Axa chief executive Thomas Buberl has distanced himself from a bid for Generali’s German life insurance business. There has been speculation that the French group could play a part in any break-up process that would follow the possible acquisition of Generali by Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. However, speaking to the Financial Times on Thursday, Mr Buberl said that “buying a traditional life insurance business in Germany would […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. A few months ago Vice founder Shane Smith fronted a superior Vice-HBO documentary, “A House Divided,” that detailed the issues, tactics and rancor that dominated Barack Obama’s relations with a Republican-dominated Congress. Now he sees “a perfect storm” that involves […]
Analysts and traders alike were looking forward to today’s “black box” earnings from Tesla as it would be the first consolidated report that combined Tesla Motors operations with those from cash-bleeding monstrocity SolarCity following the pair’s merger, to wit: “with the acquisition of SolarCity, we have created the world’s only integrated sustainable energy company, from generation to storage to transportation.“ And, as usual, Elon Musk managed to […]
When Ford borrowed a €750m bond in euros at the start of the year, the US carmaker was following a path that has become familiar to corporate America. The deal was an example of so-called “reverse Yankee” issuance, where US companies sell bonds in euros, tapping demand from eurozone investors. Ford added to the more than €100bn of debt sold in the eurozone over the past two […]
Last year, Mashable laid off about two-dozen employees, cutting its politics and international reporters in a push for more video. So, how’s that going? The reorganization of the company, which saw Chief Content Officer Gregory Gittrich replace Editor-in-Chief Jim Roberts “wasn’t an easy stretch,” Gittrich said. But Mashable has some good news — unique visitors and revenue are way up, and they’re hiring. More specifically: Unique views […]
Fitch Ratings-Moscow-22 February 2017 Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of five UAE banks with Stable Outlook and maintained Rating Watch Positive (RWP) on First Gulf Bank’s (FGB) IDRs. The agency also downgraded the Viability Rating of Union National Bank (UNB) to ‘bbb-‘ from ‘bbb’. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this commentary. KEY RATING DRIVERS IDRs, SUPPORT […]
By Simon Jessop and Pamela Barbaglia | LONDON LONDON Unilever (ULVR.L) sought to show shareholders it can go it alone on Wednesday after rejecting Kraft Heinz’s (KHC.O) $143 billion bid, with the promise of a swift, far-reaching review. This should be completed by early April and could lead to asset sales and cost cuts, a source close to the Anglo-Dutch company said only days after it roundly […]
French small-cap investors are showing little sign of nerves ahead of this spring’s presidential election, setting a strong pace since the start of the year. In a week when the possibility that Marine Le Pen, the anti-immigrant National Front leader, could win May’s presidential vote started to worry bond investors, the small-caps market, consisting of 187 members, maintained its sangfroid. The CAC small index stands 4.3 per […]
Submitted by Chris Hamilton via Econimica blog, I’m dazed & confused…economists and the consensus all acknowledge 2001 and 2007 were low interest rate, debt driven financial and economic bubbles. However, somehow today’s even lower interest rate environment resulting in an additional $9.5 trillion in equity valuation from the last bubble peak…this one is legit and isn’t a bubble??? What I’m even more confused about is who, exactly, is buying all the […]
Political uncertainty is slowing trade growth, a World Bank report has concluded, indicating that the rise of Donald Trump may already be casting a shadow over the global economy. Major international institutions such as the IMF, the OECD and World Bank have recently upgraded their forecasts of global economic growth largely due to expectations that tax cuts, rising infrastructure spending and a wave of deregulation will boost the […]
Wednesday 12:45 GMT Overview US equity futures suggest Wall Street will dip from record levels that were reached amid a positive outlook for economic growth. Political concerns leave the euro carrying the wooden spoon in the forex markets, while the rush for supposed havens pushes short term German bond yields to their lowest ever. Hot topic The FTSE All-World equity index is at another record, up 0.1 […]
Paul Polman thought it was just going to be an informal catch-up. But it quickly became clear that Alexandre Behring, chairman of Kraft Heinz, had something very specific on his mind when he visited Unilever’s art deco headquarters in London last month. Had Mr Polman, chief executive of Unilever since 2009, ever considered a collaboration with Kraft Heinz, Mr Behring wanted to know. Mr Polman took this […]
Despite suggestions to the contrary, the demand for luxury products and services was continuously rising in the UAE in 2016, albeit at a slower pace. This proves that there is a growth of wealthy and ultra-rich consumers; key potential customers of the luxury segment, which is a contributing factor in the growth of the luxury market. Not only that but demand for luxury is steadily increasing here […]
Vocus Communications has announced its financial results for the first half of FY17, revealing a net profit of AU$47.2 million, up from AU$24.2 million a year previous due to its acquisitions of M2 and Nextgen. Statutory earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were AU$168.3 million, up from AU$60.7 million a year previous, while underlying EBITDA — excluding acquisition, integration, and other costs — was AU$187.2 […]
22 Feb 2017, Doha, Qatar The Commercial Bank (P.S.Q.C.) (“the Bank”), its subsidiaries and associates (“Group”) announced today its financial results for the full year ended 31 December 2016. The Group reported a net profit of QAR 501.4 million as compared to QAR 1,434 million for the same period in 2015, a decrease of 65%. The Bank reported a net profit of QAR 683 million (2015- QAR […]
Evan Spiegel and other top executives at Snap, the owner of messaging app Snapchat, on Tuesday pitched the company to hundreds of investors in New York and faced questions about user growth, costs and the development of the platform. The ballroom at the Mandarin Oriental in midtown Manhattan was the second stop on a roadshow for the company’s listing, after it kicked off its marketing blitz in […]
Manama, Bahrain (21 February 2017) Seef Properties, the leading integrated development company in the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced its financial results for the year ended on 31 December 2016 with a net profit totaling BD11.04 Million. The results were announced during a meeting held on February 21st 2017, headed by Chairman Mr Essa Najibi. The Board of Directors also decided to recommend to the General Assembly to […]
The International Monetary Fund’s description of Greek debt as potentially explosive has left negotiators in Brussels struggling to bridge the differences between Athens and its creditors before time runs out to avert default. With creditors unwilling to release the next tranche of bailout money needed to keep the country afloat, Greece is facing €7bn of debt redemptions in July that it cannot afford. Investors appear to have […]
My taxi driver in San Diego had a plan. He was moving to Laredo to get back into long-distance trucking. He’d work hard for 10 years, save a couple of hundred grand, and retire to Mexico. I did the math: that put him around 2028. He might just make it before all the trucking jobs go away. At Qualcomm last week, Cristiano Amon, president of […]
Ecuador will have to wait until later this week for the result of Sunday’s presidential election after the country’s electoral council deemed the vote too close to call following a knife-edge poll. It was the first time in recent memory that the winner has not been declared on election night. Lenín Boltaire Moreno, the leftwing protégé of President Rafael Correa, is in touching distance of the 40 […]
At least 180 Chinese listed companies will be forced to cancel or scale back planned rights offerings worth $97bn in response to regulations that target excessive fundraising used for dubious acquisitions and financial speculation. The rules come as Chinese regulators are increasingly concerned about the trend of “exit the real, enter the fake” — a phrase used to denote companies abandoning real economic activity in favour of […]
By Sumeet Chatterjee and Lawrence White | HONG KONG/LONDON HONG KONG/LONDON HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) reported a 62 percent slump in annual pre-tax profit that fell way short of analysts’ estimates as the British bank took hefty writedowns from restructuring and pointed to brakes on revenue growth. HSBC shares slid more than 6 percent after the company reported revenues fell by a fifth from 2015, underscoring the challenge […]
Horizon Zero Dawn opens to a protracted introduction of its post-apocalyptic machine-festered world. It’s tedious, as regarded by one reviewer, but it’s essential, because the game’s open world, like all open worlds, is massive. The game is Guerrilla Games’s latest handiwork after Killzone Shadow Fall, the flagship Killzone title released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3. Even before release, it has already garnered acclaim, netting Best Original […]
DUBAI// Enoc will open 10 new petrol stations this year and will add 54 stations by 2020. The expansion began with the opening of the Warsan station on the Dubai-Hatta Road in the eastern region of the emirate. The new stations will be located in Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Barsha South, Hessa Street, Sheikh Rashid Road, Bab Al Shams, Hatta, Jumeirah Village, Al Lehbab Road, and Academic […]
