Tony Fernandes believes Capital A will fly high in 2023 – should he?

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Hello reader,

For those of you who don’t know, European football teams are only allowed to sign players in the off season and for one month – January – during the season. And boy, has January 2023 been a busy one, particularly for English club Chelsea – it has signed eight new players for over US$300 million in total.

If I’m not wrong, no other club has spent so much in such a short span of time since the pandemic occurred and set in motion a host of financial difficulties and austerity measures at even the world’s biggest team. Clearly, Chelsea’s management is highly optimistic about the club’s future.

Do you know who else: a) owns a football club, and b) is optimistic? That would be Tony Fernandes, majority shareholder of Queens Park Rangers Football Club and CEO of Capital A – he’s recently come out to say that his firm would be worth four times what it currently is by the end of the year.

This, despite being slapped with the Practice Note 17 status – a label given to financially distressed listed companies by Bursa Malaysia – and facing a funding setback last year.

Does Fernandes’ optimism have legs? Read on to find out.

Today we look at:

• Capital A’s claim to 4x growth
• PayPal also slashes jobs
• Other newsy highlights such as Shein’s latest HR move and the layoffs at Delivery Hero

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I would like to 4x my bank account

Image credit: Timmy Loen

I didn’t talk about football just to make a tortured, barely-there connection between Chelsea and Fernandes’ ownership of Queens Park Rangers, funny as it may be to me. What made me draw the comparison was how these two are doing and saying highly bullish things in the midst of wintry economic conditions – they’re zigging while everyone else is zagging.

Of course, it remains to be seen if their bets and predictions come true, but they’re certainly eye-catching. Let’s take a look at whether Capital A really holds such promise.

• Why Fernandes is so optimistic: “China is open. 150 planes back. 54 to go. Digital companies and red aviation services are very profitable,” he wrote on LinkedIn. Capital A is also building its digital businesses in logistics and (maybe?) food delivery.
• Why I wrote “maybe?”: That said, AirAsia Food doesn’t seem to be operating in Singapore anymore, and even some Malaysian consumers have been unable to place orders despite keying in a local address.
• Logistics is key?: The logistics scene is heating up with price wars underway, but since Teleport is tied directly to Capital A’s aviation arm, AirAsia, there might be some upside that other players lack.

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