Daily Briefing: Property entrepreneur buys Japan's crypto exchange for $67m; Indonesia beats Singapore in cashless living

And here's what you should know about ThaiBev's Q2 earnings report.

From DealStreet Asia:

Singapore-based real estate entrepreneur Eric Cheng has acquired 100 per cent stake in two Japanese licensed companies that operate foreign exchange and crypto currency trading for S$67 million.

With the acquisition, Cheng, the CEO of Upper Joyful Ltd, will own controlling stake in the two firms — FX Trade Financial Co Ltd (FX Trade) and its affiliate company, BitTrade Co Ltd.

FX Trade is a Japanese forex trading platform whilst BitTrade is one of the only 16 regulated and Japanese government-approved cryptocurrency trading platforms seeking to capture the growing demand for cyptocurrency trading.

Read more here.

From e27:

According to the Consumer Payment Attitudes Study by Visa, Indonesians are more confident living without cash for 24 hours than Singaporeans.

The study found that 76 per cent of Indonesians stated they were able to live without cash for 24 hours.

The number is higher than any Southeast Asian country in the study, with Singapore at 68 per cent and Myanmar at 45 per cent, the smallest number.

Read more here. 

From The Motley Fool:

In mid-May, Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX: Y92) reported its second quarter earnings for the financial year ending 30 September 2018. The company’s revenue, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) and net profit grew on a year-on-year basis. However, profit attributable to shareholders declined by 3.2% year-on-year.

Thai Beverage’s Beer business saw its profit attributable to shareholders fall 66.7% year-on-year, despite the increase in revenue. The fall was mainly due an increase in finance cost related to acquisition and weaker performance from its existing beer business. Sales volume of the existing beer business fell 10.3% year-on-year due to stagnant economy and lower consumer purchasing power. Non-Alcoholic Beverages business remained in the red during the reporting quarter, mainly driven by lower revenue. 

The company’s balance sheet had weakened significantly as a result of its acquisitions.

Read more here.