Emirates Business Agthia Group PJSC, one of the UAE’s leading food and beverages companies, reported a net profit of AED 159 million during the first nine months of 2018, representing a 9% like-for-like increase compared to the same period last year. The group also reported AED 1.49 billion net revenues while gross profit margin reached a record-high 34.7 percent because …

Bloomberg Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), the Middle East’s biggest petrochemicals producer, posted a 5.4 percent increase in third-quarter pro-fit on higher prices and sales, meeting analysts’ estimates. Net income rose to 6.1 billion riyals ($1.63 billion) from 5.8 billion riyals a year ago, the Riyadh-based company said in a statement. The average estimate of analysts was for a profit …

Bloomberg China’s government has told at least two of its state oil companies to avoid purchasing Iranian oil as the US prepares to impose sanctions on the Persian Gulf state, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The freeze on imports by China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Sinopec is temporary and purchases may resume depending on the outcome …

Bloomberg Lawyers for Exxon Mobil Corp. stood before a New York judge and told the state’s attorney general to “put up or shut up” after spending three years investigating the company’s public disclosures about climate change, saying authorities should sue the energy giant or move on. Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed a fraud lawsuit against Exxon in state court in …

Bloomberg Endeavor Energy Resources LP, the largest privately held oil producer in the Permian Basin, is weighing a sale after receiving takeover interest from major energy explorers, according to people familiar with the matter. Midland, Texas-based Endeavor could draw interest from suitors including Chevron Corp. and BP Plc, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter …

Bloomberg China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp. cleared a major hurdle in its bid to buy a $4.1 billion stake in SQM, the world’s second-largest producer of the mineral used in electric-vehicle batteries. Chile’s constitutional court has declared inadmissible a suit questioning whether an agreement between Tianqi and Chile’s antitrust agency FNE went far enough to protect SQM’s trade secrets against its …

Bloomberg Singapore’s long romance with public housing is going through a rocky patch, threatening to undermine one of the most popular government policies. For decades, the no-frills, affordable apartments have been integral to the city-state’s way of life, helping young couples achieve their dreams of home ownership and housing the bulk of the population — while providing a stepping stone …

Bloomberg Surging profits, a humming economy, lower Treasury rates. The things that used to rev up the stock market are no longer able to get its motor running. Suddenly it seems like everything is a headwind. The Federal Reserve is raising rates. Cost pressures are percolating. Valuations are under siege and a decade-long bull market is at stake. Rather than …

Bloomberg The optimism sweeping Brazil’s stock market has reached nose-bleed levels. Analysts are predicting massive gains over the next 12 months on the back of Jair Bolsonaro’s likely win in this weekend’s presidential runoff, saying that he could send stocks to unprecedented highs if he aggressively pursues measures to shore up government finances. The right-wing lawmaker and his economic adviser, …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing gave himself one year to turn around the lender. Six months into his tenure, urgent questions about the future are becoming louder as the stock slumps to record lows. After disappointing investors by posting the lowest third-quarter revenue in eight years and abandoning some targets, the stock rout worsened, producing Deutsche …