The Singapore F1 tickets are fast selling out, but fans can still catch the action from some choice locations. Hotels along the circuit are seeing high demand but rooms with a circuit view are still available, if you're willing to pay. Offering a bird's eye view of the race, the Swissotel is probably the place to be during the F1 weekend. The hotel is also home to three major F1 teams - Ferrari, BMW and...
Singapore is one of the top locations in the world for new small and medium enterprises (SMEs) looking for financing. This is according to a new study by MasterCard Worldwide. The study shows that Tokyo and Singapore are ranked in the top four out of 53 leading global cities in the potential size of its SME financing market. Tokyo is second while Singapore is ranked fourth. In the Asia Pacific, Middle...
Privately held firms have voted Singapore as the country with the least burdening taxes in the world, according to a business survey by accounting and consulting group Grant Thornton International. The survey found that 40 per cent of all privately held businesses in Singapore feel that there are no burdening taxes in the country. According to Grant Thornton, this shows companies here are maintaining a...
THE closing of roads leading to the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix circuit has upset some shop and restaurant tenants at Suntec City and Marina Square. Many of the them told The Straits Times that business has nose-dived owing to the inconvenience following the road closure. Others blamed the slower economy. Several roads, such as Beach Road and Bras Basah Road, had sections closed since yesterday in...
Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand share the honour of being the world's least corrupt countries, ahead of Singapore in fourth position and Finland and Switzerland in joint fifth, an international watchdog group said in its annual survey. Somalia is perceived as the world's most corrupt country followed closely by Myanmar, Iraq and Haiti, according to Transparency International's (TI) annual Corruption...
Only 3 out of 15 hotels report full occupancy during Grand Prix stretch AS SINGAPORE hoteliers gear up for the nation’s first ever Formula 1 night race later this week, the initial euphoria about a potentially huge tourist windfall has given way to more realistic expectations. Of the management teams at 15 hotels Today spoke to, only three — The Fullerton, Ritz Carlton and St Regis — report full...
The Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) land sales revenue doubled to S$12.4 billion for its financial year ended 31 March 2008. The property market boom and strong demand in state properties for office, education and commercial uses pushed sale revenue to just S$2 billion shy of the record S$14 billion netted in 1997. According to the SLA's latest annual report released Tuesday, it sold S$10.4 billion...
Singapore REITs have been massively sold off since the start of the year - down some 36 per cent on average to date. This is in line with property developers, whose stocks have fallen some 44 per cent since January. In comparison the STI is only down about 24 per cent. But analysts say REITs may be a good defensive play in the current turbulent climate. Property prices and rental costs have been on the...
DESPITE the current United States credit crunch, the third-largest Swiss private banking group EFG Bank, is expanding here and will be taking up seven floors out of the new nine-storey "boutique" office block opposite the Parliament House. EFG will be the first private bank to occupy the bulk of a building, and this gives it naming rights for the 78,000-square-foot freehold building. Said EFG Bank's...
A lush sanctuary without compare, Paradise Island features 29 stylish 2-storey villas, which is inspired by the romance of waterfront living and the green lushness of the tropical paradise. Its architecture is of modern tropical style and expressed in clean lines set in a naturalistic lushly landscaped enclave. Besides individual private berth for luxury boats, each villa design has a private driveway and...