly seize the present golden window of opportunity and focus on accelerating the scale expansion of our strategic 3G services and wireline broadband services,” the Hong Kong-listed company said.

China Telecom is China’s largest fixed line service and third largest mobile telecommunication provider.

The mobile telecommunications market is at a fast growing stage with rapid migration to 3G. China Telecom decided not to pay an interim dividend.

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UK retailer Tesco and China Resources Enterprise (CRE) are in talks about merging their hypermarkets and supermarkets in China.

The venture would create a business with sales of some £10 billion, in which CRE and Tesco’s effective interests are expected to be 80 percent and 20 percent respectively.

It would involve CRE combining its CR Vanguard business, which currently operates 2,986 stores across China and Hong Kong, with Tesco China’s 131 stores and shopping mall business, a statement said.

CRE said that the venture would bring together its “deep understanding of local customers, established nationwide infrastructure and proven track record as a partner with Tesco’s global retail expertise, international sourcing scale and supply chain capabilities”.

The intended partnership follows a series of highly successful joint ventures between CRE and other multi-national corporations and is “consistent with Tesco’s stated strategy of focusing on profitable routes to growth in fast-growing but less mature markets, with a disciplined approach to the allocation of capital,” Tesco said.

They warned that there was no guarantee the deal would be concluded.

go to www.asiAoutlookmag.com/news for all of the latest news from asia

B u si n e ss

Kenya and China sign $5bn deals Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has described deals between Kenya and China to build a railway line, an energy project and to improve wildlife protection as “massive boost” to his government.

Worth around $5 billion, the deals were signed during Kenyatta’s first visit to China since his election in March.

“We welcome the investment in key sectors of our economy. The rail link, particularly, is important in the context of East Africa’s shared goal of ensuring quicker movement of peoples, goods and services,” Mr Kenyatta said in a statement. It will link the Kenyan border town of Malaba with the port of Mombasa, one of the busiest in Africa.

“These agreements deepen our practical cooperation,” China’s President Xi Jinping said.

“China supports Kenya’s quest for industrialisation.”

Mr Xi said China was exploring other areas of investment, including in agribusiness, irrigation, fertiliser production and purchases, and technology.

China is playing a critical role in the realisation of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

B u si n e ss

DPE to buy 75% stake in Domino’s Pizza Japan Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (DPE) has agreed to buy a 75 percent stake in Domino’s Pizza Japan from Bain Capital Domino Hong Kong for 12 billion yen.

“The acquisition represents an exciting opportunity to leverage our proven track record of successfully growing the Domino’s network to deliver shareholder value,” said Don Meij, the Australian business’ managing director and chief executive.

“Japan is a strategic location for DPE’s future expansion, providing access to a large market which is well suited to significant new store roll-outs and the relocation of stores to higher

traffic locations with improved image and formats.”

The purchase, which will be funded via a combination of debt and equity financing, is expected to be completed before the end of September 2013.

The move came as Domino’s announced a net profit of $28.657 million for the 2012/13 financial year, an increase of more than six percent.

T ravel

AirAsia Q2 profit down Profits at AirAsia, one of Asia’s largest and most popular low-cost carriers, slumped 62 percent in the second quarter due to higher operating expenses and foreign-exchange losses on borrowings, a filing with Malaysia’s stock exchange has revealed.

Net profit was 58.35 million ringgit in the three months ending June 30, falling year-on-year despite a revenue rise of 5.5 percent.

The airline is fast growing and has set up subsidiaries in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

It said each of the fledgling businesses saw significant revenue increases in the quarter.

“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the directors remain positive for the prospects of the group for the third quarter and the remainder of 2013,” it added.

go to www.asiaoutlookmag.com/news for all of the latest news from asia

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riders Singapore GP preview: Everything you need to know. Asia Outlook looks ahead to the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.

Writer Ian Armitage

he F1 season has already had plenty of drama and controversy.

Beginning in Australia in March, it has taken in stops in Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Canada, the UK, Hungary, Belgium and Italy.

In September the season moves on with the Singapore Grand Prix, with defending champion Sebastian Vettel leading the standings and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso close behind him.

After a poor result in Monza for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen (who if rumours are to be believed will be at Ferrari next year), the Championship appears to be a tall order – but they shouldn’t be discounted, mathematically at least, just yet.

What’s on show?

Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit is a highlight in the racing calendar, a weekend under the lights – and this year 2,500 lucky fans will get a firsthand look into the garages as part of the ‘Thursday Pit Lane Experience’.

Once only open to Paddock Club ticket holders and VIPs over race weekend, the ‘Thursday Pit Lane Experience’ which happens on 19 September, offers race-goers an exclusive inside look of the team garages as well as access the various concerts and performances at the F1 Village - fans can expect to see performances from the likes of Rihanna, the Killers, Tom Jones, Justin Bieber, Bob Geldoff, magician Dynamo and much more.

To participate, all you had to do was register on the Singapore GP website between 28 May and 22 August – the special preview part of race promoter Singapore GP’s continuing efforts to bring the excitement of F1 to more people, especially locals.

Continued

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Last year, the Singapore Government extended its contract to continue holding the Grand Prix until 2017 and while the night race has been popular with motor sports fans, some Singaporeans have been expressing frustration over inconveniences like road blocks.

Some local businesses have also complained about a drop in sales figures during every F1 race period due local customers “avoiding the area”.

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Start your engines...

Despite falling behind in the Championship chase, Hamilton will want to go to Singapore and get his mojo back after two poor race weekends”

Enough about all that, back to the race – it is after all the most physically demanding and exciting race of the year: 61 laps in 30c heat, coupled with the change of set up required from the low down-force challenges of Spa and Monza, make this race a tough one to call.

The hot favourite has to be last year’s winner Sebastian Vettel. He has won the race two seasons in a row and will be keen to make it a

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hat trick, as well as add to wins this season in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Bahrain and closer to home Malaysia. But for a faulty Red Bull gearbox at Silverstone he would have won more than half the races so far this year (making him almost uncatchable in the points standing).

His dominance in both Spa and Monza, tracks at which Red Bull thought they would struggle, only cements the general consensus that Vettel is the favourite for both this race and the Championship.

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So who can stop him? Hamilton (who won in Singapore with former team McLaren in 2009) won in Hungry and currently sits third in the drivers’ championship. He will be keen to banish the demons from last year, having qualified on pole to gain a psychological advantage over his rivals, only for his gearbox to fail during the race with a three second lead and an almost certain win in the bag. Despite falling behind in the Championship chase, Hamilton will want to go to Continued

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2012 result

Singapore and get his mojo back after two poor race weekends.

Away from Hamilton, expect a charge from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard won in Singapore in 2008 (after teammate, Nelson Piquet Jnr, crashed his Renault into the wall under Flavio Briatore’s instruction forcing a safety car and allowing Alonso to take an easy win) and 2010. He also has the best chance of wrestling the Championship away from Vettel.

“It’s one of the toughest races all year,” said Vettel after winning in 2012. “It’s very long, we did the full two hours, the circuit is a killer, there are many bumps and there is no room for error.

“Obviously I benefited from Lewis’s failure, which I could see for a couple of laps. I’m very happy, it’s such a tough race and very proud to win it.

“It’s an incredible weekend for all of us.”

Pirelli has announced the tyre allocations for Singapore, where the medium tyre will be used instead of the soft, in addition to the super-soft compound. After more tyre issues at Spa we can only hope that the ongoing tyre saga does not continue to overshadow what should be an amazing spectacle.

Free practice, where drivers can familiarise themselves with the circuit and teams can set-up the cars, opens on September 20, with qualifying on Saturday 21, and the race on September 22.

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Singapore GP in a nutshell Race Date:

22 Sep 2013

Track:

Marina Bay Street Circuit

First Grand Prix:

2008

Number of Laps:

61

Circuit Length:

5.073 km

Race Distance:

309.316 km

Lap Record:

1:45.599 - K Raikkonen (2008)

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Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

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Jenson Button (McLaren)

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Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

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Paul di Resta (Force India

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Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)

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Kimi Raikkonen (Renault)

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Romain Grosjean (Renault)

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Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

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Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

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Sergio Perez (Sauber)

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T E AM P R E V I E W Red Bull

This is of course Mark Webber’s last season in F1 and Red Bull have announced that compatriot Daniel Ricciardo will drive for the team from the start of next season. Reflecting on last year’s result, Webber says: “It’s not easy to overtake at this track, so you’re making your life hard when you have a bad qualifying. You need a bit of luck to make progress and I didn’t have any! I thought Kobayashi and I had a good clean fight, but the stewards thought otherwise and I respect their decision.”

Ferrari

Ferrari performed brilliantly in Belgium, with Fernando Alonso bouncing back from ninth on the grid to finish second. He won’t get that luxury in Singapore so needs a good qualifying and with the Championship still in sight he needs a good result.

McLaren

Their race last year was mixed. Button came second, but Hamilton’s race was a bit of a disaster.

Hamilton, now with Mercedes, started the race in pole, but a gearbox failure ended his race and allowed rival Vettel to win. It doesn’t look like they’ll do much in Singapore – performances this season have been poor.

Mercedes

They lost ground to Red Bull in terms of the Constructors’ Championship in Belgium and Italy but Hamilton is a real contender to win in Singapore.

Rosberg is also a big fan of street circuits so can’t be ruled out of finding himself on the podium.

Lotus

They will be keen to not secure the tag of alsorans. Starting the season strongly with a win in Australia results have been sporadic with Raikkonen and Grosjean struggling in qualifying and not fully realising their potential race pace.

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Asia’s richest Real estate is the place to be when it comes to generating massive personal fortunes.

Writer Ian Armitage

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n June, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing hit the headlines as a consortium of companies owned by Asia’s richest man said that it would pay more than $1 billion to acquire the Dutch waste management company AVR. Mr. Li’s companies have been seeking to expand their large global portfolio of investments in utilities and infrastructure, which include electricity plants in Australia and natural gas networks in Britain. AVR incinerates waste and converts it into energy.

Mr. Li, 85, is ranked by Forbes as the eighth-richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $31 billion as of March.

He is Asia’s richest man. But who is vying for his crown?

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Tsai Eng-Meng

Tsai Eng-Meng is a Chinese snack food king and he tops Forbes’ Taiwan Rich List. Forbes estimates his wealth at $10.6 billion and his company, Want Want China Holdings, is one of Asia’s largest makers Chinese-style snacks. Mr. Tsai is also a director of a number of the Group’s subsidiaries. He began his career in the food industry in 1976.

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Zong Qinghou

Zong Qinghou is China’s richest man and is chairman of Wahaha. The beverage company is absolutely massive and reported profit increased by 2.3 percent in the first six months of 2013 from a year earlier. Revenue increased by 9.4 percent to 36 billion yuan. The unlisted company is best known for its bottled water and competes with the likes of Coca-Cola, Want Want and Tingyi. Zong has stepped up efforts to diversify his business into commercial real estate by opening a mall in Hangzhou. He founded Wahaha in 1987.

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Li Ka-shing

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Cheng Yu-tung

Now retired, Cheng Yu-Tung is a business titan. He has an estimated net worth of $17.7 billion and made his name in jewellery. He retired as chairman of flagship New World Development at the end of 2012, succeeded by son Henry. The empire he built continues to expand.

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Lee Shau Kee

Property development is something of a theme amongst Asia’s super rich and Lee Shau Kee, chairman of Henderson Land, has made a fortune through property in Hong Kong. According to Forbes he has a net worth of $20.3 billion. Lee Shau Kee founded Sun Hung Kai with Kwok Tak Seng before branching out on his own with Henderson in the late 1960s.We’ve decided to leave Kwok senior’s sons Thomas and Raymond off this list for making $4 million in payments and loans to former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan in exchange for political leverage – the scandal

rocked Hong Kong. The pair now run Sun Hung Kai Properties.

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Li Ka-shing

Mr. Li, 85, is ranked by Forbes as the eighth-richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $31 billion”

This is Asia’s richest man by some distance (according to Forbes) and his appetite for investment shows no signs of slowing down. The real estate tycoon oversees one of the world’s most far-reaching empires with 260,000 employees in 52 countries. Li Ka-shing was born in the Guangdong province of China in 1928 and was forced to leave school before the age of 15 following his father’s death and found a job in a plastics trading company where he laboured 16 hours a day. He formed Cheung Kong Industries in 1950 and the rest is history. His firms have made several waste-related investments in recent months and it seems he is banking on rubbish. With good reason – by 2025 it is estimated that the 1.3 billion tons of rubbish generated a year will swell to 2.2 billion tons annually, according to the World Bank.

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Investment

Vietnam

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Asia Outlook takes a closer look at Vietnam’s business and investment potential.

Writer Ian Armitage

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ver the past decade Vietnam has seen massive foreign investment, replacing China and Taiwan as Asia’s new hotspot – it is today the favourite location of companies setting up overseas manufacturing hubs, owing to its open economic policies, geographical position, political and economic stability, and abundant and cheap labour resources.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung is among the many companies investing in the country and it has plans to raise its investment in the northern Vietnamese province of Bac Ninh by two thirds, to $2.5 billion, according the Vietnam News Service, and it is also building a $2 billion-plus factory in Thai Nguyen province near Hanoi to make mobile phones, cameras, and laptops – the first of two plants that will eventually make up a $3.2 billion manufacturing complex.

Samsung opened its first plant in Vietnam in Bac Ninh in 2009 with an initial investment of $670 million and is moving much of its manufacturing to the country predominantly because of increasing labour costs in China, which is pricing itself out of low-cost electronics assembly.

Previously China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were known for their cheap labour, and many foreign companies chose to manufacture their products in these countries.

Now however the cost of labour is on the rise – unskilled workers in China make $300 per month; Vietnamese workers receive about half to a third of that amount. Meanwhile, China’s policy has shifted to encouraging investments in high-tech sectors, and away from labour-intensive fields or sectors which are big consumers of natural resources.

So why Vietnam? In addition to cheap labour it is an attractive

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amsung opened its first plant in Vietnam in Bac Ninh in 2009 with an initial investment of $670 million and is moving much of its manufacturing to the country predominantly because of increasing labour costs in China

investment destination because it offers huge tax breaks, relative political stability, and has a young and increasingly well-educated workforce.

According to Quartz, Vietnam is offering foreign companies many incentives to invest, not just low-cost labour.

Samsung is given tax breaks – 10 percent corporate income tax versus a standard 25 percent. And for good reason: its plants already provide work for over 20,000 people and have “created an ecosystem of suppliers and subcontractors who employ another 50,000”, Quartz said.

The Bac Ninh factory produces many of the company’s handheld devices, such as the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note II, around the clock.

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P R O F IL E :

And Samsung isn’t the only one in Bac Ninh or investing in Vietnam. Nokia, which recently sold its mobile phone business to software giant Microsoft for 5.4 billion euros, has also invested huge sums in Vietnam and in April opened its own plant near Hanoi.

The factory is located in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) and handsets are predominately expected to be low-end, but “will increase Nokia’s capacity overall”, the company said.

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V I E TNAM

Vietnam has been very successful in attracting foreign direct investment, sustaining FDI levels around $10-11 billion a year over the last five years”

Vietnam exported $12.7 billion worth of handsets and parts in 2012. Vietnam also recorded its first trade surplus in 19 years. And the U.S. is taking note.

Hundreds of U.S. companies have a presence in Vietnam and many others are looking to invest there.

“Vietnam has been very successful in attracting foreign direct investment, sustaining FDI levels around $10-11 billion a year over the last five years, up from almost nothing just a decade ago,” the U.S.

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State Department says. “Vietnam’s attractiveness to foreign investors resulted in large part from the country’s open government policies encouraging FDI, geographical position near global supply chains, political and economic stability, and abundant labour resources.”

It added that, “Recently, however, international investors have voiced concerns that the investment climate has deteriorated. Problems include

U.S. President Barack Obama meets Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang

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corruption and a weak legal infrastructure, financial instability, inadequate training and education systems, and conflicting and detrimental bureaucratic decisionmaking. Investors have called for immediate reforms and the development of sound economic policies in order for Vietnam to continue to attract good-quality foreign investment.

“Vietnam officially encourages foreign investment as part of its development strategy and the government has stated its commitment to improving the country’s business and investment climate.”

Investment in Vietnam has grown tremendously but, while it offers an attractive environment for investment, as the U.S. State Department says, the country is not without its drawbacks from the point of the view of foreign investors.

Major concerns include issues of land, power and infrastructure. For instance, power supply is yet to be reliable in Vietnam. There are also problems with corruption, red tape and high inflation.

“The greater problem is that each locality has its own process in accepting project, sending investors into a great confusion,” Dau Anh Tuan of the Legislation Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in Hanoi told a seminar co-held by VCCI and the Council for Consultancy on Administrative Procedures to collect opinions on administrative reform in August.

Vietnam’s government is targeting 5.5 percent GDP growth for this year after a 5.03 percent pace last year, the slowest since 1999.

To learn more about investing in Vietnam visit www.investinvietnam.vn.

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A region on the

Asia Outlook talks to RenÊ Bach Larsen, Geodis Wilson’s cluster managing director of Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Writer Ian Armitage Project manager James Mitchell

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W i l s o n

outheast Asian nations – particularly Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand – represent a region of rapid economic growth says Geodis Wilson’s René Bach Larsen, who in April was appointed cluster managing director of Singapore and Southeast Asia.

“Singapore’s strategic location in the heart of Southeast Asia and at the crossroads of major shipping lanes has made it an important logistics hub,” says Mr Bach Larsen, who brings considerable experience and industry knowhow to his new position. He joined the Geodis Calberson Group in Denmark in 1995 and then relocated in Indonesia in 1999 as the Country Manager, where he was instrumental in establishing a strong business presence, particularly in the logistics segment. He then held the post of Overseas Director (UK) from 2006 to 2007 before moving to a central position as Merger Director for Geodis Wilson’s acquisition and integration activities, before he became Managing Director for Geodis in India in 2008.

Mr Bach Larsen’s task is to develop Geodis Wilson’s business in one of Asia’s most dynamic economical hubs. He is thrives on the energy of Singapore as, “one of the prime global locations for logistics business”.

“My aim is to develop a growth strategy, design customer solutions and make sure that we capitalise on the opportunities here,” he explains.

“Geodis is focusing on trade lane growth in the emerging markets of Brazil, China and India and the Asia Pacific. The Southeast Asian economy is dynamic and growing faster than ever.

It also has great potential. Singapore, from a financial point of view, a strategic point of view, and a decisionmaking point of view, will always be a critical engine of this potential. We are currently seeing a lot of business

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migrating from China and bringing diversification to the Southeast Asian region. Then, of course, there is the rising buying power and middle class here. These are the important reasons not to underestimate the future opportunities here. In particular, we have two strong emerging countries – Vietnam and Indonesia – their growth rates in comparison with other emerging economies are impressive and they represent huge possibilities for the future.”

Continued

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Over the past decade, Southeast Asia countries have averaged a growth rate of more than five percent per year.

U.S. imports from the region have grown steadily over the past few years too, with much of the traffic coming from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

“The Southeast Asia market is certainly often overlooked as a growth area because of its relatively modest size compared to the biggest players which are China and India,” Bach Larsen says. “However, from a global perspective, it is actually a key strategic area. It has weathered the global recession well and is experiencing rapid growth. I am confident that we can take advantage of this growth and our broad service offering to become a more influential player in this region.”

Geodis Wilson is geared up for it. The international freight forwarder delivers tailor-made integrated solutions to customers worldwide, offering complete multimodal transportation based on a

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pallet of core services, such as air freight, sea freight, air and sea, warehousing, contracts logistics, industrial projects and marine logistics. It was also a pioneer in setting up a cross border trucking services between Malaysia and Thailand almost 20 years ago. This activity has over the years expanded to include Singapore, Vietnam and China, with a hub and spoke distribution in each individual country.

“I think Southeast Asia is a region where you have the possibility to be innovative, to improve your service levels. When you do that, you have the ability to differentiate yourselves from the competition. This is how we plan to improve our market share,” concludes Bach Larsen.

Geodis Wilson, a leading freight management company, was formed as a result of a merger between Geodis Overseas, the air and sea freight arm of the Geodis Group, and TNT Freight Management, formerly

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Tel (65) 6861 1808 Email yewchoon@singnet.com.sg

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known as Wilson Logistics. In January 2008, the Geodis Group acquired Rohde & Liesenfeld, a German-based international air and sea freight forwarding group.

With 7,700 employees in more than 50 countries the company delivers tailor-made, integrated logistics solutions to customers enabling them to operate as ‘best in class.’ Geodis Wilson – with revenue of 2.64 billion in 2012 – is the freight forwarding arm of Geodis Group which became part of the French rail and freight group SNCF in 2008. With its 46,000 employees in more than 60 countries and a revenue of 9.5 billion euros (2012), SNCF Geodis ranks among the top seven companies in its field in the world.

To learn more visit www.geodiswilson.com.

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Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates. It is also a leader in sustainability.

Writer Ian Armitage Project manager James Mitchell

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he past six years have been very good to Holcim Singapore and Dr Sujit Ghosh.

Its market share has grown to almost double what it was in 2007 when he took over the role of CEO and Holcim’s brand image has been “strengthened dramatically”.

“When I took over we had low market share and the brand was relatively unknown,” he says.

There are several factors behind its success. A major one is an unrelenting focus on sustainability – Holcim’s vision to provide “foundations for society’s future and commitment to sustainable development”, continuously seeking “ways to promote sustainable construction through innovation”.

It’s a hell of a vision. And for Dr Ghosh, it is much more than mere window-dressing.

He believes that by adopting sustainable practices, companies “can gain competitive edge, increase their market share, and boost shareholder value”.

What’s more, the “growing demand for ‘green’ products has created major new markets,” he says.

Before joining Holcim, Dr Ghosh worked with Lafarge Asia-Pacific as Regional Technical Director and had a role in several other major multinational corporations.

Holcim Singapore is a subsidiary of the Swiss-headquartered Holcim Group.

“Our sustainability efforts are central to our core strategy,” he says. “Apart from focusing on business growth, we also put a strong commitment to sustainability development. Typically, companies have lofty visions and Holcim also has its own lofty vision – to be not only a profitable company but also take the interests of stakeholders at large into account. We’ve been talking the talk and walking the

walk, being named the leader in the Dow Jones sustainability Index because of our commitments on sustainability and with CO2 emissions control.”

Last year Dr Ghosh attended an event run by Harvard Business School called “Innovating for Sustainability” in Hampshire, England.

Something like 40 executives from 24 countries and many industries

Apart from focusing on business growth, we also put a strong commitment to sustainability development. Typically, companies have lofty visions and Holcim also has its own lofty vision – to be not only a profitable company but also take the interests of stakeholders at large into account” attended and discussed items like how to avoid trade-offs between short term financial and nonfinancial performance improvements.

One of the many outcomes was the conclusion that investors of today are highly sophisticated, well informed, and highly demanding.

Not only do they care about immediate financial performance, but they are looking for business sustainability.

This of course was not news for Holcim.

“We’ve long been aware of the need to create value for shareholders in a way that creates value for other stakeholders as well,” Dr Ghosh Continued

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W-Locate Pte Ltd W-Locate was established by a group of Location-Based Service (LBS) professionals with accumulated years of experience in Telematics and Location Intelligence The company has provided services to major telecom operators and multi-national companies.

By exploiting the integration of M2M, Cloud Computing and Location Intelligence. We develop implementation strategy around each customer’s business objectives.

Having formulated our own engine for Location Intelligence and M2M, we provide customizable, practical & cost effective business solutions to help position our clients as market leaders in their own industry.

Our principal consideration is based on maximum efficiency with increased productivity.

FiND (Fleet Intelligent Dynamics) empowers companies to have full visibility of your company’s mobile assets.

Holcim centre of excellence (CoE)

XimLoc is a proprietary technology, which uses information from the cellular network (2G/2.5G/3G/3.5G/4G) to compute the user’s position.

Where we’re heading: In the next three years

explains. “But we are about more than simply saying sustainability is good business because it reduces waste or something like that or creating products that are green. It is much far-reaching and takes a long time for companies to develop and implement, and requires creativity.”

And nowhere is sustainability more important than Singapore – partly because of its lack of natural resources and growing demand for green buildings.

“We look for win-win solutions that offer immediate value and provide a commercial advantage,”

says Dr Ghosh. “Asia is not going to decrease its demand to build, so we need to figure out how we can do more with less.”

Last year Holcim opened a new Centre of Excellence with support from Singapore’s Economic Development Board with the aim of taking products at the research and development stage and turning them into commercial products saleable in Asian market.

One such product is an eco-friendly high strength concrete that can decrease the amount of material needed for building projects.

Continued

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FIND. We aim to be a worldwide leading provider in Fleet + Telematics System for Business Solutions.

It will incorporate all aspects in the entire value chain using spatial attributes as a system platform for M2M applications.

XimLoc. We aim to provide an independent & cost effective LBS EcoSystem for the mobile device world.

We will create a platform to cater for more innovative LBS products for consumers & enterprises, to improve lives & maximizing productivity.

Tel (65) 6259 6972 Email sales@w-locate.com

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fe a t u re

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Opening the CoE building with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)

High-strength concrete for skyscrapers

Easecrete: High workability concrete that ‘enhances project productivity’

“We are looking for innovations that reduce the carbon-footprint and make Singapore greener but also offer affordable and valueadded alternatives,” Dr Ghosh says.

“Singapore is resource-hungry and is has begun to embrace the concept of ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’.

“We also have a Holcim Foundation for sustainable construction which has a different board of directors, but still funded by the Holcim Group. The Foundation promotes sustainable construction around the world by running competitions around the world.”

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), which regulates Singapore’s construction industry, has embraced Holcim’s approach and has even gone as far as far to amend building codes, while encouraging the use of materials that reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

“With the innovative ultra high-strength, high-performance concrete there are many benefits,” says Dr Ghosh who explains it, “saves resources because you can construct with significantly lower volumes of concrete.”

Holcim Supercrete HS has a very low CO2 footprint, low shrinkage, high durability and is easily placeble without vibration as it is self-levelling.

Compared to normal high-strength concretes, its usage has the potential to lower concrete consumption by up to 50 percent.

“We launched Supercrete HS with the knowledge that Singapore is a country that has a lot of high-rise buildings and has high per capita cement consumption. It is about building more with less. You can still build the same height building, the same size, but if you are using a higher strength concrete you are going to consume a lot less and that is important in a country that is so reliant on imports. And the idea stuck well in the minds of the Continued

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WAM group BHM Pte. Ltd As a worldwide leader in developing and manufacturing equipment for bulk solids handling, WAMGROUP® aims to consolidate its leading position in the building and construction sector through innovation that promotes sustainability and safety for concrete batching plants.

WAM Singapore, which represents WAMGROUP® in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines is committed to provide advanced technology in order to reduce the environmental impact of concrete production plants in Southeast Asia.

Thanks to constant product innovation and a vast knowledge of the building and construction sector, today WAMGROUP® is able to offer a variety of solutions to help the industry meet the challenge of sustainability.

The advantage of reusing aggregates from the mixing process has now become a must. CONSEP®, a Concrete Reclaimer developed by WAM®, recycles concrete washed out from truck mixers or recovers concrete from moulds in precast concrete production minimising the environmental impact.

Their expertise in manufacturing Screw Conveyors acquired over decades has enabled WAM® to apply their technology to convey even the most difficult materials, such as fly-ash or other industrial by-products used in concrete production.

Clean air is an important element of sustainability, too. Improving the quality of the air by reducing dust emissions from concrete batching plants is amongst the company’s chief concerns. WAMGROUP® provides a unique range of silo vents, dust collectors and silo safety components which guarantee a safe environment in and around concrete batching plants.

For WAMGROUP®, to partner with a global player such as Holcim in the Asia Pacific region, has been an additional driver towards further innovation in the area of environmental protection and sustainable plant management. The benefits produced by this cooperation are tomorrow’s state of the art.

Tel +65 / 6753 25 33 Email info@wamfareast.com.sg

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Washed copper slag in plant

authorities here. We are supplying some very high strength concrete to high rise buildings in downtown Singapore which are going to be using less concrete, cement and aggregate. The imbedded footprint in those buildings is clearly going to be less because you are using fewer materials. That is an aspect of sustainability.

“Beyond that, we have launched other solutions, productivity enhancing solutions – one called Easecrete. It reduces the man-hours compared to that required with conventional concrete. All you have to do is take it to the site and pour it. And it is important in Singapore

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because of the drive to reduce the reliance on foreign workers.”

Eco-efficiency is at the core of Holcim’s business and it is making a real difference by promoting sustainable alternatives and greener production methods for cement, concrete and other building materials.

It is no stranger to using recycled materials in its products, for instance, and, prompted by the sand crisis, started using waste collected from Singapore’s ship-repair industry in the making of its concrete as far back as 2007.

“We are excited by the future,” says Dr Ghosh. “I’m an optimist and believe we all should be. I’m hopeful we will

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We are looking for innovations that reduce the carbon-footprint and make Singapore greener but also offer affordable and valueadded alternatives.

Singapore is resource hungry and is has begun to embrace the concept of ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’”

be able to continue on our journey towards sustainability and continue aligning ourselves with the broader sovereign policies of places we operate.

I’m hopeful on that.

“In the future, construction will be moving underground and we are excited as to how we can play a role in that. Singapore is crowded and there is a move to move its infrastructure underground which will open a whole array of opportunities.

“The future looks reasonably bright – we are focusing not just on profit but running in the right way.”

Holcim Singapore was established with the merger of National Cement and Eastern Concrete in 2004 and further expanded in 2010 with the amalgamation with JCL Building Materials (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jurong Cement Limited).

To learn more visit www.holcim.sg

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C O F F E E W O R K S

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CoffeeWORKS is Thailand’s leading coffee shop roaster delivering to over 500 outlets throughout the country.

Writer Ian Armitage Project manager Ben Weaver

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fter working in the U.S. coffee and cola industries during their university days, high school friends Dale Lee and Andrew Stotz decided to launch their own specialty coffee roasting factory in Thailand back in 1995.

The plan was to capitalise on the country’s booming cafe culture and their company, CoffeeWORKS, was born.

Today it is one of the leading fresh coffee roasters in Thailand, as well as a leading importer of espresso equipment and supplier of barista training and consulting services to respected global food and beverage brands operating in the country.

The business has performed brilliantly and I’d be absolutely amazed if you haven’t enjoyed various CoffeeWORKS roasts and blends at

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one of the hundreds of coffee shops or hotels it supplies.

“For the past few years – and currently too – we have been maintaining 30 percent year-onyear growth,” says Lee. “In our hotel channel alone this year we are growing 50 percent year-onyear. In spite of this growth, truly good and authentic Italian standard espresso based coffee drinks have hardly been embraced by the wider population in Thailand.”

When CoffeeWORKS began in 1995, per capita consumption in Thailand was 500-grams, with 85 percent of that going to instant coffee.

Per capita consumption has since increased to 800-grams, but the ratio of instant and fresh coffee is still the same, with fresh coffee only earning 15 percent of the consumption.

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“800-grams is still tiny compared with even north Asia such as Japan,” says Lee. “In Thailand alone, we see the opportunity to expand our business both in Bangkok and in the provincial capitals over the next 12 months and beyond.”

As a signal of intent, CoffeeWORKS recently moved into a new coffee roasting plant, leaving the premises it had occupied since 1995.

It takes the firm “to the next level” says Lee. “We completely designed the layout of our new plant on our own and then worked with our chosen contractor to construct it in an industrial zoned province just south of downtown Bangkok in Samutprakarn,” he says. “It’s been fantastic to move out of the old, small facility we were in. The first thing

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of many this move allowed us to do is to design and set up a proper air conditioned green coffee warehouse.

In fact, all of our production areas are air-conditioned. Air-conditioning the green coffee warehouse is especially important as we are importing very expensive and hard-to-source coffees from Africa and from Central and South America. Southeast Asia’s heat and humidity can degrade the finer high elevation coffees we import if they were to be stored where there is no climate control. “We have also set up a beautiful coffee laboratory for our Quality Assurance teams with their offices up above the lab. Both the lab and QA offices above the lab look out over both the green coffee warehouse and from another window can see into the production area in the next neighbouring room. This makes it much easier for our teams running the daily cupping routines, sample roasting, Continued

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traceability systems, etc., to more easily interact with the roasting teams.”

In the next room beyond the roasting and grinding areas is “another separated room” for packaging operations, Lee says.

From there the finished goods travel out to an elevator “and up to another separated and well protected stock room”.

“This however is small as we do all of our roasting within a just-intime system of roast-to-order so that our customers are receiving super fresh coffees.

“Coffee is like good bread. It’s best when it’s fresh.”

In addition to roasting, the new facility has an area “where maintenance can be performed” and tech support workshops and offices for preparing new espresso and coffee machines for installation at customer locations – coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and offices – and for operations as a dispatch centre for service vehicles in town and throughout Thailand.

CoffeeWORKS also has service offices (parts, back-up machines, and technicians) in Samui Island, Phuket, and Chiangmai.

The future is bright.

“In the longer term we see the opportunity to expand throughout Asia,” adds Lee. “CoffeeWORKS is really the story of two U.S. mid-western school friends who separately went to Asia to pursue their careers (Andrew came to Thailand first), and we ended up co-founding CoffeeWORKS here in Thailand in 1995. We were almost wiped out before we really got started by the 1997 Asian economic crisis that of course started here in Thailand with the overnight Baht devaluation from 25 - 50 Baht/ US$. We struggled – and struggled and struggled – for a lot of years thereafter to put CoffeeWORKS in

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we do all of our roasting within a just-in-time system of roast-to-order so that our customers are receiving super fresh coffees. Coffee is like good bread. It’s best when it’s fresh”

the good position we are at today.

Although it probably sounds cliché, we are super passionate about our efforts to make CoffeeWORKS one of Asia’s leading fresh coffee roasting firms. Admittedly, we are still not a big company compared to rivals, say for example in Japan, which is a pretty well developed fresh coffee market. But, via my business partner Andrew’s financial acumen, he has put together some amazing benchmarking data that we measure ourselves against to see if we really are world class or not. That benchmarking analysis covers a little over 900 coffee roasters and food factories globally, about half in emerging markets and half in developed markets. Our 2012 results for example show that we are in the top 10 percent in profitability and ROA compared with those 900 companies. We think that we can continue this kind of performance as we grow and this makes us very excited about our prospects for the future.”

As Mr Lee would say “specialist coffee starts today”.

To learn more visit www.coffeeworks.co.th

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