New Zealand telecommunications provider Spark has announced its financial results for the first half of FY17, reporting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of NZ$471 million, up 3.5 percent. Revenue was up by 4.1 percent, to NZ$1.79 billion, while earnings after tax amounted to NZ$178 million, up 12.7 percent. Capex increased by 3.7 percent for a total of NZ$224 million, and opex was up by […]
By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin | SEOUL SEOUL A South Korean judge questioned Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee and another executive behind closed doors on Thursday to decide whether they should be arrested over their roles in a corruption scandal that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye. Dozens of protesters surrounded by riot police met Lee, 48, who was wearing a dark coat and navy tie […]
Japan External Trade Organization highlights health benefits of Japanese diet and the use of authentic Japanese ingredients in World Cuisine at Food Tasting Seminar US$ 51 million worth of Japanese food and beverage exports to the UAE in 2016 Japanese diet considered one of the healthiest in the world Participating in Gulfood 2017 for the fourth consecutive year with over 40 Japanese food companies supports efforts in […]
Muscat, 15 February 2017 Dentons advised Al Anwar Holdings SAOG on the sale of 20.35% of its shareholding in Falcon Insurance Company SAOC (FIC) for a consideration of OMR 1.876 per share to Arabia Insurance Company S.A.L’s (AIC) affiliates, namely Arabia S.A.L. and Lawrence Investment LLC (Under Formation). The transaction also involved a simultaneous acquisition of the business, assets and liabilities of AIC’s Oman branch by FIC, […]
By Michael Flaherty and Siddharth Cavale Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N), maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors, will face ever greater pressure to slice costs and slow-growing divisions now that activist investor Trian Partners is a major shareholder. P&G’s shares hit a two-year high on Wednesday after Trian disclosed a stake in the consumer products behemoth, which is already trying to slim down by selling unprofitable […]
Joo Kim Tiah, the son of one of Malaysia’s wealthiest tycoons, sat on stage in the summer of 2013 as his new business partner announced their plans for a C$360m luxury condominium-hotel project on Vancouver’s most prestigious downtown thoroughfare. With characteristic salesmanship, Donald Trump bragged that the 63-storey glass tower on West Georgia Street would be “one of the great buildings, not only in Canada and the […]
By Babak Dehghanpisheh | BEIRUT BEIRUT Iran’s president must do more to improve the economy, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday in a rare public criticism from the supreme leader three months before Hassan Rouhani runs for re-election. Unemployment, recession and inflation – issues that could win or lose an election – all remain major problems in the final month’s of Rouhani’s first four-year term, Khamenei said […]
National Real Estate Company (NREC), a Kuwait-based developer with projects exceeding $1 billion in Egypt and the UAE, has signed an agreement for a $101.5 million loan. The developer of Abu Dhabi’s upcoming Reem Mall said in a statement that it has signed the five year convertible loan with Agility Investment Holding Limited, a subsidiary of Kuwait-based logistics firm Agility. The loan facility has the option of […]
15 February 2017 Abu Dhabi, UAE – Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the Abu Dhabi International Offset Conference (ADIOC) begins today. ADIOC is organized by the Tawazun Economic Council and is being attended by the global defense industry, government officials and sector experts. The biennial […]
Submitted by Don Quijones via WolfStreet.com, Spain’s three biggest banks, Banco Santander, BBVA and Caixa Bank, have got off to a flying start this year having issued €8.6 billion in new debt, seven times the amount they sold during the same period of last year. The last time they rolled out so much debt so quickly was in 2007, the year that Spain’s spectacular real estate bubble […]
Dubai’s Emaar Properties intends to reopen its landmark Address Downtown hotel by the end of the year, some two years after the skyscraper was gutted by fire following an electrical fault, its chairman told Al-Arabiya TV on Tuesday. Mohammed Alabbar was speaking after the developer reported a 56 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profits, boosted by higher revenue from property developments as well as the performance of […]
SoftBank’s billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, who has boasted of creating the “Berkshire Hathaway of tech”, has thrown himself into the world of private equity and hedge funds with a $3.3bn acquisition of US alternative asset manager Fortress Investment Group. The deal, which follows the Japanese group’s traditional focus on telecoms and internet, comes just as SoftBank is emerging as one of the world’s largest investors with the […]
When Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen testifies before a Senate committee on the state of the economy on Tuesday, there will be plenty tuning in who believe the epitaph for the three-decade rally in the bond market has been rightly written. US president Donald Trump’s plan to ramp up government spending and axe corporate taxes threatens to accelerate inflation, push up interest rates and widen the deficit […]
By Manolo Serapio Jr | SANTA CRUZ, Philippines SANTA CRUZ, Philippines His brother kept telling him that the mine would reopen and he would be hired again: but when Winston Ordonez didn’t get a call from a mining firm, he took a laptop charger cable, tied it around his neck and hanged himself in his kitchen. Ordonez worked at the nickel mine operated by Eramen Minerals Inc […]
Goldman Sachs shares shattered a 10-year record to reach a fresh closing high on Tuesday, buoyed by hopes that the Trump administration will bring a profit-boosting mix of higher interest rates, lower taxes and lighter regulation. All banks have rallied hard since November 8, when Mr Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the race to the White House. But only a handful have done as well as Goldman, […]
The reaction to a strike at the world’s largest copper mine underlines the sharp reversal in fortune in one of the world’s key metals over the past four months. Copper has jumped 5 per cent in the past two days to a two-year high after a strike at the Escondida mine in Chile raised supply fears about a market that has been starved of investment. The dispute […]
A new study shows that consumers who invest in an at-home 3-D printer can not only make their money back within six months, but may also see an almost 1,000 percent return on their investment over a five-year period. (via WSJ)
The US economy and fiscal policy face an uncertain path under the administration of Donald Trump, Janet Yellen warned on Tuesday as she declared “monetary policy is not on a preset course” but said it would be “unwise” to raise rates too slowly. Testifying before Congress on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve chair painted a picture of an economy with accelerating growth, higher inflation and a robust labour […]
Greece is planning to appoint Rothschild to advise on its debts as the country attempts to end a long-running creditor stand-off and avert default. Government officials hope to finalise the appointment before a gathering of eurozone finance ministers on February 20 that has been described as the last chance for Greece’s lenders to overcome their differences before European attention shifts to general elections in eurozone countries. Unless […]
Credit: Michigan Technological University Interested in making an investment that promises a 100 percent return on your money, and then some? Buy a low-cost, open-source 3-D printer, plug it in and print household items. In a recent study published in Technologies, Michigan Technological University Associate Professor Joshua Pearce set out to determine how practical and cost effective at-home 3-D printing is for the average consumer. He […]
By Pamela Barbaglia and Edward Taylor | LONDON/FRANKFURT LONDON/FRANKFURT PSA Group (PEUP.PA) is holding talks with General Motors (GM.N) about buying its European Opel division, the French carmaker said on Tuesday, a deal which would increase competition for market leader Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE). The maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars is “exploring a number of strategic initiatives with GM with the aim of increasing its profitability and […]
A striking feature of global financial markets since the crises of 2007 and 2008 has been the high propensity of many wealthy private investors to sit out all the turmoil, holding cash in bank accounts rather than in riskier assets. Might that be about to change? The word among bankers in conservative Switzerland — the world’s largest centre for cross-border private wealth management — is that it […]
Executive Nader Henein. BlackBerry BlackBerry executive Nader Henein believes that as more Internet of Things (IoT) and connected healthcare devices come into play, the industry must take steps to reevaluate their security — from the ground up. The use of IoT and connected devices can provide healthcare providers and patients with a range of benefits — such as the use of mobile technology to track conditions, improved […]
Shuaa Capital is working on a bolt-on acquisition of a financial services company based in the United Arab Emirates as part of the investment bank’s growth plans, chairman Jassim Alseddiqi told Reuters on Monday. The price for the targeted company, which specialises in capital markets and securities, would be less than 200 million dirhams ($54.46 million), Alseddiqi said. He also said discussions were at an advanced stage […]
