News

  Bloomberg The UK economy slowed less than economists forecast in the quarter after the Brexit vote because of a surge in services, providing ammunition for critics of those who warned of a possible fallout before the referendum. The 0.5 percent expansion was better than the 0.3 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Services surged 0.8 percent, ...

  Brussels/ AFP Belgium announced on Thursday a breakthrough in talks to secure a landmark EU-Canada trade deal by winning over the leaders of a recalcitrant Belgian region, potentially snapping a deadlock which threatened European credibility anew. However, the announcement came too late for EU leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to go ahead with a signing ceremony in ...

  Helsinki / AFP Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia said on Thursday it has managed to reduce losses but remained in the red in the third quarter after acquiring its former rival, French-American Alcatel-Lucent. The world’s former number one in handsets, which turned into a telecom equipment maker, reported a net loss of 125 million euros ($135 million) in the ...

  Berlin / AFP German auto giant Volkswagen on Thursday lifted its forecast for the year after swinging back to profit, but the fallout from the group’s “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal weighed heavily on its luxury brand Audi. One year on from the crisis, the VW group’s recovery appeared on track as it posted net profit of 2.3 billion euros ...

  ALGIERS / Reuters Algeria is preparing to speed up the diversification of its oil-reliant economy in the coming year after starting to cut state subsidies to offset a fall in energy earnings, the head of parliament’s finance committee said. In the past, the OPEC member took advantage of high prices for oil and gas, which account for 60 percent ...

  Cairo / Emirates Business The World Bank has announced, during a ceremony to celebrate the release of its 14th Doing Business Report, that Egypt moved up nine places compared to last year. The country now ranks 122, which represents a significant improvement on its previous ranking of 131. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mohamed Khodeir, the CEO of ...

  Jeddah / Emirates Business JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, released its Q3 2016 Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview report which assesses the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. The latest market summary report discusses the opening of two internationally branded hotels — the Movenpick City Star Hotel (228 keys) and ...

  AFP Samsung Electronics on Thursday reported an expected 30 percent profit plunge on the back of a highly damaging recall crisis that hammered the reputation of the world’s largest smartphone maker. The third quarter earnings were announced just hours before the start of an annual shareholder meeting which was set to approve the latest step in a complex generational ...

  Bloomberg Stresses among Singapore’s oil and gas companies are deepening, the head of Southeast Asia’s second-largest lender said, signaling that more firms grappling with the slump in energy prices may face difficulties repaying their debts. “I don’t think the oil and gas sector is in a situation where it is in a recovery mode yet, and continues to be ...

  Bloomberg Profits of China’s industrial corporations are holding up this year thanks to a boost from steel and refining, even as last month’s earnings slowed from a three-year high. Industrial profits in January-September rose 8.4 percent from a year earlier to 4.64 trillion yuan ($685 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. Earnings last month rose 7.7 percent ...