Quick takes

Alibaba puts investments in Indian startups on hold

It began with TikTok and WeChat being drawn into China-U.S. trade tensions. Now, it seems technology is becoming politicised in China-India relations. Separately, but along the same lines, Taiwan is ordering a divestment of an Alibaba subsidiary.

ANT Group IPO set to be world’s largest

Meanwhile, Jack Ma will set records once again with the upcoming listing of the ANT Group, which will raise US$30 billion and value the company at more than US$200 billion. Politically savvy Ma is by-passing U.S. markets and listing the group in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

TCEB unveils additional “MICE cities”

The team at TCEB in Thailand continue their mission to diversify MICE activities outside of Bangkok adding two more cities to their priority list.

Zhejiang Netsun’s profits and revenues down in 1H

Hangzhou, 27th August: Shenzhen-listed Zhejiang Netsun, a B2B e-commerce platform, reported revenues of US$19 million in the six months ended 30th June 2020. This represents a year-on-year decrease of 13% compared with the same period last year. Profits in the six-month period also fell – declining 27% to US$1.7 million. Diluted earnings per share in the first half of 2020 were RMB 0.05 (US$0.0064).

The Hangzhou-based company’s management attributed the decreases in both revenues and profits to a weak performance on its sourcing and trading platform and to a substantial decrease in revenues from its exhibition business. Overall, management pointed to disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary cause of its poor results.

HC Group’s revenues down 27% in first half

Hong Kong, 25th August: Earlier this week, Hong Kong-listed HC Group released its interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2020. The company’s revenues fell 27% in the first half of the year, down to US$705 million. The company also posted a large loss of US$40 million in the first half, compared with a loss of US$24 million in the same period last year.

Management attributed the decrease in revenues to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in extensive nationwide disruptions to all of the HC Group’s business operations – especially its exhibitions and meetings activities.

SPH conducts media business review

Singapore, 18th August: Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), a media group, unveiled plans to restructure its media sales and magazines operations as part of its overall “media transformation roadmap.” Management also noted that the group’s advertising revenue has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic.

Beginning late last year, SPH’s management conducted a strategic review of its media business with the aim of providing SPH’s advertisers with more effective marketing solutions. In addition, according to the company, it has reviewed its costs, cut back on discretionary spending and instituted pay cuts for senior management (since the COVID-19 outbreak). Beginning in March, the company’s directors, the CEO and other senior managers took pay cuts of between 5% and 10%.

Alibaba’s revenues up 34% in Q1

Hangzhou, 20th August: Last week, Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company, announced its results for the quarter ended 30th June 2020. The company recorded revenues of US$22 billion, up 34% year-on-year. Net income jumped 124% over last year reaching US$6.7 billion.

More than 86% of Alibaba’s total revenues were generated from its core e-commerce business amounting to US$18 billion. In terms of its B2B business, just 4.3% of total revenues were generated from Alibaba’s B2B platforms. Revenues from Alibaba’s China B2B business, primarily generated through 1688.com, grew by 16% to US$493 million; while the international B2B business, primarily from Alibaba.com, generated revenues of US$454 million, a 43% increase year-on-year.

BSG forecast unprecedented 75% drop in net space sold in 2020

Hong Kong, 28th August: UFI and BSG have released the 16th edition of our annual report on the Trade Fair Industry in Asia. The report, researched and compiled by BSG, the covers actual performance of the industry in 2019, as well as forecasts for the years 2020 and 2021.

BSG estimates that Asia will record an unprecedented 75% drop in net space sold in 2020 compared to 2019 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Net space sold in Asia is expected to fall from the 24.5 million m2 recorded in 2019 down to just 6.8 million m2 in 2020.

This diminished result depends heavily on the trade fair market in China – which now accounts for nearly 60% of net space sold in Asia. If China avoids a large second or third wave of infections, 6.8 million m2 sold across Asia in 2020 is achievable. If China experiences another outbreak and returns to lockdown, the actual results in 2020 will be significantly lower.

In 2021, BSG’s forecast for the Asia Pacific region is net space sold in the range of 50% to 60% of 2019 levels – with China expected to outperform all other markets. In 2021, China is expected achieve 70% to 75% of net space sold in 2019 – barring a significant new outbreak of COVID-19.

The full report is available for purchase on the BSG website. UFI members are entitled to receive an executive summary of the research and to purchase the full report at a substantial discount. Details can be found on the UFI website.

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2020)

Pacific World folds after 40 years in the industry

Hong Kong, 18th August: Pacific World, a global destination management company, will cease operations in November after 40 years in the business. A note was recently sent to clients and partners outlining plans to close down the Hong Kong office in September and wind-up the business before the end of the year.

The company had been operating in Hong Kong since 1981 and has operations in 30 countries. The decision to cease operations was entirely due to the COVID-19 disruptions to the “global tourism industry in the past few months.” According to various media reports, its offices in Thailand have already closed and more of its Asian operations will follow in the coming weeks.

Quick takes

Shanghai Lansheng’s revenues down 16%

The Shanghai-based event organiser reports that revenues fell 16% down to US$186 million in the second quarter.

U.S.-China trade war now targets tech

CNN takes a look at the likelihood that WeChat and Alibaba could be next after the Trump administration finishes with TikTok.

This is not a U.S.-China cold war

In an interesting, thought-provoking article, Foreign Policy magazine argues that the comparisons with the U.S.-Soviet Union cold war are misguided.

U.K. debuts a new socially distanced live music venue

This is better than nothing, but not much better. Let’s hope this pandemic passes soon because this is far from ideal.

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2020)

CCID posts loss in first half

Beijing, 7th August: Last week, CCID Consulting, a research and information service provider in China, announced its financial results for the first half of 2020. Revenue dropped 54% year-on-year, down to US$5.7 million. The company posted a loss of US$1.5 million in the six-month period compared with a profit of US$1.1 million in the first half of 2019.

CCID’s largest business segment, management & strategy consultancy services, generated about 48% of total revenues amounting to US$2.7 million. This business segment decreased by 63% year-on-year. The second largest business segment was its information engineering supervision services, which generated revenues of US$1.9 million, accounting for 34% of total revenues and representing a drop of 51%. The remaining revenues were from its market consultancy services (US$1.01 million), which increased by 2.6%.

Sino Splendid’s revenues drop 59% in first half

Hong Kong, 10th August: Earlier this week, Hong Kong-listed Sino Splendid (formerly China.com) released its results for the six-month period ended 30th June 2020. Revenues in the first half were US$2.5 million, a year-on-year decrease of 59%. The company recorded a loss of US$1.3 million, compared with a loss of US$638,000 in the same period in 2019.

More than 58% of its total revenues were generated from its travel media business segment, amounting to US$1.5 million. This represents a decrease of 68% compared with last year’s figure. Its financial magazine business generated revenues of US$932,000, accounting for approximately 37% of total revenues. The financial magazine business fell 25% in the period. Remaining revenues were generated from its money lending business (US$99,000) and its new virtual reality business (US$23,000).

Global Sources launches online shows

Hong Kong, 5th August: Hong Kong-based Global Sources launched its Global Sources Online Show (GSOS) on 29th July aiming to connect its suppliers with global trade buyers. With a question mark over the outlook for physical events in Hong Kong for the rest of 2020, these online events are Global Sources’ best option to keep their suppliers and buyers engaged and to generate some revenues.

The first week of the online show, which concluded on 4th August, featured products from the medical & healthcare and study & work from home sectors. The second week, running from 3rd to 9th August, focused on products in the home & hardware sectors.

SaigonTex 2020 “postponed” to 2021

Ho Chi Minh City, 7th August: In a bit of discouraging news, Hong Kong-based organiser, CP Exhibition has decided to effectively cancel the 2020 edition of SaigonTex, one of its key shows in Vietnam. This comes despite the fact that Vietnam has managed the COVID-19 outbreak remarkably well.

A leading event in the textile and garment industry in Vietnam, the 2020 edition of SaigonTex – Vietnam Saigon Textile & Garment Industry Expo / SaigonFabric – Vietnam Saigon Fabric & Garment Accessories Expo will be “postponed” (i.e. cancelled) and “combined” with the 2021 edition, running from 7th to 10th April 2021 at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City.

Quick takes

Pico getting some business to build temporary hospitals

Two brief articles (with a few good photos) showing how Pico has transformed halls at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong and SINGEX in Singapore into temporary hospitals for COVID-19 patients. AWE has 400 beds available now.

Confusion and political tension over state borders in Australia

“There now appears a genuine disconnect around how various governments are approaching what one hopes is a future pathway to reopening our internal borders.” That is true worldwide as governments take very different approaches to the pandemic.

Bids for Japan’s IR projects seem to be losing interest

Las Vegas Sands withdrew from Japan completely in May. Wynn Resorts closed its Yokohama office.  Caesars pulled out last year. MGM is “expressing hesitancy,” but Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment Group and Macau-based Melco are still interested. If any of these IRs are actually built, it will eventually add significant exhibition and conference capacity to the Japanese market.

Diversified cancels November event in Singapore

This is not a good sign for the outlook of events in Singapore through to the end of 2020, but it is worth noting that Diversified was the first and only organiser to cancel a B2B exhibition in Hong Kong due to the protests in 2019.