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Ryan Swift
Senior reporter, Business
Ryan Swift is a former senior business reporter for the Post focused on wealth management, green business, the shipping industry and the gaming industry. He was chief editor of The Peak and Asia-Pacific Boating magazines.
Just 15 per cent of companies surveyed in Hong Kong reported that their executives saw their base pay cut amid the coronavirus. Those that did, saw an average 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction.
The battle for market share in Asia’s meatless meat sector is heating up, even amid an economic slowdown driven by Covid-19 lockdowns, which have badly affected the restaurant industry.
Some of the world’s biggest pension funds are preparing to plough more money into logistics assets in South Korea as the coronavirus pandemic spurs the next wave of e-commerce transactions.
Mainland China has emerged a bright spot in the global dry bulk shipping sector, news that will be welcomed by Hong Kong shipowners, who own a large number of such vessels.
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Four in every 10 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which employ about 45 per cent of non-government employees in Hong Kong, also expect their earnings to plunge by 75 per cent over the next year, according to a survey.
Cyber threats are growing amid the coronavirus pandemic, with online security experts warning that consumers and organisations are becoming easy targets.
The number of blanked sailings jumped last week from 45 to 212, with the largest withdrawal of capacity on Asia-Europe routes, according to Sea-Intelligence.
Oil producers and traders are turning crude tankers into floating storage while waiting for prices to rebound, offering a surprise lift to fleet owners amid a slump in the shipping industry.
Eric Yuan, the US-based founder of Zoom, the video conferencing software company, has seen his net worth skyrocket by US$3.5 billion – or 77 per cent – to US$8 billion over the past two months.
A total of 483 vessels were collectively valued at just over US$167 billion in the first quarter, according to a report by VesselsValue.
The International Chamber of Shipping has been lobbying the United Nations to classify 2 million seafarers globally as ‘key’ or ‘essential’ workers
Online education and educational technology companies could be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools across China and the rest of the world shut, forcing children to stay and learn from home.
The shipping industry will remain under pressure in 2020 as freight rates and profits in the container and dry bulk sectors slide amid recession concerns.
E-commerce will continue to grow in the Asia-Pacific region, accelerated by the Covid-19 outbreak, Hong Kong-listed logistics warehouses and industrial real-estate operator ESR Cayman said on Monday.
Art dealers and galleries employ digital tools to boost sagging fortunes of the once vibrant art market, with one dealer saying ‘this is the way forward’
Singapore’s decision to bar cruise ships from the city – the busiest port in Asia last year – is dealing a body blow to the industry as shares of operators slumped to multi-year lows.
Freight rates for dry bulk and crude oil have begun to show early signs of recovery as factories in China resume production after the coronavirus outbreak. Container cargo shipping lines may have to wait longer for a rebound.
Many of Hong Kong’s international schools may be facing financial uncertainty, as tentative start dates for the new term have been pushed back to April 20. These schools account for 5 per cent of the city’s kindergarten, primary and secondary pupils.
India’s population of super-rich is expected to multiply by the fastest rate globally over the next five years, underpinning the increase in wealth among the middle classes in emerging markets.
Government levies aimed at making housing more affordable have made it less attractive for landlords, and the resulting drop in supply is pushing rents up
Cargill, one of the world’s largest suppliers of meat and grains, is joining the race to develop plant-based protein products as the coronavirus outbreak spurs demand for meat substitutes.
Covid-19 outbreak is being viewed as likely to be short-lived, and ‘vendors will be reluctant to dispose of properties now unless absolutely necessary,’ says Cushman and Wakefield report.
The coronavirus outbreak, which has sickened more than 75,000 people around the world and killed more than 2,200 patients, is adding to the woes of an industry that is already suffering from the year-long US-China trade war.
China is likely to restructure its meat production and distribution system once the coronavirus outbreak recedes, according to analysts at Jefferies. Producers of plant-based meat substitutes could benefit too, it said.
Food delivery firms, which saw brisk orders during the depths of Hong Kong’s social unrest in 2019, are enjoying another spike in demand as the coronavirus outbreak entrenches eat-at-home habit.
Wynn Macau, one of Macau’s six gaming concessionaires, said the closure of the special administrative region’s casinos was costing it between US$2.4 million and US$2.6 million a day, most of it towards maintaining more than 12,000 staff.
For the first time in nearly a generation, Li Ka-shing is not the richest man in Hong Kong, according to the newly released list of Hong Kong’s richest tycoons by Forbes Asia. Li’s wealth dropped to US$29.4 billion in 2020 from US$32 billion in 2019, putting him at No. 2.
Macau casino operators are likely to write off their performance in the first quarter as the number of visitors shrink and they comply with an order to shut their premises to help contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Mainland Chinese property dealers – banned from opening their sales offices in at least 60 jurisdictions amid the coronavirus outbreak – are turning to virtual reality technology as well as social-media platforms such as WeChat, in addition to websites, to sell homes.
Trips to Macau by mainland Chinese plummeted 81.7 per cent during the Lunar New Year holiday, according to official figures
