Bloomberg The British automotive industry saw investment plunge last year as carmakers delayed decisions on upgrading machinery and factories amid mounting concern about the impact of a hard Brexit. Spending plunged 46 percent to 589 million pounds ($769 million), the lowest since the global financial crisis, the Society of Motor Manufacturers said in a statement. Concern about the impact of ...
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Italy caps turbulent year with first recession since 2013
Bloomberg Italy fell into recession at the end of 2018, capping a year of political turmoil, higher borrowing costs and fiscal tensions that took their toll on the economy. Output shrank 0.2 percent in the three months through December, following a 0.1 percent decline in the previous quarter, statistics agency Istat said in a preliminary report. The year-end shrinkage was ...
Read More »Farmers forge ahead as cold snap freezes US Midwest
Bloomberg While many Americans in the frozen Midwest hunker down indoors, central Iowa farmer Ethan Crow has been outside lining his barn and fences with extra bales of hay and corn stalks to break the wind hitting his cattle. He checked on his roughly 50-head herd every few hours to make sure they had feed and he chipped ice off ...
Read More »Emirates Steel, Abu Dhabi Ports ink $270m marine services deal
ABU DHABI / WAM Emirates Steel, a subsidiary of the General Holding Corporation (Senaat), has signed a strategic agreement with Abu Dhabi Marine Services (Safeen), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, valued at AED1 billion ($270mn). The agreement was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Steel, Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, and Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Chief Executive ...
Read More »Mohammed visits Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai
Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, visited the 44th Arab Health Exhibition, which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Wednesday. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid toured the four-day exhibition, which is hosting many major international companies in the healthcare ...
Read More »Trump’s gambit in Syria risks freeing hundreds of IS fighters
Bloomberg A month after President Donald Trump said he’d pull US forces from Syria, a critical global security question is unanswered: What to do with hundreds of IS fighters and their families —including Europeans and Americans—held by Kurdish forces in makeshift prisons? US officials estimate there are 800 prisoners who need to be dealt with at a series of Kurdish-run ...
Read More »Sharjah Islamic Bank net profit surges 7%
SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), achieved good results for the full year of 2018 and declared a net profit of AED510.4 million compared to AED477.7 million reported in 2017, showing an increase of 7 percent. An 8 percent cash dividend is proposed for the shareholders. These results reflect the success of the bank’s strategy to achieve steady and ...
Read More »Adnoc inaugurates first three service stations in Dubai
Dubai / WAM Adnoc Distribution, the UAE’s largest fuel and convenience retailer, on Wednesday celebrated the opening of its first three service stations in the Emirate of Dubai, located in Dubai Investment Park (DIP), Umm Eselay and Al Qusais. Adnoc Distribution operates in all seven Emirates. An opening celebration, held at the DIP station, was attended by Adnoc Distribution Acting ...
Read More »China’s gloomy companies are slashing profit forecasts
Bloomberg Chinese executives are sounding warning bells over the world’s second-largest economy. At least 20 companies, including China Life Insurance Co. and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., told investors that full-year earnings would fall well short of expectations. Reasons they cited included the country’s economic slowdown, as well as recent changes to accounting rules and the equity market’s $2.3 trillion rout ...
Read More »India solar duty fails domestic producers as demand dwindles
Bloomberg India’s bid to protect its solar-equipment makers by imposing a safeguard duty on cheap, Chinese imports has failed, according to domestic manufacturers, who are campaigning for tougher measures. The country last year imposed a 25 percent tariff on solar cells and modules imported from China and Malaysia for two years. That has resulted in developers either stalling projects to ...
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