HONG KONG-based 24/7 Fitness has acquired home-grown fitness chain GymmBoxx for an undisclosed sum, with plans to have 40 branches in Singapore in the next three years.

“Gymmboxx was a good choice (as a target), as both companies have the same business model, operation structure and similar goals in the fitness arena in Singapore,” Ingrid Wong, chief executive of 24/7 Fitness, told The Business Times.

One of Hong Kong’s biggest 24-hour fitness brands, 24/7 Fitness has 100 branches in Hong Kong, 22 in mainland China and two in Macau.

MORE Singapore businesses are aware of free trade agreements (FTAs) and have benefited from them in 2023, compared to two years ago, according to the Singapore Business Federation’s Free Trade Agreement Survey 2023.

The survey was conducted between October and December 2023. More than 800 businesses across industries in Singapore were polled, with findings supplemented by closed-door focus group discussions to better understand challenges faced in cross-border trade and investment.

The survey found that 85 per cent of respondents were familiar with FTAs in 2023, compared with 62 per cent in 2021. About 73 per cent of businesses polled said they have benefited from improved market access through FTAs, compared with only half in 2021.

The Asean Trade In Goods Agreement and Asean-China Free Trade Agreement were cited by 81 per cent and 41 per cent of Singapore businesses, respectively, as key agreements that benefited them over the past three years.

As for new regional FTAs that have entered into force, a respective 43 per cent and 38 per cent of Singapore businesses cited the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership as the most-used regional FTAs.

Ongoing hurdles

On the other hand, businesses that did not benefit from FTAs cited agreements not being applicable to their business (43 per cent) and having insufficient knowledge of FTAs (25 per cent) as the top two reasons.

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The survey found that about two in five businesses that faced issues in obtaining tariff concessions could not meet the rules of origin to qualify for tariff preferences. A similar proportion reported experiencing discrepancies in how export and import authorities classified goods.

For businesses trading goods overseas, the top three issues faced were obtaining information on standards or certifications, labelling and market conditions (39 per cent); requiring more time to comply with new regulations by importing authorities (35 per cent); and meeting technical regulations (33 per cent).

For those supplying services overseas, issues faced included accessing markets with local monopolies or exclusive service suppliers, and restrictions on the number of foreign service suppliers (46 per cent), as well as receiving decisions on applications or authorisations in a timely fashion (34 per cent).

As for businesses investing overseas, accessing regulatory information (53 per cent), understanding the tax and social systems (53 per cent) and overcoming formal restrictions on foreign equity participation in particular sectors (47 per cent) were the key issues they faced.

Commenting on the survey’s findings, SBF said it will be launching new initiatives during the Future of Trade Forum at the Singapore Apex Business Summit on Jul 25 to better support businesses in cross-border trade and investment.

SBF’s chief policy officer Musa Fazal said: “SBF is dedicated to supporting Singapore businesses in navigating international trade and investment. Through our comprehensive capability-building programmes, we aim to equip businesses with the necessary tools and knowledge to succeed in international trade.”

A S$10 MILLION Series B funding round – co-led by electronics giant Mitsubishi Electric – will help to propel carbon accounting platform Evercomm’s further expansion into Europe. Since being founded in Singapore in 2013, the company has entered Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The Series B funding round is set to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

With Mitsubishi as a backer, Evercomm intends to leverage the Japanese multinational’s overseas network – particularly in Europe and Japan – for growth.

SMALL and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the retail and security sectors can tap integrated digital solutions from two new categories under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) Advanced Digital Solutions (ADS) initiative. The two categories launched are omnichannel retail management (OCRM) for retailers and integrated security management (ISM) for security agencies, in collaboration with Enterprise Singapore and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), respectively.

Both are sector-specific solutions that aim to help enterprises merge various business functions and allow seamless information flow across their operations, on top of yielding data analytics and insights.

IMDA’s ADS initiative was rolled out in 2020 to support SMEs in adopting integrated digital solutions aligned with the government’s industry digital plans. Eligible SMEs may receive up to 70 per cent funding support to onboard such solutions.

By leveraging the new OCRM solutions, retailers can deliver a unified customer experience across customer engagement touchpoints such as physical retail outlets, e-marketplaces and online channels.

At the same time, they can integrate operations across back-end functions such as inventory management and customer relationship management.

Jeannie Lim, EnterpriseSG’s assistant managing director of services and growth enterprises, noted that consumers now expect hyper-personalisation and smooth transitions across various customer touchpoints from brands.

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“The support for OCRM solutions will help retailers navigate these demands and streamlining operations by providing a consolidated view of critical aspects like inventory and customer relationship management,” she said.

Meanwhile, small and medium-sized security agencies can adopt ISM solutions to elevate their operational capabilities and extend their service offerings beyond traditional security guard operations.

For instance, an integrated ISM platform is able to harness artificial intelligence capabilities such as computer vision, machine learning and deep learning. It can also be integrated with other systems to offer insights into integrated facilities management through a dashboard, as well enabling real-time monitoring, control and incident responses.

Harris Rusdi Chai, director of MHA’s security policy directorate, joint ops group, said: “There has been growing interest by the security industry to move towards a more streamlined and integrated model of operations, and the ISM provides a ready solution to do so.”

The OCRM and ISM solution categories will be piloted for a year and are expected to support 100 SMEs in deepening their digital capabilities.

IMDA said the solutions will be assessed on their suitability for SMEs’ mass adoption, before being scaled up through support such as the Productivity Solutions Grant.