Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it planned to hire 15,000 people this year, dismissing rumours circulating on Chinese social media in recent days that the company planned to cut 20% of its workers.

In a post on the firm's official Weibo account, Alibaba said that among the 15,000, more than 3,000 people would be newly graduated students. "Talent movement is what all enterprises have been doing. In Alibaba, talents have been coming in and out, moving normally," the company said.

Budweiser Brewing Co APAC Ltd (1876.HK)

Budweiser Brewing Co APAC will deploy more resources to grow local supply chain and further cut carbon emissions across the country, said a senior executive. Upbeat about China’s market, the company has been procuring locally produced malting barley in Sheyang, Jiangsu province, since 2016. This collaboration was established through a cooperative agreement with Jiangsu Nongken Group, a State-owned agricultural business company.

In its pursuit of promoting regenerative agriculture, Budweiser APAC plans to procure 80,000 metric tons of malting barley from Sheyang farmers in 2024. This initiative will cover an extensive farmland area of 160,000 mu (about 10,667 hectares) and significantly enhance the income of 7,000 local barley growers. Budweiser APAC is also working with Jiangsu Nongken and Yangzhou University in Jiangsu province to explore and develop new malting barley varieties that are suitable for growing in China.

Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd (27.HK)

Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd expects to maintain a smaller workforce relative to pre-pandemic staffing, even after it fully opens Phase 3 of its Galaxy Macau resort on Cotai. The company reported its 1QFY23 adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of just below HK$1.91bn (US$244.2mn)

Galaxy Entertainment had mentioned that Raffles at Galaxy Macau and Andaz Macau were likely to open respectively in the 2H2023. The Group had reiterated that Phase 3’s Galaxy International Convention Center had a “soft opening” in April, hosting its first large-scale event. The 16,000-seat Galaxy Arena also had a soft opening in April, and it hosted two concerts by South Korean pop group Blackpink.

HSBC Holdings Plc (5.HK)

HSBC is reviewing a possible exit from as many as a dozen countries, or one in five of the markets it operates in, to sharpen its focus on Asian expansion, Chief Financial Officer Georges Elhedery told Reuters. The reviews follow pressure from Chinese shareholder Ping An Insurance, which wants HSBC to prioritize growth in Asia, where the British bank generates 78% of its total profit.

"Some of these will have slower progress than others, and none of them is material enough on its own to change the profile of the overall business, but as we progress through and execute on these assessments, we do expect them to contribute towards that shift to Asia," Elhedery said, declining to disclose which markets were under review or the time frame.

Netease Inc (9999.HK)

NetEase Games has announced the establishment of a new game studio named PinCool, Inc. (PinCool) as part of its NetEase Games division. Based in Tokyo, Japan, PinCool is a studio comprised of industry experts with extensive experience in different facets of the interactive entertainment field, including video games, movie creatives, live events and IP licensing.

PinCool is led by Representative Director & President Ryutaro Ichimura, a 20-year veteran of the games industry and longtime producer of the Dragon Quest franchise. Beyond serving as lead producer for games such as "Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King" and "Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

Source: Rakuten Research - 31 May 2023

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