10/08/2016 Asia Business Report

A force to be reckoned with, Lee Ming let the Olympic cauldron four

years ago, how will his company fair as it reports its earnings today? A

1-way ride out or Taiwan with a company confronting regulators over

accusations it misused its business licence. Good morning Asia, hello

world, it is a Wednesday, glad you can join us for this edition of Asia

Business Report. Every four years at the Olympics offers a marketing

bonanza for sports clothing. Should Adidas and Nike worry about Nike,

the Chinese Olympic gymnast who lit the coltan at the 2008 Olympic

Games? He is the founder of a sportswear company that bears its

name and it reports its earnings today -- cauldron. Can it cash in on

the excitement surrounding the Olympic Games? Earlier, I spoke with

a branding expert, Steve McGuinness, who told me how Lee Ming became such

a success. It was a fantastic success in marketing and will go

down as one of the most successful. Not even an Olympic sponsor, he let

the Olympic torch, everyone knew who he was and that springboard at him

into global notoriety as a brand. He was an Olympic hero in China and now

he has really crossed many markets around the world but how are they

Ferring right now in the games? They have a small presence, sponsoring

the Indian team, which is a smart move -- Ferring right now. They

simply can't afford it. What they are doing is, in targeting the

Indian teams, the Filipino teams, Malaysia, they are backing

basketball teams, badminton teams, be popular sports in those markets,

they are looking at their demographic, who can afford at a

pair of running shoes, they are looking at the sports badminton and

basketball, looking at the demographic of a billion people. I

know! LAUGHTER. And of course you have the

Asia-Pacific region making up two thirds of the global condition. But

Steve, not many of these teams win medals in the Olympics! Yes, but

they don't directly sell running shoes. He is looking at building a

global brand. A number of sports personalities have turned it into a

celebrity role as an indoors or a sponsor but to turn it into a

successful retail brand, one of the first that has grown up truly

online, especially in the heartland of China, this is phenomenal success

from a very smart man -- endorsers. Is it the edge of the leading brand

over the Adidas, the Nike, and the Pumas? I think Lee Ming will turn

from a Chinese brand looking globally to being a global brand

with a Chinese heritage. I think Adidas and Nike, while they'd only

to lose sleep, they should look over their shoulder at about how the sky

has gained such ground. -- but about. If you were to advise Lee

Ming about positioning the brand even further, and raising the anti-,

what would you tell them? Lifestyle -- ante. There is a crossover

between sports brands and lifestyle brands. Nike, Adidas, they have a

lifestyle range. It is attached to the brand but slightly separate from

it. That is where you can move into. There is a very strong attachment in

his home country. He is appealing clearly to enlarge demographic. And

smaller entry point products to allow the people in these less

disposable income market to buy into that brand. That was the. In other

news: making headlines, the second-biggest bank, Commonwealth

bank are posting record profits, the seventh straight record, with a

strong demand for home loans fuelling a 3% rise in earnings.

Despite the gains of Australian banks are preparing for a slowing

growth after years of huge profits as the mining downturn leads to

higher corporate debts and staff -- tougher capital requirements. BT is

seeking buyers for the 50% stake in the Chinese petrochemicals

joint-venture -- BP. It is BP's single biggest investment in the

mainland. A successful deal would mark BP's first significant exit

from a business in the mainland which is expected to fetch two

million dollars- $3 billion US. And Walt Disney surprising that market

by posting strong quarterly profit and unexpected -- $2 billion - $3

billion. It saw a 40% jump in revenue. Asia is home to a robust

animation industry, so what kind of competition to these production

houses close to the big players? For more, let's bring in David Kwok from

his Singapore studio Tiny Island Productions. Animation is so popular

here in Asia. For a production company like yours, can you stand

independently and make your own titles grow, or do you have to work

with big companies like Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks and Lucas Films?

Basically we created intellectual property, known as Dream Defenders,

and we have sold the show as an independent one. It is an animated

feature that basically shows Dream Defenders of fighting the nightmares

of kids. Yeah, an animated series for kids and we are in planning for

the future. So today we have sold to 80 countries worldwide. And

currently, it is distributed by DreamWorks. But where is all the

growth coming from in Asia? Oh, it is from China. The box office in

China is growing tremendously, and we see a great opportunity,

especially for consumer products. For licensing and merchandising. The

big market is in China, but where is the talent pool coming from in the

region? OK, in Asia it is interesting, because we are at

absorbing a lot of talent all over Asia and there is a great pool and

great ideas. Great pool, but is there enough of them in Asia? You

also have the big Hollywood studios coming to Asia for the cheaper

labour. OK, actually, I think in Asia it is slowly moving up the

value chain. A lot of preproduction is done in Asia. And there are a lot

of new ideas and new concepts coming. And you see, if you look at

more and more of the investment even in Hollywood films, they are slowly

coming from Asia. And what are the trends going forward, and how do you

deal with intellectual property? OK, in order to compete, we need new

ideas. As you can see, you know, the TV market is slowly changing.

Consumers won't be satisfied just watching TV. So, like, now we are

moving towards virtual reality, meaning the kids are able not just

to watch superheroes fight nightmare monsters, they can actually go into

the world, the virtual world, and fight the monsters side-by-side with

their superheroes. What about intellectual property, can you be

protected? Oh, because, you know, intellectual property is really

making money, so we can see that more and more we are putting

together to protect the interest of the owners. OK, a great future for

animation here in the Asia-Pacific region. David Kwok, thank you for

joining us. Well, on the heels of the decision to quit China, Uber

could be ejected from neighbouring Taiwan after a local regulator

accused the car handling at of misusing its business licence. They

are in discussion this week before the government makes a final

decision. Our correspondent reports. It has been a long and bumpy road in

Asia for Uber, which connects drivers with passengers through

their smartphones. Taiwan has said that Uber's licence could be revoked

because it was registered as a software company, not a taxi

service. A business that is not open to foreign enterprises. TRANSLATION:

Our ministry of transportation and the fair Trade Commission have

already find Uber Taiwan but Uber Taiwan often claim they have no

relationship with the international Uber company -- fined. But the

general manager of Uber in the Taiwan region has been conducting

illegal activities and illegal operations. The Taiwanese government

says it will discuss options with the US company but this spat is just

the latest problem to a flick the car handling app. It has long

encountered opposition from taxi companies around the region, it

entered Taiwan three years ago and triggered anger from domestic taxi

drivers who staged protests as recently as July. Uber's faced

similar legal scrutiny in China, where the company was losing $1

billion a year. After years of fierce and costly competition with a

local Chinese rival, Uber finally surrendered. Last week it announced

an agreement to merge Uber's China operations into DD, giving its

investors a 20% stake in the Chinese company.

A lot of uncertainty and no market moving news in Asia this Wednesday,

which is why we have seen the Asian markets mostly in negative

territory, the Nikkei down 9%. All of the Olympics and Sport Today up