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Vietnam e-commerce market growing fast

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Vietnam is one of the most attractive eCommerce markets in the region for investors. With an explosive 33% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past two years, Vietnam ranks high among the fastest-growing eCommerce markets in the region.

Frost & Sullivan forecast that the eCommerce market in Vietnam will reach a value of $3.7 billion by 2030. The year 2017 alone was a flourishing year for Vietnam’s eCommerce market with millions of dollars in investment capital poured in from foreign investors.

To explore the investment landscape in Vietnam, iPrice has collaborated with Cento Ventures to analyze the pattern of eCommerce investment in Vietnam. The report revealed the following findings about Vietnam’s eCommerce scene:

The big 6 behind Vietnam’s eCommerce funding

The largest investors in Vietnam’s eCommerce market include tech giants, venture capital firms and investment companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Temasek Holdings, Dragon Capital, CyberAgent Ventures and IDG Ventures Vietnam.

Alibaba, Tencent, and Temasek started investing in Vietnam’s eCommerce market only in recent years, while both Dragon Capital and IDG Ventures Vietnam have been seeding investments since the early beginnings.

JD.com, owned by Tencent, the largest Internet company in China, recently completed its large-scale investment in Tiki.vn and became the largest shareholder of Tiki in January 2018. Although the exact figures were not disclosed by both parties, local media estimated it to be $44 million.

Besides Tiki.vn, Tencent also expanded its stake in Vietnam’s largest digital content company and the only billion-dollar startup in Vietnam – VNG. The amount of investment is confidential, but according to a credible news source, Tencent is now VNG’s largest foreign shareholder.

In addition, Singapore-based Sea Limited (Garena) has entered the Vietnamese market via Shopee, the mobile-first marketplace platform. The largest shareholder of Sea Limited, which operates Shopee, is also Tencent.

Lazada is backed by two giants – Alibaba, the Chinese multinational eCommerce and technology conglomerate, and Temasek Holdings, the global investment company owned by the government of Singapore.

In November 2014, Lazada made a funding announcement worth $249 million from Temasek Holdings. In June 2017, China’s Alibaba invested $1 billion in Lazada and increased its total stake to 83%.

Prior to investing in Lazada, Temasek also invested in FPT Corporation, an internet corporation which owns Sendo and FPT Shop. As of July 2018, Sendo has become one of the most popular eCommerce sites in Vietnam in terms of web traffic, according to SimilarWeb.

The report also revealed that Vietnam is a hotspot for investors from around the world. The burgeoning eCommerce market in Vietnam has attracted major investors from Japan, Germany, the United States, Korea, China, and Singapore.

With six companies invested in Vietnam’s eCommerce market (BEENOS, CyberAgent Ventures, econtext Asia, SBI Holdings, Sumitomo Corporation, Trancosmos), Japan tops the list of foreign countries with the highest number of investors in Vietnam. In 2017, Japan invested a total of $9.1 billion in Vietnam, taking over Korea ($8.5 billion) and ranked as the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) country in Vietnam.

Germany and the US are two countries outside of Asia that are actively invested in Vietnam’s eCommerce market.

In 2012, Intel Capital, the investment arm of the computer processor juggernaut, revealed that it had invested a combined $17 million in two Internet companies in Southeast Asia, with one of them being VC Corp, the Internet content firm in Vietnam. VC Corp has since been known as the parent company of several eCommerce platforms: Mua Re, Enbac, Mua Chung, Rong Bay. Over the years, the list of US investors continued to grow, with firms such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Summit Partners allocating capital to the Vietnamese eCommerce industry.

Deutsche Bank and Rocket Internet are among the most prolific German investors in Vietnam. After selling several start-ups like Easy Taxi, Foodpanda, and Zalora to its competitors, Rocket Internet’s strongest presence in Vietnam remained with its investment in Lazada. Deutsche Bank, on the other hand, had become one of the largest shareholders of FPT Corporation since 2007. The German investment bank and financial services company later went on to increase its share in FPT in June 2011.

According to a report on EnterpriseInnovation

East Sea low pressure system concerns forecasters

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A low pressure system in the East Sea has forecasters concerned due to its unpredictable development.

The low pressure system remains weak but is likely to strengthen into a tropical depression, heading towards the Hoang Sa archipelago and Hainan Island (China) in the next 24-48 hours – Vietnamnet reported

At 7am on August 7, a tropical convergence strip was positioned at 15.8 degrees north, 114.8 degrees east, about 270km-370km southeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, according to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

The low pressure system is proving problematic for meteorologists to predict its direction of movement but for the next 24 hours, it is not likely to cause strong winds or bring heavy rains to northern provinces.

Due to the effects of the low pressure system, heavy showers and thunderstorms will affect the East Sea area on August 7, including the Hoang Sa archipelago.

The confluence of the tropical convergence strip and south western monsoon will cause rough seas and strong winds in the coastal areas from Binh Thuan to Ca Mau. Thundershowers, gales and tornadoes are likely to hit coastal areas from Binh Thuan to Ca Mau, Kien Giang and the Gulf of Thailand.

Chinese men arrested for Quang Ninh petrol station theft

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One of the Chinese men, Ding Ning Shan, at the police station

Two Chinese men have been arrested after attacking a female staff member in an attempted theft at a petrol station in the northern province of Quang Ninh – Dtinews reported.

At around 10 pm on August 7, after fishing the working shift at the petrol station at Hai Tien Commune, Mong Cai City, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, a staff member from the ASEAN Company came to the firm’s office to drop off the money she collected from petrol sales.

Then suddenly, the two men rushed to tie her hands and muffle her mouth. After hearing the scuffle colleagues from the petrol station and nearby people attempted to arrest the men.

The two men tried to escape. However, one of them was initially detained by police, while the other stole a car at the company’s offices which he rammed into the police to save his accomplice and then two fled.
They escaped onto the Hai Yen Industrial Park for some kilometres and then were found in a nearby field before being arrested. The police confiscated knives, gloves and drills from them.

The two then were identified as Ding Shi Jie, 30, and Ding Ning Shan, 36 who were both from China. They told the police that they entered Vietnam through Mong Cai Border Gate at 11am on August 7

It won’t be easy to lure foreign capital in H2: experts

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Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) will no longer be the main driver to attract foreign capital to Vietnam in the second half of 2018 as it was in the first six months of the year.

The State Bank (SBV) Governor at the online government dialogue on July 2 said SBV bought over $11 billion in the first half of 2018, raising national total forex reserves to $63.5 billion.

The huge net purchase of $11 billion just in the first six months of the year, which was close to the $13 billion net purchase value in 2017, is believed to have upset the finance market.

The government bond yield has dropped to a record low, 3 percent per annum for 5-year bonds, nearly equal to that of the US government bond yield. This is attributed to high liquidity with cash surplus reaching VND300 trillion.

SBV had to lower the dollar buy price twice because of the high foreign currency supply. The huge foreign capital flow has led to the VN Index rising by 20 percent within the first quarter of 2018. With the growth rate of 48 percent in 2017, Vietnam is considered the fastest growing stock market in the world.

Analysts believe that FPI was the major driving force of the foreign capital flow. Foreign investors poured multi-billions of dollars into Vietnam businesses.

In May, Vinhomes sold $2 billion worth of shares to foreign investors. Another well-known investment deal was the one in which foreign investors spent $1.3 billion to acquire 257 million Techcombank shares.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), in the first six months of 2018, foreign investors invested $4.1 billion in Vietnam businesses, a sharp increase of 82.4 percent in comparison with the same period last year.

Vietnam could also attract foreign capital through foreign direct investment (FDI) with $8.4 billion worth of FDI pledged in the first half of the year. Vietnam’s trade balance saw a surplus of $3.3 billion during the same time.

However, analysts warned that though Vietnam’s total balance had a surplus of $9 billion in the first half of the year, the deficit may come back in the second half.

They also affirmed that FPI will no longer be the main driver to attract foreign capital in the second half. The anticipated interest rate hike in the US, plus the worry about the slowdown in the global economy, both have driven cash flow to the US.

In Vietnam, foreign investors continued to be net sellers in May, June and the first half of July. Meanwhile, the share sales planned by Genco 3, Binh Son Refinery, PV Oil and BIDV will not be organized in the near future.

Source: VNN

Eximbank receives Operational Excellence Award from Wells Fargo

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Wells Fargo, one of the top three US banks, honoured Eximbank with the Operational Excellence Award.

This award was handed over personally by Charles Kohler, deputy head of Global Payment Services at Wells Fargo, to Eximbank’s deputy CEO Nguyen Huong Minh. Minh Trang reported on VIR.

This award is granted by Wells Fargo to its correspondent banks, who had over 90 per cent of their SWIFT messages sent through to Wells Fargo for money transfer (at Eximbank, the percentage was 95 per cent). Once the SWIFT messages are received by Wells Fargo, the requests will be processed and the funds can be transferred to the receiver’s bank account in less than one minute.

The award, as such, is a recognition and affirmation of the speed and quality improvements in payment processing operations and that Eximbank have managed to keep up with international standards and customer’s demands.

This is the eighth year in a row that Eximbank has been granted this award for its high rate of SWIFT messages, not only from Wells Fargo, but also from other international banks like BNY Mellon that recognised the SWIFT message ratio of over 97 per cent for the period of 2015-2017, as well as HSBC and JP Morgan Chase at 99 per cent and 98 per cent, respectively.

“It is an honour to be viewed by Wells Fargo as one of the banks that provide high-quality and well-performing payment services. With our efforts to align with international standards, we are committed to continuously improve international settlement service quality, aiming at realistic values and interests for our customers and partners,” said Minh.

Eximbank is known for its quality international settlement services and this award represents strong operational support and partnership from its correspondent banks. Looking at the mutual achievements gained over the last 20 years, Eximbank and Wells Fargo believe that their partnership will strengthen over time, thus bringing about more benefits to customers.

Eximbank, with more than 29 years in operation, is one of the fastest growing financial institutions that offers prestigious and quality products and services based on its cutting-edge technology platforms. The bank is continuously enhancing its competition capabilities to achieve its strategic sustainable development targets that embrace innovation as the core to create more values for its corporate and individual customers, thus realising its future expectations.

Vietnamese ride-hailing app to debut in HCM City

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The ride-hailing application FastGo will debut in Ho Chi Minh City this month, giving another choice of travel and payment methods for customers of the city.

According to a report on VietnamNet, the app, developed by NextTech Group, was launched in Hanoi from June with similar operation method to Uber and Grab.

In addition, FastBike for motorcycle taxi service will be started in the coming time, following the success of FastGo.

After one month of operation in Hanoi, more than 5,000 taxis and private cars registered to work with FastGo. More than 10,000 ride-hailing calls were made, serving nearly 12,000 passengers who installed the app.

CEO of FastGo Vietnam Nguyen Huu Tuat said in the fourth industrial revolution, apps need to be developed in advanced technology platform to benefit customers.

At present, the Vietnamese business has exempted the commission rate for drivers.

FastGo has kept its prices at a stable level, without raising the rates in unfavourable weather or time. Besides, it has launched various promotions to attract more visitors.

It also targets to encourage non-cash payment and expand its services in line with the development of digital economy, thus transferring the traditional business model to a more advanced one.

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Vietnam investment: hectic M&A in 2018

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There is massive interest among foreign investors at the moment.
At the Savills Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh offices, we see many investor groups every day, mostly new entrants, who are keen to explore opportunities.

This interest is mainly coming from the region – Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore – though U.S., European and global funds are also investigating a lot.

In the first half of the year, the Vietnamese economy grew at over 7 percent year-on-year, the highest rate in seven years.

All commercial and residential sectors are targets. The latter is still very hot across the country; large investor groups, particularly Chinese and Japanese, are investing heavily in large new urban areas.

One major example, which accounted for a huge chunk of the FDI in the first half of the year, is the SmartCity project in Hanoi, a 271ha modern residential and commercial township jointly developed by four local investors and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation.

The first phase is planned to commence in the third quarter of this year and is to be developed by a Sumitomo–BRG Group joint venture.

The second quarter also saw the notable IPO of Vinhomes JSC, the residential property development unit of Vingroup, drawing strong interest from domestic and foreign investors, including GIC, which acquired a 5.74 percent stake as Vinhomes’ cornerstone investor.

Most of the investor interest comes from funds which are not looking to develop themselves and so are looking to acquire operating cash-generating assets – office properties, retail malls, four- and five–star hotels.

Occupancy rates in the office sector in Hanoi are very high and rental rates are rising. High-quality assets rarely come on the market though.

There are often challenges in Vietnam in completing transactions, particularly between foreign buyers and domestic sellers.

Singaporeans and Japanese have been active buyers, especially in the office sector. The quality of the office stock is continuing to improve and we are starting to see more and more investment-grade assets across the country that global institutional investors can seriously look at.

However, supply still remains an issue and transaction volumes are still relatively low.

The hotel market is also performing extremely well and so investors are desperate to get access to these assets. International arrivals continue to rise by 30 percent and domestic travel continues to boom.

Several key domestic groups have emerged to dominate ownership of both domestic and internationally managed five-star properties in Vietnam, and so it can be challenging for foreign investors to get access to these types of properties.

These domestic groups are very well funded, have aggressive expansion plans, and are able to secure transactions. Savills is currently due to market a few key exciting hotel opportunities on a confidential basis.

The Ho Chi Minh City M&A real estate market has also been very active. Frasers Property entered into a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire 75 percent of Phu An Khang Real Estate, which owns a mixed-use development plot in District 2, for around $18 million in April.

The city’s residential sector is still the focus of local players.

Xuan Mai Corporation successfully acquired Eco-Green Saigon, a 14-ha project in District 7.

Nam Long Group continued its collaboration with Japanese investors Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corporation and Nishi Nippon Railroad to develop Akari City, an 8.8-ha residential project in Binh Tan District.

Nam Long also kicked off its key project, Waterpoint township in Long An Province, in June. Spread over 355 ha, Waterpoint consists of townhouses, villas, high-rise apartments, a mixed-use complex, a hospital, and education and sports facilities.

In the central region, Danang in particular, due to the growth of tourism, significant investment flows are being directed into the resort and hospitality sector.

Most M&A activities however involve domestic investors.

A noticeable trend is how the market is moving away from condominium and condotel projects toward landed residential developments with infrastructure.

Looking at the future we expect more deals in 2018 and 2019 at the asset, portfolio, and corporate investment levels. The large number of IPO valuations on which Savills Vietnam is working demonstrates investors’ interest in the property market.

With the promising prospects offered by many of the real estate segments in Vietnam, it is expected that investment flows will be directed into a wider variety of sectors, including opportunity assets like industrial and logistics properties.

Matthew Powell report on Vnexpress

CEOs meet the challenges of an uncertain world

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For our fourth annual Global CEO Outlook survey, we reached out to 1,300 CEOs of large companies across sectors from around the world, including over 30 CEOs from Vietnam, to get their views of a broad range of business drivers, risks, and pain points they and their businesses face. As in prior years, we’ve seen how quickly the world is changing for today’s business leaders and what this means for how they are leading and growing their organisations.

Similar to the observations in 2017, we found Vietnam’s CEOs excited about the future. They saw technology-driven change as a significant opportunity to disrupt their respective sectors. That optimism continues in 2018, with CEOs showing great faith in the economic environment and industry growth prospects.

However, that optimism is tempered by caution and realism, with a clear recognition that, in order to grow their businesses, they need to respond to an ever-expanding spectrum of complex challenges and ‘growing pains’. While the CEOs surveyed still predict that their businesses will grow in the coming year, forecasts are lower than last year and a majority say they need to hit growth targets before they start hiring new people.

It’s not surprising in the current environment to see geopolitical issues rising on the CEO radar. Technology continues to command considerable attention – as an enabler, a disruptor, and, with the threat of cyber attacks, a very significant risk.

There’s also a growing sense of inevitability of a cyber breach, with nearly half of CEOs saying that becoming the victim of an attack is a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. In addition, even though a number of CEOs still rely on the value of their experience and intuition when making difficult strategic calls, they are embracing the digital agenda like never before and taking personal ownership of implementing data-driven models and analytics to make decisions for the future of their organisations.

Being a CEO in a period of such profound disruption and opportunity poses immense personal and professional challenges. Given the current geopolitical environment, it’s perhaps not surprising that a number of CEOs in Vietnam are more open to new thinking, learning new skills, and challenging convention than ever before.

Source: VIR

Investment fund VinaCapital reconciles to leading egg firm breakup demand

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VinaCapital and egg firm Ba Huan seem set to part ways acrimoniously after the fund agreed to the company’s demand to stop their partnership.

“VinaCapital has decided to stop investing in Ba Huan JSC and is negotiating with the firm in closing the deal on the basis of the law and mutual interest,” it said in a statement.

VinaCapital’s flagship fund Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), in February, invested $32.5 million in the country’s leading egg firm Ba Huan for an undisclosed minority stake. The firm holds over 30 percent of the pasteurized egg market in Vietnam.

The latest move follows Ba Huan’s letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc Monday seeking to end the deal it made with VinaCapital, one of the largest investment funds in Vietnam.

It accused the fund of trying to take over its brand and management.

Pham Thi Huan, CEO of Ba Huan JSC, told VnExpress that one of the reasons for this request is the disparity between the English and Vietnamese versions of the deal.

VinaCapital had “added by itself” an internal rate of return of 22 percent a year to the Vietnamese memorandum, three times bank interest rates on deposits, without the approval of Ba Huan JSC, she said.

VinaCapital also set a condition that Ba Huan will have to return to the fund its investment capital with the 22 percent interest, or transfer a stake of at least 51 percent to VOF, should it cannot achieve its business plans within three years, she said.

“These are merely the numbers VinaCapital expects, not something both parties have agreed upon,” Huan said.

The firms have only signed the English version of the contract, which doesn’t include those terms, she said.

Huan added that VinaCapital has also constantly sought veto powers over board decisions.

“The fund wants to have management authority over Ba Huan and take over our brand.”

But in its statement Tuesday VinaCapital said there is no difference between the English and Vietnamese agreements.

Ba Huan JSC, established in 2001, received it in both English and Vietnamese to scrutinize before signing, it said.

It also claimed it does not have any intention to manage or take over Ba Huan JSC, which has never been part of its strategy.

VinaCapital, founded in 2003, has offices in Vietnam, Singapore and Myanmar.

Ba Huan sells 1.7 million eggs and 15,000 chickens every day on average. Its revenues are expected to top $90 million this year – Ha Thanh reported

Ministry proposes timeline for installing cameras in vehicles

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The Transport Ministry has proposed a timeline for pushing transport business service providers to install cameras to monitor their vehicles.

According to Vietnamnet, the ministry recently sent the Government a draft decree aimed at replacing Decree 86/2014 on business conditions for road transport. Article 12 regulating surveillance equipment to monitor the journeys of vehicles includes the additional timeline for installing cameras.

Clause 2 of the article in the draft decree stipulates that monitoring devices must be fitted inside passenger cars, container trucks, semi-trailers, semi-trailer trucks, and cargo transporters with a designed payload of 20 tons or more. The aim is to collect image data on the drivers’ activities and journeys.

The suggested deadlines for various types of vehicles range from July 2022 to July 2025.

According to the Transport Ministry, the regulation follows the recommendations of the Ministry of Justice and the instructions of Truong Hoa Binh, deputy prime minister and chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, provided at a recent conference on traffic safety.

A representative of the Ministry of Justice told Phap Luat newspaper that developed countries have compelled vehicle owners to install GPS-enabled cameras to monitor the drivers and their cars. The GPS information is made available on the internet.

The official noted that current regulations have exposed many shortcomings in the operations of transport companies and the competent authorities, such as corruption and tax evasion.

“Installing in-vehicle, GPS-enabled cameras to impose (possible) fines will limit dependence on traffic police, traffic inspectors and other law enforcement,” the official added.

Do Van Bang, director of Minh Thanh Phat Trading and Services Co., Ltd, however, told the newspaper that the installation of cameras is unlikely to tackle bribery. According to him, cameras will be more appropriate for monitoring what drivers do during their journeys.

Bang stressed that the fee for installing and operating black boxes in cars is extremely high. Each camera costs roughly VND2 million (US$86), but the cost of a 3G or 4G internet connection to transmit live images to his company is expected to be up to VND10 million per month.

A traffic expert commented that the compulsory installation of cameras should be weighed carefully due to the high costs involved. Transport businesses would certainly pass on these costs to their customers.

Bui Danh Lien from the Hanoi Transport Association opposed the regulation, explaining that transport companies have already faced great difficulty in recent years, owing to rising fuel costs.

According to the Transport Ministry, the regulation could affect more than 340,000 cargo transport vehicles.

A set of surveillance equipment, capable of recording and transferring image data, costs some VND4.5-5.5 million (US$193-236). In addition, the cost for maintaining servers and data transmission lines is estimated at some VND120,000 (US$5) per car on a monthly basis.

Android Pie: Google adds Digital Wellbeing controls

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Android Pie – Google’s latest version of its mobile operating system – has been released.

The software introduces a new way to track usage of apps on a smartphone or tablet and lets limits be set, including the removal of colour from the screen at a chosen time of the day.

The ninth edition of Android also offers more powerful notifications and promises to extend battery life.
But Google continues to face issues with the distribution of its updates.

According to its own figures, only about 12% of in-use Android devices were running the previous version – Oreo – as of a fortnight ago.

Google says that it has worked with third-party device-makers to make it easier for them to check and deliver the updates than before.

But for now, the new upgrade is only being made available to its own Pixel phones.

Why Pie?

Google always picks a dessert or confectionery-based nickname for its mobile OS, shifting one letter along the alphabet each time.

Past examples have included Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, Lollipop and Marshmallow.

There had been speculation that the next name could be Pistachio Ice Cream, Pop-Tart or Pumpkin Pie.

But the chief of Android’s London engineering team explained that there had been a deliberate decision to keep things simple.

“It hints at the same goals we have with Android in general,” said Andrei Popescu.
“We want to simplify the user interface, we want to make the usage simpler and more intuitive.

“And I think that kind of resonates with a very simple and beautiful name like Pie.”

Will it really make me use my phone less ?

One of the new software’s headline features is its new Digital Wellbeing controls.

These are in part a response to criticism that smart devices can be “addictive” and disruptive to our sleep patterns.

A dashboard provides ways to see how much time the owner has spent using their device, with a breakdown of the hours and minutes dedicated to their most popular apps.

Timers can then be set to limit usage of specific programs.

When the limit nears, users get a warning – and when it is reached the app’s icon becomes greyed out to prevent it from launching. The lockout can, however, be overridden.

Wind Down Mode is intended to act as a further prompt to put down the device at the end of the day.

At a pre-selected time, the screen switches from colour to greyscale – meaning all imagery is seen in shades of grey. In addition, the Do Not Disturb mode is activated, silencing incoming calls and alerts.

Apple is introducing its own Screen Time controls to iOS 12 with a similar goal.

But one physiologist said adults and children alike must be educated about the benefits of the new facilities to ensure they are widely adopted.

“These are good measures, but there are still going to be a lot of people who don’t think they have a problem,” said Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, author of Fast Asleep, Wide Awake.

“So, there will still need to be a lot done to educate people about the pitfalls of becoming unhealthily dependent on the use of their phones and apps.”

How have notifications been improved?

Pie adds images to the alerts – showing both a small picture of the person who contacted the recipient, when relevant, as well as previews of any photos or other media they may have shared.

In addition, the operating system will now allow users to reply to received messages via the notifications themselves using a Smart Reply facility.

This will attempt to predict and offer the desired response, allowing the owner to send it without having type it in themselves.

How has Google boosted battery life?

The tech firm has taken a two-pronged approach to the common complaint that devices run out of power too quickly.

Firstly, it has attempted to take advantage of a common feature of modern mobile processors to minimise battery use when the display is turned off.

Many CPU (central processing unit) chips now feature “big-little” architecture, whereby some processor cores prioritise speed while others focus on being more power-efficient.

Android Pie now schedules many of its background processes to run on the more efficient “little” cores in order to consume less power.

The second approach involves trying to prevent what Google describes as “bad battery days”.

To do this, the system studies an owner’s behaviour in order to anticipate when they will want to use certain apps.

By doing this, it can stop unlikely-to-be-opened apps using the CPU and battery to carry out tasks that could be deferred until later when the device is recharging.

Huawei already offers something similar in some of its phones using its own machine learning techniques.

What else is new?

The other biggest innovation is Slices, which brings parts of an app’s user interface to the fore without requiring the owner to open the program.

For example, entering a taxi app’s name into the search bar might bring up information about how far away the service’s nearest car is and how long it would take to get the user home.

However, this facility is not set to go live until later this year.

Other innovations that will be offered at launch include:

App Actions – an anticipatory function that tries to determine what task the user will want their phone to do next – such as to call a specific contact, show selected notes or play a favourite album. The device then presents a couple of these suggestions near the top of its screen so they can be achieved with a single tap
a screen brightness facility that studies how a user adjusts their display based on their surroundings, and then tries to make the changes automatically on their behalf
new gesture controls to make it easier to switch between apps

According to a report on BBC

Vietnam’s software industry after two decades of development

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Vietnam’s software firms are developing steadily with stable revenue growth rate of 50 percent per annum.

One of the most important goals set in the Party Politburo’s Directive No 58 released in 2000 was developing IT, especially software, into an important key industry

Vietnam’s software firms only began learning ‘how to walk’ two decades ago, when China and India had already become the world’s software export centers. However, they just needed a short time to be added to the list of leading software exporters.

In 2000, FPT took the first steps to export software. But in 2014-2017, the largest Vietnamese IT group was recognized by IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) as one of top 100 outsourcing service providers – The Global Outsourcing 100.

Gartner, when assessing the IT outsourcing services provided by the countries in Asia Pacific, put Vietnam among six leading destinations in technology transfer.

Regarding revenue, Vietnam’s software firms have gained steady growth of 50 percent per annum with revenue in 2017 increasing to VND58.5 trillion ($2.7 billion), or six times compared with 2007.

At Industry 4.0 Summit, an important event of the technology circle held recently, a series of Vietnamese products and software solutions utilizing 4.0 technologies were introduced.

A robotic arm developed by FPT caught special attention from visitors and scientists thanks to its capability of simulating human’s hands via an internet connection.

The robot arm is the result of FPT’s experiment connecting IoT’s MindSphere and AWS platforms and different devices that FPT is considering using for smarthomes.

FPT said that it plans to market the first version of solutions to support smarthomes.

FPT has also taken an important step in its path to become one of the world’s leading companies on providing digital transformation when taking over Intellinet, an US-based technology consultancy firm.

The combination of Intellinet’s strength in consultancy and FPT’s technology and business capabilities will provide more comprehensive and higher value-added technology services, especially digital conversion services.

With opportunities from the 4.0 industry revolution, Vietnam will be able to upgrade its position in the global software industry, but it needs more large-scale professional software corporations.

According to Bill Ruh from GE, the software industry will become the most valuable industry, and large-scale professional software corporations will have the best opportunities for development.

With the issuance of Directive 58, which mentioned the development of software IPs, the Quang Trung Software Park (QTSC) opened, followed by a series of other IPs in Hanoi, Da Nang and Can Tho.

According to a report on Vietnamnet

HCMC taxman aims to collect taxes from 14,000 online account holders

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The HCMC Tax Department has invited some 14,000 social network account holders, especially those developing applications on Google and Facebook, to work with their tax offices on their tax obligation. The move follows recent revelations of significant tax evasion among holders of these accounts.

Many individuals have so far earned large sums of money from their game applications on online platforms. However, they have yet to properly declare their income with local authorities.

Nguyen Nam Binh, deputy head of the HCMC Tax Department, told Lao Dong newspaper that the agency had recently requested a local developer to pay a whopping VND4.1 billion, as the individual had reportedly received a total of VND41 billion from Google, YouTube and Facebook over the past two years, without making declarations.

The 20-year-old app developer, whose name was not disclosed by tax authorities, had created a popular online game, where YouTube and Facebook had run in-app ads on his game platform, paying him hefty advertising fees.

Binh also revealed that another game designer with temporary residence in HCMC had earned some VND30 billion from Google, Facebook and YouTube but had yet to make any tax declarations or payments.

However, the individual has now left the temporary residence, so the municipal tax authority has asked its peers in the south-central coastal province of Quang Nam, where the tax evader is registered as a permanent resident, to take over the case.

Having worked with local banks, the department detected that Google, Facebook and YouTube have paid large sums of money to local residents, particularly game developers.

Therefore, the department has asked some 14,000 social network account holders to declare their taxes, possibly worth up to tens of billions of Vietnamese dong.

Under the prevailing regulations, earnings from Facebook, Google and YouTube are considered income from business activities, and anyone with an income exceeding VND100 million is subject to a 5% value added tax and a 2% personal income tax.

According to a report on SGT

AirAsia to unveil fifth route to Phu Quoc, Vietnam – Visa free for 30 days

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AirAsia Bhd has unveiled its fifth route into Vietnam yesterday, as the low-cost carrier launched its direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phu Quoc, Vietnam.

The four weekly flights will commence on November 2. Phu Quoc marks AirAsia’s 59th unique route, apart from its existing destinations in Vietnam namely, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hanoi and Nha Trang from Malaysia. Ganeshwaran Kana reported on the Star News.

Speaking after the launching ceremony, AirAsia head of commercial Spencer Lee said that the launch of the direct flight services to Phu Quoc reflects AirAsia’s continued efforts to strengthen the airline’s connectivity within the Asean region.

He also said that AirAsia will be offering a special introductory all-in-fares for the new route starting from RM90. The special fare will be available for booking from August 8 to 19 for the travel period from November 2 this year to March 29, 2019.

“We are delighted to be the first airline to launch direct services from Kuala Lumpur to one of Asean’s best-kept secrets, Phu Quoc. As a truly Asean airline, we are committed to enable more people to visit more places in this region.

“Our guests can connect seamlessly to Phu Quoc via Kuala Lumpur from 20 cities in 10 countries, including China, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Travelers from any country can also visit Phu Quoc visa-free for up to 30 days, making this paradise more accessible,” he said.

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Taseco Air Services JSC – Core business segment NP increased

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• Benefiting from the fast growing aviation and tourism market
• Airport retail segment: a great business with high return on capital
• Carterings and hotel segment to be the earnings growth drivers from 2019
onwards

1H18 earnings was just reported by Taseco Air Services JSC (HoSE: AST). Below is news on the earnings release and a comment by our analyst, Mr. Tung Do. If you have any questions on the earnings release or would like to have a call with our analyst on it then please let me know. I have attached our previously issued report of May 2018 on AST for your reference.

Taseco Air Services JSC (HoSE: AST) has announced 1H18 business result. Net revenue was posted at VND417.3bn, up 39% YoY. In particular, sales activities accounted for 56.5%, the rest came from service delivery. According to Taseco Airs, revenue has seen a high growth YoY due to the fact that its business locations at Da Nang International Airport have operated steadily (business locations of Taseco Da Nang opened in May 2017, so 1H17 only have the business results of January).

In addition, the operating locations at the end of 2017 at Noi Bai International Airport also led to stable business. The number of passengers traveling by air in 1H18 grew by over 20%, the demand for shopping services of customers also increased. At the same time, the company concentrated on restructuring its products and selling new products.

Excluding expenses, AST posted a net profit of VND76.8bn, slightly down YoY, due to the company had to record the accumulated losses from the consolidation of business results of the associate company – VinaCS Joint Stock Company (VinaCS) is VND9bn.

On the other hand, in 2017, Taseco Airs received additional profit from investment cooperation in financial income of nearly VND16bn from Taseco Oceanview Da Nang Co., Ltd. – Subsidiary of Taseco Airs.

Looking at the core business segment, the company’s net profit increased 38%.

In 1H18, total assets increased 11% compared to the beginning of the period, reaching VND696bn. Short-term assets accounted for 48%, mainly cash and cash equivalents was VND228bn. Long-term assets are concentrated in fixed assets.

PAT as of June was VND104bn, besides the unregulated shareholder profit of VND5bn.