News

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump has pledged to reverse what he describes as “astronomical” drug prices in the US Thousands of miles away, Japan, long a profit sanctuary for multinational pharmaceutical companies, is taking a similar tack. About $93 billion is spent annually on medications in Japan, and the government plays a key role on prices because it covers about ...

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s timetable to negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement threatens to slip into an election year for Mexico, which could feel the economic impact of the uncertainty especially if the agreement starts disintegrating. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that the trade talks will probably begin in the latter part of 2017 and shouldn’t last ...

  Bloomberg Akzo Nobel NV, Europe’s largest coatings company, rejected an unsolicited 20.9 billion-euro ($22.1 billion) takeover bid from rival PPG Industries Inc. and said it may separate its specialty chemicals business to boost the stock price. PPG’s bid, worth 83 euros a share at the end of February, substantially undervalued the company, Amsterdam-based Akzo said in a state- ment ...

  Bloomberg BMW AG reported its weakest profitability since 2010, capping a negative year for Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger after losing the luxury-car crown to arch-rival Mercedes-Benz. Amid higher spending on electric-car and autonomous-driving technologies, BMW’s automotive profit margin narrowed to 8.9 percent in 2016 from 9.2 percent a year earlier, according to a statement on Thursday. The shares ...

  Bloomberg Aviva Plc, Britain’s second-largest insurer, raised its dividend and said it will return more cash to shareholders this year after higher earnings at the life insurance unit helped boost full-year operating profit. The shares rose the most in seven months. Operating profit climbed 12 percent to 3.01 billion pounds ($3.66 billion) from a year earlier and Aviva raised ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE’s banking sector came first on the list of the banking sectors in terms of asset volume in the GCC region, with a total value of about US$711 billion, over (AED2. 61 trillion) in 2016, according to statistics from the Central Bank of the UAE issued at the end of last year. This reflects ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The volume of non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia touched about US$1.6 billion during the first 9 months of 2016, compared to about $2.5 billion during the whole of 2015, according to a report released by the UAE Ministry of Economy, on reviewing the trade policies with Russia. The report also shed light on ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) signed a Cooperation Agreement |(CA) to foster closer cooperation on developments and initiatives that nurture FinTech entrepreneurship and support innovation in financial services in both Singapore and Abu Dhabi. This new partnership was the result of meaningful exchanges between the FinTech teams ...

  DUBAI / WAM Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, EMPOWER, world’s largest district cooling service provider, has urged building owners on Sheikh Zayed Road to adopt district cooling system instead of traditional cooling services. The call follows the company’s delivery of such services to several buildings in the area. Empower’s ongoing process to deliver district ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Second UAE-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee Meeting kicked off here on Wednesday. It was co-chaired by Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, and Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore Minister of Foreign Affairs. Al Gergawi highlighted the unique historic ties between both countries, based on understanding, mutual respect and the desire ...