|By Arabian Post staff| The rise of intelligent machines represents the evolution of the next industrial revolution, which will bring about a paradigm shift in the way we live and work, a special report on the subject by BankofAmerica-Merrill Lynch says. Robots and AI are becoming an integral part of our daily lives as providers of labour, mobility, safety, convenience, and entertainment. The year 2014 was the […]
|By TAP Staff| Total gold demand in Q3 2015 stood at 1,121 tonnes , an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year, according to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. Q3 2015 consisted of two distinct halves. In the first part, a number of factors, including ETF outflows, contributed to a price dip which buoyed consumer demand around the world. A shift […]
|By TAP Staff| Business confidence in the Middle East is at its lowest ebb for more than five years, according to the latest global survey of accountants. The Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) carried out jointly by ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (the Institute of Management Accountants) for the third quarter of 2015 suggests that the renewed fall in oil prices is likely […]
|By TAP Staff| Air Arabia results have disappointed market consensus, due to lower margins, but analysts see the airline continuing to focus on expansions in the future. According to Mubasher Trade (MTRe) analysts, despite the disappointing Q3 2015 results, they maintain BUY/MODERATE RISK rating for the company with a price target of AED2.06/share and expected total return of +62%. Revenues increased by 6% YoY to AED1.12 billion […]
|By TAP Staff| Residential rents in Abu Dhabi may be reaching an affordability ceiling, particularly at the higher end of the market, the latest Abu Dhabi Real Estate Market Overview report by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and its real estate advisory subsidiary MPM Properties said. But given year on year growth, tenants in this segment are still seeing sizeable rental increases at lease renewal, the report […]
|By TAP Staff| Middle East carriers recorded a 9.9% increase in passenger traffic demand in September, well down on the 13.7% year-over year growth experienced in August, International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced. Capacity rose 12.9% and load factor slipped 2.1 percentage points to 75.7%. Major economies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have experienced slowdowns in non-oil sectors, it pointed out. […]
|By Matein Khalid| I was in a pensive-philosophic mood last week as I decompressed from a trip to a hauntingly beautiful post Soviet country in the Caucasus, the land that produced Koba from Gori and Prince Pyotr Bagration, the fallen hero of Tsar Alexander’s imperial guard at Borodino. Yet Georgia gave me time and perspective to think about the financial firestorms on Wall Street, Marounuchi, the Gulf […]
Boston-based enterprise storage provider ClearSky Data said it has raised $27 million in a Series B investment round led by Polaris Partners, along with Akamai Technologies. The money will be used by ClearSky to refine its managed service delivery model for enterprise storage, which the company said combines the performance and availability of primary storage with the economics and scalability of the cloud. ClearSky made a splash […]
People use their cell phones in Mexico City, October 8, 2015. Reuters/Edgard Garrido/Files LONDON Thumbing through guide books for restaurant and shopping tips while on holiday could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to mobile travel technology that knows where you are and what you like and can ping you personalised recommendations. People are increasingly turning to their mobile phones to book flights, hotels and […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Properties recorded a growth in net profit of 16 per cent for the first nine months (Jan to Sept) 2015 to AED 3.048 billion (US$ 830 million) compared to AED 2.622 billion (US$ 714 million) during the same period in 2014. Revenues for the first nine months of 2015 were AED 9.849 billion (US$ 2.681 billion), a growth of 25 per cent over […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE banking sector has lost AED56 billion ($15.25 billion) in government deposits since September last year, NBAD Chief Executive Alex Thursby disclosed. Out of this, NBAD alone lost AED48 billion he said. According to a bank statement, deposits fell to AED31.2 billion last month from 69.6 billion at the end of December. The decline in oil prices is forcing countries from Saudi Arabia […]
|By Matein Khalid| Saudi Arabia has fascinated me since I first met Hani AZ Yamani as a teenage student all those years ago at Wharton. Hani’s father was Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, legendary Saudi Oil Minister (1962-86) under Kings Faisal, Khalid and Fahd. Sheikh Yamani managed the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks, survived a terrorist assault in Vienna by Carlos the Jackal, midwifed the birth of Saudi […]
|By TAP Staff| Starting salaries for professional occupations are expected to see modest rises over the next 12 months, according to the Robert Half 2016 Salary Guide. Across professional occupations including finance and accounting, financial services, information technology, legal, and human resources and administration, salaries are expected to see an average rise of 1.7%. The roles that are the most difficult to fill are predicted to see […]
|By TAP Staff| Union National Bank reported third-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates as impairment charges rose and fee and trading income declined. Net income fell 12 percent to 480.6 million dirhams ($131 million), the Abu Dhabi-based bank said in a statement to the stock exchange on Sunday. Impairment charges jumped 57 percent to 199.8 million dirhams. Fee and commission income dropped 16 percent and the lender […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
Oil at $50 a barrel is a “gift to the world” as prices should be low enough to spur economic growth, according to the head of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development. Prices will probably be at $60 next year, after hitting bottom at $45, Ali Al Mansoori, the department’s chairman, said in an interview Sunday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest oil producer […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
|TAP Special| The UAE healthcare sector witnessed another landmark deal when Aster DM Healthcare acquired an additional 57 per cent stake in Sanad Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, raising its total ownership stake to 97 per cent. The AED 900 Million (US$ 245 Million) investment in the Kingdom brings the total number of Aster DM Healthcare hospitals to six in the Gulf. Sanad Hospital has seen steady […]
Gold is starting to shed its reputation as a dead asset, and bulls can thank signs that the U.S. economy is starting to sputter for the boost. The metal climbed above its 200-day moving average on Wednesday for the first time in about five months. A gauge of inflation dropped by the most since January and retail sales missed forecasts, increasing traders’ bets that the Federal Reserve […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| The UAE healthcare sector was the scene of high drama as the Al Noor Hospitals Group, being pursued by leading sectoral player NMC Group to form the country’s biggest private healthcare provider, apparently broke off and announced it has reached an agreement for a merger with South Africa’s Mediclinic International Ltd. Al Noor will also be renamed Mediclinic International. Al Noor said […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai is hoping that the lifting of sanctions on Iran will help the emirate’s economy to withstand some of the negative shocks it has been suffering in recent times. Those “pull factors,” which also include increased demand from India, will compensate for any economic headwind from China’s slowdown, Raed Safadi, executive director of the economic research and policy division at the Dubai Department of […]
|By TAP Staff| Global oil prices have bottomed out, with signs of a recovery seen in 2016, Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al Sada was quoted as saying. Growth in non-OPEC oil supply slowed “substantially” this year and is likely to remain flat or turn negative in the next, Al Sada said in a statement. “Call on OPEC oil is expected to become healthier,” to 30.5 million barrels […]
|By TAP Staff|Indian nationals were ranked first for foreign investment in Dubai’s property sector for the first half of this year, having made a total of 3,017 transactions worth AED 7.8 billion, according to statistics released by the Dubai Land Department. British investors were in second place having conducted deals worth AED 4.7 billion, followed by Pakistani investors with transactions worth AED 3.3 billion. Canadian investors came […]
|By TAP Staff| September data from Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker signaled a sustained upturn in output levels within Dubai’s private sector economy, helped by growth across all three key sub-categories of activity monitored by the survey. Overall rates of business activity and new orders growth were, however, softer than those seen on average through the first half of 2015. As a result, private sector companies were […]
