SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector continued on its upward trajectory in August, with business conditions improving to the greatest extent in a year. Output and new business remained the key growth drivers – both rose sharply and more quickly than in July. Employment and input stocks also increased, with a number of companies looking to expand capacity in line with rising workloads. Meanwhile, price pressures […]
UAE. Change is the new normal for the global health care sector, according to Deloitte’s recent report entitled “2016 Global health care sector outlook – Battling costs while improving care”. As providers, payers, governments, and other stakeholders strive to deliver effective, efficient, and equitable care, they do so in an ecosystem that is undergoing a dramatic and fundamental shift in business, clinical, and operating models. This shift is […]
By Adam Jourdan and Paul Carsten | SHANGHAI/BEIJING SHANGHAI/BEIJING Judging by the volume of online chatter, there’s a lot less buzz in China ahead of this week’s expected launch of the new Apple Inc iPhone, and people on the street say they’re more likely to “wait and see” what the latest device offers than rush out to buy. Posts on China’s popular Sina Weibo microblogging site show […]
By Laurence Frost and Gilles Guillaume | PARIS PARIS Renault expects diesel engines to disappear from most of its European cars, company sources told Reuters, after the French automaker reviewed the costs of meeting tighter emissions standards following the Volkswagen scandal. The sober reassessment was delivered at an internal meeting before the summer break. It shows how, a year after VW admitted engineering software to cheat U.S. […]
MasterCard Inc said on Tuesday it had expanded its deal with payment processor PayPal Holdings Inc, which would allow customers to use PayPal’s payment services in stores. PayPal’s partnership follows a similar deal with MasterCard’s larger rival Visa Inc in July as the company looks to expand its payments network. PayPal will allow users to select a credit or debit card as the default payment method and […]
/By Arabian Post Staff/The UAE moved a step closer to a federal bankruptcy law when the country’s Cabinet approved the final draft of the new law. The law, which will help companies facing financial difficulties to restructure and avoid arbitrary liquidation and criminal proceedings by the state. Companies and individuals are now able to restructure their debt while avoiding bankruptcy liquidation. The law contributes to strengthening the […]
/by Arabian Post Staff/The global growth of asset management stalled as the industry in 2015 recorded its worst year since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Growth in assets under management (AuM) stalled—or in the case of the Middle East declined 10%—and net new flows of assets, revenue growth, and revenue margins all dipped lower in 2015, according to […]
/by Arabian Post Staff/The impact of the softening global economy continues to hamper the UAE’s office market as redundancies in the oil and gas, finance and banking sectors have stifled demand for office space across the emirates, according to leading international real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons’ 2016 UAE Property Market Report, highlights the consultancy’s expectation for office market performance throughout the year and expects declines of close […]
By Tom Bergin | LONDON LONDON Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he will appeal the European Commission’s ruling that his company received an unlawful 13 billion euro ($14.5 billion) subsidy when Ireland gave it preferential tax deals and that he was confident the decision would be reversed. But over a dozen lawyers, including three advising companies on appeals, told Reuters it was impossible to predict how […]
Apple Says Several Billion Dollars Set Aside for U.S. Taxes Apple’s chief executive says the company has put aside “several billion dollars” to pay tax liabilities in the United States as it repatriates some of its huge overseas earnings. Tim Cook told Irish state network RTE in an interview broadcast Thursday that the money, part of profits from 2014, should be brought back to the U.S. next […]
BRUSSELS The European Commission rejected on Thursday Apple’s criticism that an EU order to the company to pay back taxes to Ireland was political, noting the calculations were based on facts and Apple’s own data. In an interview with the Irish Independent, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Thursday described the EU’s imposition of a 13 billion euro ($14.5 billion) back tax bill as “total political crap” […]
DUBLIN The European Union’s imposition of a 13 billion euro ($14.5 billion) back tax bill on Apple (AAPL.O) is “total political crap”, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a newspaper interview on Thursday, and anti-U.S. bias may have played a role. But in a separate radio interview he vowed to boost Apple’s tax payments by repatriating billions of dollars in global profits to the United States next […]
DUBLIN Apple expects to repatriate billions of dollars of global profits to the United States next year, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a radio interview on Thursday, but did not specify exactly how much would be returned. Apple was found to be holding over $181 billion in accumulated profits offshore, more than any U.S. company, in a study published last year by two left-leaning nonprofit groups, […]
/By Matien Khalid/I have been bullish on emerging market debt as an asset class since last autumn. Even though the Chinese yuan devaluation was toxic, this asset class is up 12% in 2016, thanks to almost $5 billion in cash inflows. The tax amnesty in Indonesia, the political changes in Brazil after President Dilma’s impeachment, the election of a center-right pro-business government and $16 billion sovereign debt […]
By Charlotte Greenfield | WELLINGTON WELLINGTON An appeal by flamboyant German tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom over a decision to extradite him to the United States began in New Zealand on Monday, with the Megaupload founder’s legal team arguing the hearing should be livestreamed on YouTube. The High Court hearing opened in Auckland nine months after a lower court ruled Dotcom could be sent to the United States […]
By Yasmeen Abutaleb | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc (FB.O) changed its popular “Trending” feature, which shows users the most-talked about topics of the day, to make it more automated and further eliminate the potential for human bias, the company wrote in a blog post on Friday. The update is Facebook’s latest attempt in recent months to stress its neutrality as its influence grows. The feature […]
By Heather Somerville | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Chinese powerhouse Didi Chuxing’s acquisition of Uber Technologies Inc’s China operations marked the biggest move yet toward consolidation in an industry that many investors and Silicon Valley pundits view as a winner-take-all game. On the day the Didi deal was announced earlier this month, Uber board member Bill Gurley said Uber’s rivals in other markets had a slim chance […]
TOKYO Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp said Tuesday it will review its TV brand licensing deals overseas in an effort to boost its global presence under the aegis of Taiwan’s Foxconn. “We have decided to review our current brand licensing business in Europe and Americas, and are currently examining various possibilities,” Sharp said in a statement. The comment follows a report by the Yomiuri […]
Beginning “as early as next year,” Samsung may start selling refurbished smartphones directly to consumers. The new resale program is aimed at strengthening Samsung’s earnings as global phone sales slow down, according to report today citing “a person with direct knowledge of the matter.” Offering lower-cost refurbished phones could also help Samsung better compete against Chinese manufacturers whose cheap devices have cut into its sales, especially in […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Fitch Ratings has upgraded DP World Limited’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to BBB from BBB- and its Short-Term IDR to F2 from F3. The rating outlook is stable. The upgrade follows the Fitch announcement in November 2015 revising DP World’s outlook to Positive from Stable. It reflects the global trade enabler’s strong performance and stable cash flow generation supported by its geographical […]
SINGAPORE Singapore will make regulatory changes to facilitate the use of electronic payments, the central bank said on Friday, as the city-state aims to become a major centre for financial technology (fintech). “Our vision is to make Singapore an electronic payments society, a society that spurs innovation in payments technology, that gives consumers maximum convenience and confidence in making payments,” said Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the […]
By calling to their eggs, zebra finch parents may be helping their young prepare for a hotter world brought on by climate change. Uncovering such a mechanism represents a significant advance in the effort to understand how species are adapting to a warming climate. “Incubation calling,” paired with the ability of embryos to hear external sounds, is just one of an array of prenatal guidance tools shared […]
UAE. A new study released today by global strategy and management consulting firm A.T. Kearney concludes that autonomous driving will trigger the 21st century’s first major wave of growth. Key findings from the report, ‘How Automakers Can Survive the Self-Driving Era’, are based on interviews with more than 150 automotive decision-makers around the world. A.T. Kearney consultants sought to identify the products, services and partner strategies with […]
INTERNATIONAL. Nearly all of the Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs) surveyed by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) around the world acknowledge that digital disruption will reshape their industries, but very few are equipped to navigate the change. Those who feel most prepared are embracing new strategic alliances, devising more collaborative ways of operating with partners, and making themselves indispensable within a broader ecosystem. For the report ‘Thriving on Disruption’, the Accenture […]
