Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

Can you imagine that we’re well into February already? With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, we want to take a look at companies that are in the business of love - dating agencies and applications. 

Our guest for today is the Chief Cupid at Lunch Actually Group, which is one of Asia’s leading lunch dating companies. The company said it has arranged over 150,000 dates and matched thousands of happily married couples. 

But love aside - we talk about money and business on Under the Radar. And we want to find out how the demand for dating services have changed as a result of changing societal expectations, and how the mix of supply of available singles would affect Lunch Actually product-price mix and cost of customer acquisition. 

On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter sat down with Violet Lim, CEO and Co-founder of Lunch Actually Group for more.

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Singapore shares slid in early trade today following gains in US and Europe markets.  

The Straits Times Index fell 0.1 per cent to 3,376.24 points in early trade after 47.7 million securities changed hands. 

Some notable names seeing developments today included telco operator StarHub, which posted a 98.4 per cent decline in net profit to S$1.3 million for the second half of the year ended Dec 31, 2022, but how far of a concern is this? 

Meanwhile, mainboard-listed drinks maker Fraser and Neave posted a 28.8 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit to S$28.6 million for its first quarter, despite higher revenue. Question is - how are the company’s financials looking with the firm noting that it has”generous debt headroom for acquisitions”?

On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to Matthias Chan, Head of Research at SAC Capital.

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On that note, did you know that Singapore was the first country to approve the sale of cell-based meat in 2020, with the product coming from Good Meat?

In fact, the world’s first commercial cultured meat production facility also started here in Singapore in 2021 when a local contract development and manufacturing organisation, Esco Aster, was given approval to produce the novel food. 

The company is also a strategic partner for Eat Just and cultivated meat pioneer Mosa Meat. But hey - ever wondered how a white label manufacturer for cell-based meat operates? 

On Under the Radar, Drive Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Xiang Liang Lin, Founder and CEO of Esco Aster.

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Today we talk about the responsibility on pro athletes to be a social media force for good and how aware are they on such responsibility? 

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What does the 'kampung spirit' look like in this day and age? While there are no zinc roofs or wide open doors, the neighbourly ways still exist today underneath Singapore’s gleaming facade of a modern metropolis. 

On Culture Club, Drive Time's Elliot Danker and Timothy Go speak with Dr William Wan, General Secretary, Singapore Kindness Movement to find out how we're keeping the modern kampung spirit alive. 

They also discuss the inaugural Singapore’s Friendly Neighbourhood Award and how you can take part in this campaign. 

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According to Veeam Software’s fourth annual Data Protection Trends Report, it has also been found that companies are challenged with more complex hybrid IT environments and are raising budgets to fend off cyberattacks. But is it enough to just raise budgets? 

Shiva Pillay, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Veeam Software shares his views. 

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From Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim appointing his own daughter as the country’s financial and economic adviser to Thailand tightening the country's marijuana regulations since its decriminalisation last year.

Dr. Felix Tan, Political Observer, Nanyang Technological University gives us an analysis on those headlines and more. 

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Today we talk about whether stiffer penalties should be given to football clubs for breaching financial fair play rules, plus are football managers expected to delivery faster results in this day and age, is this even fair? 

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Singapore shares were pulled into negative territory today after US and Europe stocks both ended lower overnight.

The Straits Times Index fell 0.01 per cent in early trade to 3,385.58 points after 25 million securities changed hands.

Engineering and technology group Boustead Singapore made the headlines today. The group is making a voluntary unconditional general cash offer to take its real estate subsidiary, Boustead Projects, private. Question is - can we expect more of such moves in the new year?

Elsewhere,  US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last night that the US can avoid a recession with unemployment at a 53-year low. Is a strong labour market reading an indication that the Fed can achieve a soft landing? And what can we expect when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks later tonight?

On Market View, the Drive Time team posed these questions to Jeremy Tan, CIO, Tiger Brokers (Singapore).

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ChatGPT is a newly released application from OpenAI, is giving users amazing answers to questions, and many of them are amazingly wrong. But is this app spell AI for good or bad?

Gregory Francis, CEO, Access Partnership shares his views. 

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