00:53.7
there may be no relief in sight after the major indices saw their worst day in two years with futures pointing to a negative open.
01:02.3
Aside from earnings, key data are also in focus including initial jobless claims and preliminary Q2 GDP numbers.
01:11.7
Here are some stocks to watch out for.
01:13.5
We're monitoring shares of Stellantis after it reported a 48% fall in its first half net profit.
01:20.4
Shares of the Jeep and Dodge Maker plunged 8.5%.
01:24.5
Also in focus, shares of Gucci owners carrying after it announced a sharp decline in revenue in the first half leading it to issue a weak forecast.
01:34.6
Carrying shares stumbled over 7%.
01:37.2
We're also keeping a close watch on Unilever which raised its full-year margin guidance.
01:42.6
Shares of the consumer goods giant popped 7% on the news.
01:48.4
Meanwhile, Asian markets ended Thursday trade in a sea of red.
01:52.6
As the global tech...
01:53.7
...route sent investors fleeing to safe haven assets.
01:57.7
Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled more than 3% or over 1,200 points.
02:03.3
That's its biggest single-day fall since June 2016.
02:07.5
Chinese shares also posting losses even as the People's Bank of China surprised with an off-cycle cut.
02:13.9
Here at home, Philippine shares were not spared.
02:16.5
The main index lumped 1.2% as the local bores returned to trade after the typhoon.
02:23.7
It was the first time the stock market hit a slowdown in the last two weeks.
02:26.7
Because the momentum is really high, we were expecting a slowdown.
02:31.0
So since last Monday, stocks have been trading cautiously sideways as investors were just beginning to digest the economic implications of the recent unfavorable nationwide news.
02:44.8
The market is currently consolidating and it's taking a breather from the intense rally of the recent weeks.
02:50.5
Although it is showing early signs of mild decline...
02:53.7
...and bearishness, trading slightly lower than Monday's levels.
02:57.2
Which doesn't necessarily point to a downtrend yet, but given all factors, we are expecting it.
03:05.0
A notable stock movement in the region.
03:07.7
Shares of SK Hynix plunged nearly 9% joining the tech route...
03:12.3
...even as the Nvidia supplier posted its highest quarterly profit since 2018 thanks to the AI boom.
03:21.2
Here are some local corporate headlines.
03:23.7
As Hospitality inks a deal to develop a prime property in Baguio City.
03:29.1
The Hay Diner project is its latest venture into F&B.
03:33.7
FHE won the six-year contract from the Basis Conversion and Development Authority and the John Hay Management Corporation.
03:40.7
In the earnings stream, Aboitis Equity Ventures' core net income in the first half climbs 2% year-on-year.
03:48.6
In the second quarter, this stood at 6.6 billion pesos.
03:52.9
From the previous six years, it's now 6.6 billion pesos.
03:53.0
From the previous six years, it's now 6.6 billion pesos.
03:53.7
It's F&B segment bringing in huge contribution to revenues after its joint acquisition of Coca-Cola Philippines with Coca-Cola Euro Pacific Partners.
04:05.4
As for Concepcion Industrial Corporation, its first half bottom line doubled year-on-year to over 720 million pesos.
04:13.5
The consumer lifestyle and enterprise firm attributes this to revenue growth and higher margins brought by customer engagement and strong market demand...
04:23.7
...in the current weather conditions.
04:26.5
And finally, PXP Energy trims its losses in the first half to 9.5 million pesos.
04:32.4
The firm cites, among others, the higher average price of crude oil and higher volume from its Galok mine operations.
04:41.7
The Philippine government's budget deficit falls in June as revenue collection grew faster than government expenditures.
04:48.6
Data from the Treasury Bureau show government posted a 209 billion pesos shortfall.
04:53.7
This is lower than the 225 billion pesos recorded a year ago.
05:00.4
Revenue collection climbed by nearly 11% to 296 billion pesos.
05:06.1
Expenditures also increased by more than 2%.
05:09.4
For the first half of 2024, the national government's budget gap stands at around 613.9 billion pesos.
05:18.1
That's 11% higher than last year.
05:22.7
It's hard to say.
05:23.6
It's hard to imagine, but the world's richest 1% got even more richer.
05:28.0
An Oxfam study found these extremely wealthy individuals increased their fortunes by a total of 41 trillion dollars in the past decade.
05:38.2
And what's more notable, the NGO said, this comes as taxes on the rich have plummeted to historic lows.
05:45.6
The group warns of obscene levels of inequality with the rest of the world who are left to scramble for crumbs.
05:51.7
The study was released.
05:53.6
Ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil, where taxing the super-rich tops the agenda,
05:59.3
finance ministers are expected to make progress on ways to raise levies on the ultra-wealthy
06:05.1
and prevent billionaires from evading tax systems.
06:10.5
We're taking a quick break.
06:12.1
Up next, DFNN founder and executive chairman Ramon Garcia Jr. shares his outlook on the gaming industry in the wake of the Pogo ban.
06:31.9
Since its boom in 2016, the online gaming industry has taken the Philippines by storm.
06:38.5
But following President Marcos Jr.'s recent state address, the future of the billion peso sector now hangs in the balance.
06:45.7
Some industry players believe integrating electronic and traditional gaming platforms may change the business for the better.
06:53.6
The executive chairman of DFNN, Ramon Garcia Jr., joins us on the show to share his insights.
06:59.5
Ramon, thank you so much for joining me.
07:01.0
Thank you so much, Salve.
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And first and foremost, our heart goes out to those affected by the typhoon Carina.
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I wanted to say also and use this platform that if there are any local governments, barangay units that need connectivity for their constituents
07:15.2
or shelters that they need to have connectivity, DFNN group remains open.
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We have Starlink kits available.
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And we thank the Philippine government.
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Including President Marcos who made satellite part of his speech in the sauna amongst food security and other things.
07:31.1
And it was a wonderful sauna.
07:32.4
So please, if you do need this connectivity to support the disaster relief efforts, please reach out to DFNN group.
07:40.5
We have Starlink kits available.
07:42.0
Thank you so much for that, Ramon.
07:43.3
And I'm so happy you can talk fast because we'll be talking about a lot of issues tonight.
07:47.3
First and foremost, the announcement of President Marcos during the sauna.
07:53.5
And we'll talk about Pogos.
07:55.1
What is now the future of the gaming industry from the guy who is the OG tech?
08:01.7
I mean, in the 90s, you were the OG person who knew about how to make tech accessible to everybody.
08:09.6
So tell us about what you think the future will be for the gaming industry.
08:13.4
Well, two things that were apparent in the sauna.
08:15.5
That statement garnered a standing ovation together with his stance on the West Philippine Sea,
08:20.8
which basically mimicked Atenito.
08:23.5
But uniquely, we have a president who understands technology.
08:27.3
When he talks about satellite and spectrum analysis, that's a very deep capability.
08:32.9
That being said, obviously, his ending message was, I have heard the people, right?
08:38.5
And therefore, he acted on it.
08:41.0
So when you look at the Pogo issue, it's twofold.
08:44.3
There's perceived abuse from the torture chambers as Senator Ontiveros and Senator Gachilian had done it.
08:51.2
On the other hand, you have people like Lee Chu, David Lee Chu, right?
08:56.3
Who's talking about the 3 million square meters of empty space that perhaps they can contribute.
09:01.5
And then on the other spectrum, you'll have very legitimate Swedish people who have now put their programmers in the Philippines.
09:10.0
And those programmers design graphics and games for casinos worldwide.
09:14.8
I mean, you're talking about the Wynn, MGM, and so forth.
09:17.8
So suddenly, you're really delving into the area of BPO.
09:21.2
So these are all of the questions that are there.
09:24.2
Now, take that into a greater 30,000-foot view.
09:28.8
A Muslim country like UAE has already announced their first casino, including a tie-up with the Wynn Resorts Group.
09:37.2
Indonesia is studying, the largest Muslim country in the world, is studying where they can also perhaps legalize it.
09:44.2
And Thailand, by December, will also legalize their gaming casino following Japan, right?
09:51.2
The United States, and this is a false impression that is coming out in the press, does not allow online.
09:57.9
They have legalized online.
10:00.1
And obviously, if the Philippines would like BPO, considering our English, our regulatory environment with PagCore and PCSO,
10:08.8
there's obviously some benefit economically to be at the forefront of this burgeoning legalization.
10:16.7
And there's one thing that we learned during COVID about gaming.
10:20.2
The moment the...
10:21.2
Regulators such as PCSO and PagCore had abandoned their role, shut down immediately within 12 hours, the illegals had stepped in.
10:29.4
And that's the biggest issue there.
10:31.6
But as far as POGO, our president is our commander-in-chief.
10:37.1
There are really elements that you should be very concerned about.
10:41.2
I'm concerned about, personally.
10:43.8
But again, at the same time, nothing is ever completely bad.
10:47.3
Nothing is ever completely good.
10:49.1
And unfortunately, look at the areas that...
10:51.1
Perhaps you can refine to still enhance Swedish software companies, British algorithm programmers.
10:59.2
Or very few people know, and because the Japanese are very quiet, almost all casinos in the world use Universal Gaming or Aruza machines.
11:08.2
Guess where the factory is?
11:10.4
So the question, I guess, we should ask ourselves is, can you classify or segregate the different verticals within the gaming BPO?
11:20.9
But again, I absolutely love the sauna.
11:25.2
It was at least three or four standing ovations.
11:28.3
The president touched on food security.
11:30.7
He touched on government tech.
11:33.8
He touched on investment climate.
11:36.2
So I think he's well aware of it.
11:38.8
And he talked about the private sector participation in things such as the airport.
11:43.6
So I, for one, who go to the airport a lot to try to promote the country,
11:48.1
I can't wait till...
11:50.9
Did you expect the announcement on the Pogos?
11:53.6
I think it was leading to it.
11:55.9
And you could feel the build-up from the public and the pronouncements of the senators and so forth.
12:02.7
There were those who were also giving their tactical views on really the other side.
12:07.2
You know, not hidden uniforms, not torture chambers, but the legal aspects of business.
12:13.9
So again, it was a very good sauna.
12:16.9
I have been to a few, and I'm honored.
12:20.9
There were three to four standing ovations, very strong standing ovations.
12:24.4
Just one last question on this issue.
12:26.5
If the president were to ask you personally, and I don't think that's far-fetched,
12:31.3
what will be your recommendations, concrete recommendations,
12:37.5
to make sure that we still get the benefit of the industry,
12:40.6
but we are able to stop all of these negative aspects of the sector from being shown country?
12:49.7
You know, if the president...
12:50.9
If the president had asked me, I would be only so honored.
12:53.4
And I would probably approach it from the technology that is available today
12:58.4
that goes anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism that you could use to go.
13:03.5
What was painful for me to see was the $2.8 billion that Singapore has now confiscated.
13:09.6
Perhaps a lot of that money should have been Filipino money that was illegally abscond from here,
13:14.4
whether it was through Pogo or not.
13:16.0
Now, if you ask the president,
13:19.8
he's already appointed.
13:20.9
He's appointed two very capable regulators.
13:22.7
He's got Mel Robles in the PCSO.
13:25.7
You've got Al Tenko, who is very well-respected.
13:29.3
He's very pro-business.
13:30.8
I think most of the people who deal with PagCorp have seen his ability to lower taxes,
13:35.8
respond to the industry,
13:37.5
and in fact, attend all the major gaming shows as a speaker
13:41.0
and has taken in a lot of input.
13:43.4
So, the president already has two good guys.
13:46.3
And if ever they ask me, it would be more really on the software
13:50.9
how you could go after the illegals.
13:54.0
Which, you know, is there.
13:56.0
I don't wish to be in the sights of the illegals, but it exists.
13:59.5
And unfortunately, we are very insular as an island nation.
14:04.5
So, we only think it's the Philippines.
14:06.2
You think that it's just a matter of enforcement?
14:08.7
Or do you need more laws?
14:10.0
Do you need a better system?
14:12.0
It's like your software viruses, right?
14:17.2
It's an ever-evolving thing when it comes to tech.
14:19.6
And unfortunately, it's not.
14:20.6
And unfortunately, we're very much in an island sometimes when we think about it.
14:24.9
But if you scan the news about a kidnapping in Thailand about some of their own,
14:31.3
it is the same pogo-type issues that are happening in Thailand,
14:34.4
which still doesn't even have a pogo.
14:36.4
So, there are really criminal organizations that are kidnapping their own people,
14:41.7
primarily Chinese,
14:43.2
and it is happening in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
14:47.0
And perhaps, a unified Southeast Asian interagency.
14:50.4
You know, action and police to collaborate on this information,
14:55.4
because that's the only way, I think, that we'll get headway rather than isolated country to country.
14:59.9
It's happening in Thailand and Indonesia, Singapore being a small island nation that's very secure.
15:05.9
Even then, you saw the anti-money laundering arrest.
15:09.9
So, if Singapore, with all their tech, they had these guys there,
15:13.4
and they don't have a pogo regulation, the question begs itself,
15:18.4
how do we go after them?
15:20.2
How do we go actually after the problem?
15:21.7
I know I said last question, but this is the actual last question, Ramon.
15:25.7
So, you think there is still opportunity for the sector to grow after this?
15:31.7
I think that it is a...
15:34.7
There are much better people than me to do that, right?
15:37.7
I can only tell you as my background,
15:40.2
you and I have known each other in the stock market for quite some time as an analyst, right?
15:44.7
I will not scan only what's happening in the Philippines,
15:46.7
but I will scan what's happening around us.
15:49.7
So, sovereign countries and sovereign countries will continue to legalize gaming.
15:54.7
They will continue to allow it online.
15:56.7
That also is a fact because that's tax revenue,
15:59.2
and the more electronic you make it, the easier it is to trace.
16:02.2
But that being said, there is a growing organized crime,
16:07.2
whether sovereign, backed, or criminal in nature,
16:10.7
that I think one nation by in itself probably should start cooperating.
16:15.2
And my only message is, let's be a little bit more wide in our view,
16:19.7
it's starting to happen in Thailand and Indonesia as well.
16:22.7
Now, as far as me, as a Filipino citizen,
16:24.7
I follow my Commander-in-Chief.
16:26.7
That is his statement, and I believe, like I said,
16:31.7
he's got two well-appointed leaders of the regulatory bodies,
16:35.7
Mel Robles and Al Tenco.
16:37.7
Two questions answered in one minute or less per question.
16:42.7
Honorary Consul of Portugal to the Philippines.
16:45.7
I know you've been working, I see your posts,
16:47.7
working on a lot of...
16:49.7
collaborations to increase investments from Portugal to the Philippines.
16:53.7
A lot of that is in tech.
16:55.7
Now, you are also involved in doing something for the visit of the...
17:02.7
Well, Portugal is a small country, right?
17:06.7
But it's outside its weight when it comes to IT.
17:09.7
So, in fact, in November, mid of November this year,
17:12.7
they will host a biannual tech summit called the Web Summit.
17:16.7
It's going to be held in Lisbon, right?
17:18.7
One of the rumors prior to me coming here is suddenly,
17:21.7
Elon Musk was there last month looking for a house to buy.
17:24.7
So, I do admit that Portugal and Spain actually are the new tech hubs in Europe.
17:30.7
You have a lot of nomad visas that are being issued there.
17:33.7
These are perhaps some of the things that the Philippines,
17:36.7
both tourism, DTI should look at.
17:39.7
That visa investments as far as getting people to relocate there on a remote basis
17:46.7
is a viable thing.
17:47.7
So, with that, I know you wanted to ask me about another country that's next door
17:52.7
on the Iberian Peninsula.
17:53.7
But if you don't ask me directly, I can't answer it.
17:55.7
The visit of the...
17:57.7
Okay, you had asked me about the possibility of a visit of the King of Spain to the Philippines.
18:03.7
I am not the ambassador of Manila to Spain or the Philippines to Spain,
18:11.7
You know, you have Miguel Utraya who is the ambassador of Spain to the Philippines.
18:14.7
But I did read an article.
18:16.7
He also put out no less than our ambassador to Spain from the Philippines
18:22.7
whose birthday was just the other night.
18:24.7
And he had actually said that between the DFA and Spain,
18:29.7
the King will be coming back to the Philippines.
18:31.7
What's the significance of that for you?
18:32.7
Well, you know, when the Filipinos, we say we were a colony,
18:35.7
but if you talk to the Spanish, they will say, no, we were a province, right?
18:39.7
And they have basically focused all of their investments in Latin America
18:43.7
and they suddenly started to realize that...
18:46.7
the cultural similarity of the Philippines and maybe they should rediscover it
18:50.7
since 50% of the world's population is here
18:53.7
and 80% of world trade is in this region.
18:56.7
So, there hasn't been a royalty that has visited us here
19:00.7
and whose country we're actually named after, Philip, King of Philip, right?
19:04.7
So, he has two wonderful daughters that I see on Instagram.
19:08.7
So, you know, if he does come here,
19:10.7
I'll probably be one of those guys begging to be part of the welcoming committee.
19:14.7
So, kudos to Ambassador Lulier, the President and the Ministry
19:18.7
or our Department of Foreign Affairs if they're able to do that.
19:23.7
We have gone into different verticals. Remember...
19:26.7
Have you ever thought that you'd be in gaming?
19:28.7
No, that's a good question.
19:30.7
To me, gaming is no different from GSIS, banks, stock markets.
19:36.7
To me, it's a financial institution that you need tech to have cash in, cash out.
19:41.7
You need to be up 365 days a year.
19:44.7
24 by 7, which means actually PagCorp forces us
19:48.7
to be on a higher availability level than what we provide the systems
19:52.7
for the bank or the stock exchange which operate in other hours.
19:55.7
But to me, it's nothing more than a financial institution.
19:58.7
So, we are still a tech company.
20:00.7
Still a tech company. Thank you so much, Ramon.
20:02.7
Thank you, Salve.
20:03.7
That was a beautiful conversation. Please come back.
20:06.7
And that's your Business Outlook. I'm Salve Duprito.
20:08.7
The world tonight comes your way at the top of the next hour.
20:10.7
Keep it here on ANC.
20:14.7
We'll be right back.
