Bloomberg EBay Inc., operator of the namesake online marketplace, is close to a deal for the Japanese assets of e-commerce site Qoo10, a person familiar with the matter said. The San Jose, California-based company is buying the assets from its joint-venture partner Giosis Pte, the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Under the proposed ...

Bloomberg Shoprite Holdings Ltd. said rising consumer confidence in South Africa could fuel higher sales growth as the continent’s biggest food retailer increased the dividend and reported market share gains in its home country. The half-year payout to shareholders will be raised by 14 percent, about in line with a year ago, Shoprite said. That followed a six-month period in ...

Bloomberg Dutch vitamin maker Royal DSM NV is finding direct-to-consumer sales good for its corporate health. After years of supplying ingredients to health-food companies, DSM began dabbling with its own range of supplements to sell at retail about six years ago. The growth of the business, called I-Health, far exceeded the company’s hopes, and it’s set to turn over about ...

Bloomberg Never mind being No. 1. Ed Sonshine is too busy trying to Amazon-proof his Canadian shopping-mall empire by turning them into hip urban oases. The chief executive officer of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust has inked deals to sell 19 assets in the past four months, part of his drive to unload about C$2 billion ($1.6 billion) worth of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) signed an agreement with Japan’s INPEX Corporation awarding the company a 10 percent interest in Abu Dhabi’s offshore Lower Zakum concession. A wholly-owned INPEX subsidiary, JODCO Lower Zakum Limited, will hold and manage the interest in the concession on behalf of INPEX. The agreement, which comes into effect on ...

BARCELONA / WAM The United Arab Emirates is ranked first for the highest-Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) penetration among all its global counterparts for a second year in a row, according to the FTTH Council. The council published its annual report that highlighted UAE with a coverage of 94.3 percent compared to countries such as Singapore (90.3 percent), South Korea (81.6 percent), Hong ...

DUBAI / Reuters The emirate of Sharjah has picked banks including HSBC and Sharjah Islamic Bank to arrange a US dollar-denominated sukuk issue, sources aware of the matter said on Monday. The banks include several international and local lenders, the sources said. The government of Sharjah and HSBC declined to comment, while Sharjah Islamic Bank did not immediately respond to ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Federal Tax Authority (FTA), has called on all businesses registered for the Value Added Tax (VAT), whose first tax periods end on January 31, to submit their tax returns and pay their due taxes no later than 28th February in order to avoid administrative penalties. Khalid Al Bustani, FTA Director General, said the Authority has ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Tawazun Industrial Park (TIP), and the Emirates Defence Companies Council (EDCC), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under which the Park will provide a special package of facilities and benefits to the member companies of the Council. The memorandum seeks to establish a framework for collaboration between the TIP and EDCC to enhance the strategic ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, has said that the specialist exhibitions hosted by the UAE, especially those related to advanced technologies, such as the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference (UMEX, 2018), and the Simulation and Training Exhibition (SimTEX), 2018, have helped to promote the UAE’s strategy of innovation, to accelerate ...