Snapshots

The six-nation ‘Watsons X Grab’ partnership will hypercharge the O+O (online plus offline) shopping experience, and will see Watsons partnering with Grab, Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery juggernaut. Watsons stores in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines will form the backbone of this new shopping, payments and delivery behemoth. Watsons’ 2,300 stores continue to grow, with e-commerce sales doubling in 2020. 

HUTCHMED welcomes the approval of Surufatinib for the treatment of non-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. A 420-strong commercial team will now bring the drug – discovered and developed completely in-house – to doctors and patients across Mainland China to help fight cancer. It will be marketed under the brand name Sulanda®. The pharmaceutical innovator has also initiated a rolling submission of its New Drug Application to the US Food and Drug Administration. 

Hutchison Ports, in an online signing ceremony in February, committed to developing a new port in Jazan on the southern extremity of the west Saudi Arabian coast. The Jazan City Primary and Downstream Industries Port lies on the Belt and Road Initiative route and will play a vital role in the economies of southern Saudi Arabia and its neighbours in southern and eastern Africa. Commercial operation is expected to start in early 2022. 

Northern Gas Networks is partnering with National Grid and others to create a £12.7 million closed-loop experimental system to test the use of hydrogen in support of the UK’s goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions. The multi-firm collaboration will receive an award of £9.07 million from Ofgem (the UK energy regulator) via their Network Innovation Competition. 

The ‘Oman Vision 2040’ plan will get a supercharge with the addition of plans to expand SOHAR Port and Freezone to accommodate next-generation mega vessels at a new container terminal. Hutchison Ports Sohar has signed an agreement to conduct a feasibility study for the expansion. In line with implementing state-of-the-art equipment at the port, eight remote-controlled hybrid rubber-tyred gantry cranes have been deployed, improving efficiency. 

With brighter days – and even brighter nights – ahead, UK Power Networks is upgrading London’s nightlife. A £16.2 million upgrade discreetly installed under the legendary Leicester Square Gardens will see three major transformers replaced with cleaner and greener successors over a two-year period. The site will also be visited by school leavers and out-of-work young people being helped by a local programme to develop career-starting skills for a brighter future. 

3 Hong Kong and FORTRESS teamed up to create [email protected] – a shop-in-shop experience inside 26 FORTRESS stores. In addition to purchasing a wide range of home appliances, smartphones and accessories, customers can access mobile services including subscriptions, contract renewals, SIM card replacement, name changing, bill payment and autopay services – promoting all-round new 5G smart living experience. 

HK Electric provides a free one-stop Smart Power EV Charging Solution service to assist customers in implementing electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions, including accessing a HK$2 billion government fund for the installation of EV charging-enabled infrastructure in private residential buildings. The free charging service at HK Electric’s 12 EV charging stations across Hong Kong Island has also been extended to the end of December 2021 and half of these now feature new multi-standard quick chargers. 

CK Hutchison has agreed to sell its interests in its European tower assets and businesses to Cellnex Telecom for €10 billion in six transactions. These transactions will unlock the underlying value of its telecommunications division and realise a number of strategic and financial benefits for the Group, including acceleration in rolling out 5G across all of CK Hutchison Group Telecom’s networks as well as forming long-term ties with Cellnex that will serve the Group’s future passive infrastructure needs. Austria, Denmark and Ireland completed their transactions in December 2020 with the remaining countries looking to complete this year. 

CK Hutchison and Ooredoo sign an MOU, entering into negotiations to potentially combine their Indonesian telecommunications businesses, PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia and PT Indosat TBK. Both companies will proceed with negotiations on an exclusive basis until 30 April 2021. 

A.S. Watson Group (ASW) unleashed a flurry of firsts as it celebrated its franchise agreement with Al-Futtaim, an international retail conglomerate based in the United Arab Emirates, to launch a Watsons flagship location in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. This move breaks new ground in two ways – ASW’s first-ever franchise agreement and its first foray into the Middle East. 

A new container terminal is in the works in Abu Qir as Hutchison Ports confirmed a US$730 million project with the Egyptian Navy that will connect a two-way highway to Alexandria and a national road network to Cairo. The first phase is expected to commence operations in 2022. 

Husky Energy and Cenovus combined their businesses to become the third-largest Canadian oil and natural gas company. The combination will result in  C$1.2 billion in cost and capital synergies, enhance free funds flow generation and deliver superior return opportunities for investors. Industry analysts forecast that, as no equity accounting is required as it will hold less than 20% of the combined company, CKHH will have less earnings exposure to low oil prices but much greater value if prices rise. 

Copenhagen and Roskilde are the first spots to enjoy the beginning of 5G in Denmark for customers of 3 Denmark and those under the Oister brand. With this successful leap at the end of the year, the network will continue to expand and be made available to the whole country by 2022. 

Husky Energy has achieved first oil in Saskatchewan at its Spruce Lake Central thermal project, and started gas production from the Liuhua 29-1 field in the South China Sea. A strong and steady stream of free cash flow is highly anticipated upon the completion of both ventures. 

Northern Gas Networks received a £770,000 grant to link the Bradford Alternative Fuel Centre to the gas network which will, in turn, power the development of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling station. This funding from Ofgem will help the UK on its way towards reaching its decarbonisation goals, building on the green advantages of CNG as a fuel alternative. 

Powercor opened two new depots, valued at A$10 million each, in Kyneton and Shepparton, Australia. These developments have replaced outdated facilities from the ’60s and ’70s, allowing its local workers an upgraded space to continue providing its services to their communities.

Fun fact: A heritage-listed tree graces the front of the Kyneton depot!