28 October 2020
COVID-19 UPDATE
Belgium, Czech Republic hardest hit in Europe
Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline ink supply agreement with administrator of COVAX
Nearly 200 airports across Europe could go bust within months
Japan’s flagship airline ANA retiring planes, seeking voluntary redundancies to cut costs
Garuda Indonesia lays off 700 staff
Cenovus axing 2,150 jobs following acquisition of Husky Energy
Chevron cutting Noble Energy staff
MALAYSIA
Capital markets
Bursa Malaysia records highest nine-month PATAMI since 2005
Glove maker Supermax plans dual listing on Singapore Exchange
Construction
Sunway Construction clinches RM315 million highway job in India
Corporate
Armed Forces Fund Board granted more time to decide on Boustead
Earnings
Hartalega optimistic of longer-term prospects, will continue with capacity expansion plan
Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering back in the black
Employment
HSS Engineers investigates alleged misconduct against CEO/executive director
Healthcare
Al-’Aqar Healthcare REIT proposes private placement
Oil and gas
Petronas hosting inaugural project management conference virtually in December
Retail
Owners of Jaya Grocer, Asean Industrial Growth Fund working on potential stake sale
Parkson maintains positive outlook on China
Technology
UEM Edgenta doubling down on technology to offer better products and services
Tourism
Airbnb GM shares game plan for Asia, discusses importance of domestic tourism
ASIA
Autos
Harley-Davidson, Hero MotoCorp will ride together in India
Energy
Virginia-based AES gets Vietnam’s approval for LNG import terminal, power plant
AUSTRALIA
Banks
ANZ expects A$528 million hit to cash profit in H2
Healthcare
Blackmores seeks growth in mental health and pet supplements
Real estate
Bank to sell abandoned trophy home
EUROPE
Data protection
Former Uber drivers’ lawsuit first of its kind to test protections of GDPR Art 22
Earnings
German chemicals group Covestro’s Q3 profit beats expectations
SINGAPORE
Intellectual property
Singtel caught in legal dispute over use of music in programmes broadcast on pay-TV service
Technology
Singtel-Grab JV strong candidate for full digital banking licence
UK
Autos
Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, raising stake in Aston Martin Lagonda
Banks
HSBC considers charging fees for current accounts
Boss up against more than just central bankers
Consumer goods
Unilever pushing ahead with unifying legal structure into single London-based company
Data protection
Experian censured by watchdog ICO, risks multimillion-pound fine
Employment
Technician who was victim of disability discrimination awarded £117k
Oil and gas
Property
Beech Rise, mansion in private estate that has been home to celebrities, available for £10.7 million
US
Autos
Harley-Davidson’s new e-bicycle, inspired by first motorcycle from 1903, will go on sale next year
Iconic ompany posts best Q3 result since 2015
Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer won’t be releasing coronavirus vaccine data before US election
Retail
France’s LVMH, US jeweller Tiffany in talks to renegotiate US$16 billion takeover
Technology
Airbnb plans to list shares on Nasdaq
Advanced Micro Devices intensifies battle with Intel in data centre chip market
Microsoft benefits from accelerated adoption of cloud computing and Teams during pandemic
TikTok expanding engineering team