Iuna Al Hashemi remains remarkably calm as she discusses the “very challenging” business year for Bahrain’s national telco, Batelco. Once a monopoly, Batelco is now facing a crowded market, with strong competition from Kuwait’s Zain and Saudi Telecom Company-owned VIVA, as well as about ten internet providers for 1.4 million residents. Current economic conditions are making it increasingly difficult to keep up margins. Batelco Group, the […]
When the UAE implements its framework for public-private partnerships, as announced earlier this month, there will be a list of potential projects up for grabs. But none is more urgent than the commuter corridor between Dubai and Sharjah. Conspicuously neglected, Al Ittihad Road is arguably the worst bottleneck in the country, if not the region. The three-lane highway is guaranteed to turn into a car park — […]
The pace of global debt sales this year is running at a record level, surpassing $6tn this week, as companies from Pfizer to MasterCard rush to lock in borrowing costs on fears that a Donald Trump stimulus package will send interest rates even higher. A flurry of new sales this week caps a tumultuous period for bond investors, who are counting more than $1.5tn of losses, as […]
Greencore, Britain’s biggest sandwich maker, has been planning to “deepen its leadership of food-to-go”. As Lucy Kellaway has pointed out, sandwiches don’t need leadership (they need fillings) but this week Greencore deepened its leadership by paying $747m for Peacock, a US sarnie supplier. The deal went down like a fresh BLT and the shares rose at the sight of food-to-go leadership in action. Despite the grisly record […]
By Lewis Krauskopf | NEW YORK NEW YORK Arguing over politics is a Thanksgiving Day tradition, but Donald Trump’s presidential election adds a new twist to any bickering at next week’s holiday dinner table: What the new U.S. government could mean for your stock portfolio. Trump’s shock victory last Tuesday sent investors scrambling to change bets predicated on a win by Hillary Clinton, leading to huge stock […]
The Trump trade — sell government bonds because his policies might cause inflation and require huge new borrowing — has already produced a common counter reaction: do not get carried away, this is an opportunity to buy Treasuries before yields collapse again. What it shows is a conditioned response. The first time your dog barks in the night, you leap out of bed with a head full […]
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister thinks OPEC will reach a deal to cut oil output and said a production ceiling of 32.5 million barrels a day would speed the balancing of supply and demand. The group is near a consensus on capping production for at least six months, said his Algerian counterpart. “I am still optimistic that the agreement reached in Algiers to put a ceiling to production […]
You can read our charts-based explainer here. Sometimes the end of an era comes imperceptibly, with it only becoming apparent long after the fact. But many investors are in little doubt that Donald Trump’s election victory loudly trumpets that an entirely new market regime is nigh. The subsequent shockwaves — which sent equities powering higher on stimulus hopes, bonds crashing on inflation fears and emerging markets quaking […]
U.S. stocks looked set to open little changed on Friday, with all three major indexes near record highs, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sent a strong signal that interest rates would be increased next month. The Fed could raise rates “relatively soon”, Yellen said in a congressional testimony on Thursday, adding that she would serve out her term. Traders are pricing in an 83 […]
Kuwait will need $116b over the next six years to finance its budget deficit caused by low oil prices, according to a report by International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Gulf country posted its first budget shortfall of $15 billion for the first fiscal year following 16 years of surpluses after which it adopted a series of austerity measures including raising fuel, power and water prices. The government […]
Every autumn, Hong Kong restaurants serve a seasonal delicacy: hairy crabs, shipped the same day from lakes around the Chinese city of Suzhou. But the territory’s food safety inspectors recently made a shocking discovery: some crabs in this year’s consignment contained dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Even worse, the crabs appeared to come from Lake Tai, a model in China’s fight against pollution after a multiyear, multibillion-dollar […]
Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al Sada said on Thursday that Iran and Iraq were being asked to freeze oil output at current levels as part of a wider deal to restrain production. “We are discussing with both countries on that and we are looking at various ways and means of coming to a mutual understanding,” Sada told reporters. The energy minister also said that Qatar, the world’s […]
|By Ramesh Mahalingam| As someone who has worked in businesses across the ownership spectrum, I am tempted to pose this question to all aspiring CFOs: All other factors being equal, what is the fundamental difference in the approach to the financial reporting function as between a publicly listed company and a privately-owned business? The answer lies not in the IFRS standards, which by and large, do not […]
DUBAI // Dubai residents now can order meat to be delivered at their doorsteps by a new mobile application of Dubai Municipality. The municipality started the mobile app, Al Mawashi (means cattle) where consumers can place their orders throughout the year. Residents can select sheep or cows available at the cattle market with their images and prices on the app, and pay online to get it […]
For much of the last decade the derivatives industry has been caught in the gravitational pull of the Dodd-Frank act, the sweeping piece of legislation meant to contain the risk of another financial crisis. Six years after its passage, US president-elect Donald Trump wants to dismantle the law. The industry, however is not racing to join him. At this week’s Global Financial Leadership Conference, a gathering of derivatives traders, […]
November 17, 2016 by: Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent Worries are growing that a build-up of unsold oil off the coast of the UK will keep prices down as the broader market surplus increases pressure on Opec to cut production. Industry analysts and shipbrokers said an excess of light sweet crudes, has led to a surge in the number of Aframax tankers — which carry around […]
Amid all the attempts to guess what Donald Trump’s election means for Europe’s trade, security and populist politicians, one conclusion stands out: his administration may be good news for the European Central Bank. The reason is not any particular act by the president-elect; rather, it is the reaction of markets, which could help the European economy and give the central bank more room to act. Foreign exchange […]
By Lucia Mutikani | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. consumer prices recorded their biggest increase in six months in October on rising gasoline costs and rents, suggesting a pickup in inflation that potentially clears the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December. Prospects for a rate hike next month also got a boost from other data on Thursday showing first-time applications for unemployment benefits tumbling […]
LONDON Battered bonds and emerging market currencies enjoyed some respite on Thursday as the dollar took a breather from a post-U.S. election charge that has taken it to a 13-1/2 year high. Wall Street looked set for a quiet start and Europe’s main stock markets <0#.INDEXE> were shuffling sideways as the dip in global bond yields cooled bank stocks, which have been rising on better lending profits. […]
“When the economic crisis hits the elite, it means the suffering is all over the place,” said Malak Rostom, the vice president of the student union. “If we can’t afford it, we can tell how much other people are suffering.” Continue reading the main story Some Egyptians may sneer at the problems of the children of middle- and upper-class families, worried about tuition increases that dwarf the […]
UK retail sales grew rapidly in October as consumers — yet to experience the impact of the weaker currency — continued to spend and colder weather boosted clothing sales. The seasonally adjusted volume of sales was 1.9 per cent higher in October than in September, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday. Sales were boosted by strong growth in clothing and footwear as the end of […]
Rotana to open 16 hotels in 2017 The UAE hotel company Rotana has announced that it will open 16 hotels next year, including five in the UAE and four in Saudi Arabia. There will also be two hotels each for Turkey and Iraq and the company’s first property in Muscat, Oman. The UAE properties are the Capital Centre Rotana in Abu Dhabi, complementing the existing Capital Centre […]
The welcome Several door staff are manning the slick hotel entrance as I drive up, and several more smartly dressed staff are stationed in the marble-and-glass lobby, which is dressed in fresh flowers and local artwork. A couple of the staff recognise me from a previous visit. The reception area to the right is also well-manned. I’m offered a cold towel and a tasty mango, mint, lemon […]
Despite an economic slowdown and rising inflation, Bahrain’s property market has witnessed stability across most real estate sectors in the second half, which is expected to continue into 2017, according to international real estate consultancy Cluttons. While the Gulf state’s residential markets have outperformed expectations due to resilient rental budgets, its office and retail markets have largely seen no change in rents in the first nine months […]
