Bloomberg Gucci surged past rival Hermes in sales as shoppers snapped up more of designer Alessandro Michele’s crystal- and sequin-coated creations over the holidays. The Italian fashion label closed out the year with another quarter of runaway growth, with comparable sales rising 43 percent, parent Kering SA said in a statement on Tuesday. Its revenue of 6.2 billion euros ($7.6 ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s cancellation of 250 flights at Midway Airport Feb 11 was the third time in two months that a shortage of de-icing fluid has complicated the carrier’s Chicago operations. Heavy snows forced Southwest to use much more than the normal amount of glycol to remove ice and snow from planes that parked at the airport overnight, eating ...

Bloomberg PepsiCo Inc.’s snacks are having to pick up more of the slack for its ailing beverages. The company posted sales and earnings that topped analysts’ estimates last quarter, helped by an uptick in volume at its Frito Lay business in North America. The snack growth helped offset continued declines at the Purchase, New York-based company’s drinks business. Still, a ...

DUBAI / WAM Emaar Malls, the shopping malls and retail business majority-owned by Emaar Properties PJSC, recorded a net profit of AED2.080 billion ($566 million) in 2017, 11 percent higher than the net profit of AED1.874 billion ($510 million) during 2016. Revenue for full-year 2017 was AED3.629 billion ($988 million), a growth of 12 percent over 2016 revenue of AED3.227 ...

LONDON / Reuters OPEC said on Monday world oil demand would grow faster than expected in 2018 because of a healthy world economy, adding a tailwind to the producer group’s effort to remove a supply glut by cutting output. But the global market will return to balance only towards the end of 2018, no earlier than previously thought, as higher ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has announced a significant milestone for one of its youngest operating companies, Al Dhafra Petroleum, with a major capital investment to establish facilities and enable oil production from Haliba field, located along the south-east border of Abu Dhabi. Adnoc’s plans to start production from Haliba with an initial capacity ...

DUBAI / Reuters The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) said on Monday it was working with Indian counterparts to explore alternatives after India’s three main stock markets announced they would stop licensing their indexes and securities abroad. India’s decision appears to threaten several products offered by the DGCX, which trades futures based on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index; ...

DUBAI / WAM ENOC Group is exploring investment opportunities within Egy-pt’s energy landscape as part of its long-term strategy to expand its regional footprint. The announcement, made on the sidelines of the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS), being held in Cairo from February 12-14, was part of ENOC Group’s participation in the exhibition that has brought key stakeholders from the MENA ...

DUBAI / WAM Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a pilot project for the region’s first solar-driven ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Digitisation has transformed crime and closer partnerships between government and private sector organisations are essential to successfully combat cyber criminals that are using increasingly sophisticated technologies and strategies to target companies and organisations according to a new report. A Practical Method of Identifying Cyberattacks released by the World Government Summit in collaboration with PwC Middle East, ...