Bloomberg The difficulties facing Britain’s non-food retailers were laid bare Tuesday in gloomy reports from department-store group Debenhams Plc and floorcoverings seller Carpetright Plc. Debenhams, the operator of 250 stores across 27 countries, said full-year earnings could be at the low end of analysts’ estimates should current market volatility persist. Carpetright, which runs 426 outlets in the U.K. alone, reported ...

DUBAI / AGENCIES The UAE’s AED522 billion Islamic banking assets will help fuel the growth of the country’s Halal sector, according to a research conducted by Orange Fairs and Events, organisers of the Halal Expo – Dubai, 2017. Seven Islamic banks out of the 23 registered commercial banks in the UAE represent nearly a fifth of the country’s banking assets. ...

DUBAI / WAM The Executive Team of the Global Innovation Index held its 4th meeting of the current year at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy in Dubai, to examine the results of yearly report for 2017, where the UAE has achieved an important leap in its general ranking on the Index by six places compared to last year’s ...

DUBAI / WAM Imdaad, a Dubai-based facilities management (FM) firm, signed a three-year renewable agreement to provide FM services across over 500 mosques managed by the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities (IACAD). The integrated FM contract, worth AED30 million (US$8.2 million) per annum, also includes over 1,200 homes associated with mosques. Imdaad will provide a comprehensive range of ...

DUBAI / WAM The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector at Dubai Economy and Souq.com, the Middle East’s largest online retail and marketplace website, have announced co-operation on the ‘Digital Protection’ initiative for consumer rights protection. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the CCCP and Souq.com aims at promoting consumer confidence in the region’s growing e-commerce industry and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has been recognised as the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in MENA’ at the GTR Leaders in Trade 2016 Awards in recognition of its excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance markets. FAB received the award at a ceremony organised by Global Trade Review, GTR, magazine, in London recently. ...

DUBAI / WAM The World Economic Forum (WEF) will convene its first Sustainable Development Impact Summit in New York on September 18-19. The Summit is dedicated to accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goals and Paris climate agreement through public-private cooperation and the application of technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Building on conversations at the Forum’s Annual Meeting 2017 in ...

Dubai / Emirates Business The 2016/2017 Dubai Cruise season officially concluded with the departure of the season’s final ship, the C.S. Sea Princess, from Port Rashid recently. After a stopover in Dubai, the luxury ship’s only port of call in the GCC, the C.S. Sea Princess continued her voyage to Aqaba as part of a 104-nights round trip around the ...

Dubai / WAM The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), revealed that a total of 2,891,557 people used public transport in Dubai during the Eid Al Fitr holiday. Nasir Hamad Bu Shehab, CEO of the Strategy and Corporate Governance Sector, RTA, said, “During the Eid Al Fitr holiday, the Dubai Metro carried 1,500,899 riders between the Red Line (980,278) and the ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) recently hosted ‘A Wish Comes True’ day as part of the ‘Road to Happiness’ initiative in support of autism awareness, in collaboration with the Emirates Autism Society. Ali Abdullah Mohammed Al Dosari (pictured above centre), a 13-year old autistic child who always dreamed of becoming a pilot, finally realised his dream ...