weekend thewww.businesstimes.com.sg business| JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 | S$1.00 | MCI (P) 052/08/2014 | times the raffles conversation OPINION WEALTH MIT PRESIDENT The business of creative Asia’s hot, young RAFAEL REIF | 8-9 | industries | 26-27 | hedge funds | 28-29 labour Redundancies on the rise RESTRUCTURING pains continue to bite, Dec bank loans growth with more workers laid off in 2014 than the year before. | 2 finance slows to near 5-yr low KL tycoon extends RM2b loan ANANDA Krishnan is understood to have agreed to lend 1MDB as much as RM2 billion to a debt that falls due on Jan 31. | 3 Hit comes from a sharp 6.4 per cent fall in manufacturing loans compared to a month ago media Singtel forms streaming JV By Jamie Lee IT teams up with Sony Pictures Television [email protected] and Warner Bros Entertainment to offer @JamieLeeBT regional video streaming service. | 6 Singapore ANK lending in December equities grew at 5.9 per cent from a year SOFT MARKET January market cap rises 2.2% ago – the slowest pace since Sustainable THE value of Singapore’s stock market is up March 2010 – preliminary data improvement in consumer and for the third month in a row with low-oil B from the Monetary Authority beneficiaries and real estate counters housing loans of Singapore showed on Friday. leading the way. | 10 looks doubtful. Compared to November, it actually stag- FILE PHOTO technology nated amid weak business loans, which Google spending spree takes a toll have been contracting for most of the sec- IT ramps up spending on new technologies ond half of 2014. even as its Web-advertising business falls Loans through the domestic banking While construction loans – which make ter of loans to individuals. The gain com- short of estimates. | 19 unit – which mainly reflect Singapore-dol- up the single-largest part, or about a quar- pared with a 0.4 per cent lift in November. lar lending – stood at S$608 billion in De- ter, of all business loans – were up 0.9 per With analysts’ expectations for further cember. cent in December, this was weaker than the softness in the domestic property market Business loans, which have shown clear 1.6 per cent growth posted in November. amid cooling measures and the rising inter- weakness in the later part of last year, con- On a yearly comparison, business loans est rate environment, Ms Ling said it may tracted 0.4 per cent to S$372 billion in De- LIVING grew just 6.4 per cent – a level not seen be premature to conclude a sustainable im- cember compared to a month ago. This re- Time’s since August 2010. provement in consumer and housing loans versed from the 0.8 per cent growth posted is on the cards. a-changing “Key drivers of business loans are facing in November. For 13 months now, year-on-year L2-4 The hit in December came from a sharp more subdued growth prospects going growth in consumer loans has been in sin- 6.4 per cent fall in manufacturing loans ahead,” said Selena Ling, head of treasury gle-digit territory, reflecting the raft of cool- compared to a month ago, reversing from research & strategy at OCBC Bank. ing measures introduced by the govern- slight gains made in November. Trade Consumer loans edged up slightly by 0.5 ment. The total debt servicing ratio, which loans also declined for the fourth straight per cent from a month ago to S$236 billion limits borrowings to 60 per cent of a month. On a yearly comparison, trade-loan in December. This mostly reflects higher person’s gross monthly income, was put in growth eased to a four-year low. housing loans, which make up three-quar- place in 2013. Cortina Watch pushes ahead with expansion plans By Chuang Peck Ming ing officer Jeremy Lim. [email protected] The shop, which will probably be the biggest Rolex Singapore boutique in Singapore, is likely to be ready by year-end. CORTINA Watch is not taking a breather, even after The multi-brand boutique at the luxury hotel and opening the world’s biggest Patek Philippe boutique in shopping development at The Capitol is about 3,000 sq Taiwan. Neither is the Swiss currency shock or a soft ft. It will incur renovation costs of probably S$2 million. market going to slow it. The Patek Philippe boutique at ION will triple its The Singapore-listed watch retail chain is pushing present 800-square-feet size to about 2,900 square feet ahead with expansion plans this year, which includes in July. Renovation is estimated to cost around S$2.5 mil- opening a giant Rolex flagship shop in Marina Square lion to S$3 million. Meanwhile, the Paragon store, which and a multi-brand boutique in Capitol Building as well carries brands like Vacheron Constantin, Omega, as expanding its existing Patek Philippe boutique in ION Longines and Jaeger LeCoultre, will grow from 2,000 sq and multi-brand outlet in Paragon. ft to 2,800 sq ft, Mr Lim said, adding that Cortina may The Rolex shop will be the single biggest project, in- also refurbish its multi-brand outlet at Raffles City. TOP WATCHMEN volving 5,500 square feet of space for watch displays and From left: Jeremy Lim; Anthony Lim, chairman and CEO of Cortina; events. Renovation costs alone could work out to Continued on Page 5 >> Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe; Raymond Lim, deputy chairman and deputy CEO of Cortina around S$4 million, according to Cortina’s chief operat- 45 Cortina’s S$4m investment pays off, Page 5 2 top stories THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 CONTENTS MARKETS NEWS LIVING STOCKS PRIME RATES FOREX HSTI Friday Change US$ S$ Top Stories 2-7 Watches L2-5 3,391.20 (-27.85) KL COMP 1,781.26 -0.92 SINGAPORE 5.35 US$ (S$ per US$) – 1.350 Raffles Conversation 8-9 Dining L6-9 NIKKEI 225 17,674.39 +68.17 MALAYSIA 6.85 £ (US$/S$ per £) 1.507 2.036 Design L10-11 EURO (US$/S$/€ ) 1.134 1.531 Companies & Markets 10-14 HSTI FUTURES HANG SENG 24,507.05 -88.80 HONG KONG 5.00 Real Estate 15-16 SET 1,581.25 -5.15 INDONESIA 14.424 Foreign currency per US$ S$ TAIWAN 5.036 Banking & Finance 17 3,390.00 (-29.00) JAKARTA 5,289.40 +26.69 YEN 117.90 87.30 JAPAN 1.475 Energy & Commodities 18 MANILA 7,689.91 +72.61 RM 3.625 2.684 HSIMSCI KOSPI 1,949.26 -1.76 KOREA 9.33 HK$ 7.752 5.740 Technology 19 BRITAIN 0.50 SHENZHEN B 1,070.04 +3.48 BAHT 32.71 24.22 380.23 (-2.50) US 3.25 Consumer 20 MUMBAI IND 29,182.95 -498.82 RUPIAH 12,650 9,367 Transport 21 CANADA 2.85 RENMINBI 6.248 4.626 HSIMSCI FUTURES 11am EST Change SWITZERLAND 0.50 INDIAN RUPEE 61.79 45.76 Govt & Economy 22-25 DOW 17,318.65 -98.20 INDIA 14.75 A$ 1.286 0.952 Opinion 26-27 Home & Garden L12-13 380.20 (-2.80) NASDAQ 4,664.79 -18.61 Source: Bloomberg NZ$ 1.374 1.017 Wealth 28-30 Motoring L14-15 Life & Culture 31 Sports L16 More redundancies in More layoffs Redundancies by sector 2014 due to restructuring 25,000 (Number of workers) 20,000 Increase in layoffs stems primarily from the services sector 15,000 Total By Kelly Tay 10,000 ber – even lower than the consen- ment growth will likely fall fur- Services [email protected] sus expectation of 2 per cent. ther. Unless policymakers ease re- Manufacturing 5,000 @KellyTayBT For the whole of 2014, unem- strictions on foreign labour, the Singapore Construction ployment stayed low, averaging 2 burden of driving GDP growth 0 RESTRUCTURING pains contin- per cent overall, 2.7 per cent for will increasingly fall on productiv- 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014* ue to bite, with more workers residents, and 2.9 per cent for citi- ity growth, which has been disap- laid off in 2014 than the year be- zens – broadly unchanged from pointing so far. Total 13,090 8,590 16,880 23,430 9,800 9,990 11,010 11,560 12,800 fore. Still, labour market condi- 2013. “The pressure to see more visi- Manufacturing 8,860 5,500 10,430 13,640 4,490 4,460 4,050 5,000 4,200 tions remain tight – unemploy- Meanwhile, employment ble results from the productivity Construction 490 70 540 980 1,350 1,050 650 1,120 1,500 ment averaged just 2 per cent for growth among locals rose over drive is therefore rising, and we Services 3,670 2,990 5,870 8,720 3,960 4,430 6,300 5,430 7,100 the whole of last year. 2014 as foreign employment expect Budget 2015 to announce *2014 figures based on preliminary estimates Wage pressures persist as growth continued to moderate. another fiscal deficit of 0.3 per Source: Labour Market Survey, MOM well, with Singapore’s real medi- The services sector (118,600) cent of GDP to support the re- an income rising by 1.4 per cent formed the bulk of employment structuring agenda of boosting increases for women and older num after adjusting for inflation. in 2014. The pace of growth, how- gains, followed by construction productivity.” residents.