On 3rd  September 2014, Mr. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere Group, was invited as a guest speaker and panelist to participate in the “1st Japan-ASEAN Business Forum in Singapore”. In this event, organized by ICMG Financial Services, Mr. Shadbolt discussed the challenges and opportunities of entering into ASEAN region as well as Greater China.  He also emphasized on the importance of partnership with intermediaries, such as Taiwanese companies, in order to better access the Chinese market. The event was well received by the Japanese business community in Singapore.

On 4th September 2014, Censere Singapore hosted a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of its new Forensic Services. With over 50 guests and clients packing the Singapore office, Mr. Brett Shadbolt, CEO of Censere Group introduced the new service offering adding that, “this will strengthen our existing due diligence capabilities and ability to serve our clients”. The key forensic directors leading the service are: Mr. Peter Coleman (Indonesia); Mr. Richard Batten (Thailand and Mekong Region); and Mr. Rupert Utley (Hong Kong & China). 

On 3rd September 2014, Censere Academy Singapore conducted a three hour training seminar on Mining, Oil & Gas (“MOG”). The event was well attended, with participants coming from a range of backgrounds.   The event was led by key experts in Censere’s MOG team consisting of Mr. Brett Shadbolt (CEO) and Mr. Shawn Morvotjoe (Associate Director), who shared their considerable knowledge and insights with participants. The Censere experts covered a range of subjects including: the life-cycle of an MOG company; valuation techniques for MOG; common issues in MOG valuations and resource & reserve measurement. 

The Supermarket Sector Experienced Rapid Growth in the Past Decade

Since the early 1990s, when the supermarket sector started to open to private and foreign investors, the Chinese supermarket sector has been expanding massively. In 1992 there were around 2,500 supermarkets in China, and following economic growth and urbanization, the number of supermarket increased fourfold by 2002. The growth trend continued and the number reached 38,554 by 2011. The compound annual growth rate from 2002 to 2011 was 15.82%. As a matter of course, sales volume has also increased significantly from RMB131.8 billion in 2002 to RMB339.8 billion in 2011. Today, the Chinese supermarket sector is quite mature and competitive. 

India Suffers from Water Security Problem

With the second largest population in the world and a growing economy, India is a big water consumer. However, as a result of limited water availability and poor infrastructure, India faces a number of challenges. The Water Security Index, created by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), gives India an overall score of 1.6 which is low compared to other Asian countries. Among the five components of the index India gets the lowest scores for household water security, urban water security, and environmental water security. This indicates that India suffers from serious water problems including: (1) poor ability to satisfy household water and sanitation needs, and poor ability to meet hygiene requirements for public health in all communities; (2) insufficient urban water-related services, such as water supply, wastewater treatment, and drainage; and (3) river basins that are in poor health.