|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties reported a 16 percent rise in second-quarter net profit as other income increased and it received more money in income tax credits. Emaar made a net profit of 1.18 billion dirhams ($321.3 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.02 billion dirhams on the prior-year period, the company said in a statement. SICO Bahrain had forecast Emaar’s second-quarter profit […]
DUBAI // Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) says it has achieved “significant progress” in constructing and extending water networks in the emirate. Work to install or extend 25 kilometres of supply is under way across Dubai. “Through this project, Dewa aims to raise the efficiency of production and operations, and increase flow to meet the growing demand for water,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director […]
|TAP Special| UAE finance company Dunia may be for sale and Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim Holding is believed to be among the suitors. According to Bloomberg, MAF Holding and KKR & Co. are among companies weighing a bid for the Abu Dhabi consumer finance firm. MAF already has a personal finance business, which offers the Najm credit cards and other products. There could be good synergy between […]
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) is considering introducing with the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) futures and options contracts for specific Abu Dhabi stocks as well as market index futures, a top DME official said. The exchanges have established a joint committee which will examine the issue over the next few months, DME Managing Director Owain Johnson told Reuters. “You have to go to the market and […]
DUBAI // A model to help promising young leaders achieve their potential has been launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai. Called “The Leader of the 21st Century Model”, it has been launched for the UAE Government Leaders Programme and is created by the UAE Government. Inspired by the leadership of Sheikh Mohammed, it aims to strengthen the competencies and leadership skills […]
The yield on bonds of Abu Dhabi has decreased four basis points since 22 July, the day the UAE announced the move to remove fuel subsidies, Bloomberg reported. While the average yield on developing-country debt has increased 13 basis points since the 22 July announcement of fuel-price deregulation, the yield on bonds of Abu Dhabi has declined four basis points. The yield on bonds of the neighboring […]
Standard Chartered … restructuring senior management Standard Chartered audit head to become UAE chief executive DUBAI, 1 days ago Standard Chartered has picked Julian Wynter, group head of internal audit, as UAE chief executive, two sources told Reuters on Monday. Wynter is likely to take charge in August after the departure of current UAE chief executive Mohsin Nathani, who resigned from the bank in April, said one […]
Dubai realtor S&K blames weak market for bankruptcy DUBAI, 1 days ago Dubai-based real estate agency S&K Estate Agents said a deteriorating property market in the emirate contributed to its decision to file for bankruptcy and be liquidated. “Simply put, the revenue being generated by the business drastically reduced over the first half of 2015, without enough income to cover operational costs,” S&K said in an emailed […]
Sophos launches cloud-based secure web gateway DUBAI, 1 days ago Sophos, a leading security solutions provider, has launched the Sophos Cloud Web Gateway, a cloud-based secure web gateway that delivers advanced protection for users, devices and data across multiple operating systems, regardless of their location. The addition of secure web gateway to Sophos Cloud integrates technology from Mojave Networks, which Sophos acquired in October last year, said […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| The Dubai residential market continues to face downward pressure as rents and sale prices decline. It’s perhaps indicative of a systemic shift that the current phase’s first bankruptcy has just been filed. According to a JLL report citing the REIDIN indexes, the sales index dropped by 8% for the one-year period ending June 2015, with declines in apartment sale prices exceeding that […]
The regulator of Dubai’s financial free zone said on Wednesday it had fined Arqaam Capital $50,000 after investigating the Dubai-based investment bank over compliance with anti-money laundering rules. The investigation followed a periodic risk assessment by authorities that identified deficiencies in Arqaam’s systems and controls to prevent money laundering, the Dubai Financial Services Authority said in a statement. The DFSA said its agreement with Arqaam did not […]
|By Matein Khalid|So Pearson PLC has sold the FT Group (with its flagship Financial Times newspaper) to Japan’s Nikkei Inc for $1.32 billion. Pearson will use the cash proceeds to increase its investment in education publishing businesses in the US and Canada, now 75% of revenues. This deal is a milestone in the history of newspaper publishing and my own life as an investor/financial journalist. I discovered […]
|By TAP Staff| Some 5,200 rooms are expected to be added to the Abu Dhabi hotel sector by 2017. Of this, 2,300 rooms are set to enter the market by the end of 2015 alone, according to a report by JLL. The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ADTCA) also report a 20% increase in hotel guests in the first quarter of 2015 compared to Q1 figures […]
UAE. A recent qualitative report sponsored by Citi and conducted by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, studied the personality of HNWI in the UAE. The results of the research revealed the different needs that they believe are impacting their disposition towards wealth management and analyzed their attitudes towards investments. The participants were represented by a small group […]
DUBAI // A foundation providing help and shelter for abused women and children has reported a rise of two-thirds in calls to its hotline for the first half of this year. The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children received 2,034 calls in the six months – an increase of 63 per cent – 552 of which were about women and children suffering some form of abuse. Director […]
TEHRAN — For Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter now on trial for espionage in Iran, the incident was extraordinary but still looked like another example of the difficulties in covering the country’s politics. On a spring day in March 2014, his wife and a female photographer were stopped in broad daylight in their car on a busy Tehran highway and taken into a van, where, friends […]
Mena lagging in adopting cyber security policies BEIRUT, 1 days ago Despite the current global focus on cyber security issues including hacking, data losses, breaches and other information leaks, organizations in the Mena region still do not have formal cyber security initiatives in place, a report said. In keeping with international trends, managing Compliance Risk remains a high priority for organizations across Mena region, explained the Middle […]
Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the Gulf’s only listed stock exchange, reported a 48 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Monday as bourse turnover slumped. The firm, which runs securities trading in Dubai, made a net profit of 132.4 million dirhams ($36.05 million) in the three months to June 30, down from a net profit of 252.5 million dirhams in the year-ago period, a statement said. DFM’s […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai residential rents declined by 3% during the second quarter of 2015, according to the latest ADIB/MPM Properties Real Estate report. This comes amongst a surge in supply as 6,750 new residential units were delivered this quarter, taking the total Dubai residential stock to 479,000 units. The majority of the new supply was added along the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed road, with the International […]
|By TAP Staff| A company owned by Dubai Holding said on Sunday it plans to sell its 60 percent stake in Maltese telecom operator Go. Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT), a unit of Dubai Holding, said in an emailed statement it “has not yet approached or identified any buyer for its stake”, and “has only just started the process of evaluating its options.” Go is undertaking a restructuring […]
DUBAI // A leading estate agent and property management company in Dubai has gone out of business with the loss of dozens of jobs. S K Real Estate ceased trading last Tuesday without warning to most of its 70 employees. The glass door to the company’s office on floor 11 of Concord Tower in Media City has been smashed. Staff at neighbouring businesses arrived at work yesterday to […]
UAE. Women are just as likely as men to find employment in small and medium-sized businesses in the UAE, according to the latest research by business intelligence company MEED. Of the more than top 50 SMEs in the Emirates which participated in the study, 50 per cent said they employ an equal number of women and men in their organisations. About 40 per cent even reported having […]
A surge in shares of Amlak Finance since they returned to Dubai’s stock market last month has raised concerns about a new wave of unbridled speculation on one of the region’s biggest exchanges. The Islamic mortgage lender has soared about 150 percent since it restarted trading in early June after a six-year suspension due to debt problems. At its latest close of 2.52 dirhams, the stock is […]
UAE. Wermuth Asset Management has announced its expectation that, given the availability of solar power at $4 cents/kWh, a price with which crude oil could only compete if offered below $7/barrel, the ‘carbon bubble’ will burst and that it will have profound implications for the Middle East’s oil producing countries, global financial markets and the world economy. If COP21 leaders this year commit to a global 2⁰C […]
