Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Eshraq Properties, the Abu Dhabi based real estate company listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), reports a net profit of AED14.8 million for the first half of 2018 versus a net loss of AED0.32 million for the same period last year. The results are the best half-yearly results for the company since the first …

Bloomberg UK house prices fell for a fifth month in a row in July, the longest stretch of declines since the financial crisis. Values fell 0.2 percent from June, bringing the average price for a home to $386,000, Acadata said in a report. London remains a “mixed picture,” with the number of sales in the second quarter falling by 7 …

Bloomberg European nations are far behind Mexico and China when it comes to receiving liquefied natural gas from the US, but the region is making its biggest effort to date to change that. European Commission trade officials will travel to Washington on August 20 to follow up on an energy agreement last month between the Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker and …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks that could see it becoming a significant investor in Tesla as part of Elon Musk’s plan to take the electric car maker private, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fund’s plans. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has built up a stake just shy of 5 percent in …

Bloomberg Some of the latest battery technologies may become obsolete before reaching the market because of the breakneck pace of advances in the industry. Teams of scientists from San Francisco to Shenzhen are experimenting with new chemical processes to improve the traditional lithium-ion cell and find new ways to bottle up electricity for use at another time. Investors in those …

Bloomberg The smoke billowing from California’s wildfires is dimming output from solar farms. First Solar Inc., which operates more than two gigawatts of solar farms in the state — that’s equivalent to about two nuclear reactors — has seen production dip at installations near fires, according to spokesman Steve Krum. The slumps in generation have been “very minimal,” he said, …

Sharjah / Emirates Business Air Arabia (PJSC) announced strong financial results for the first half ending on June 30, 2018 as the Middle East and North Africa’s first and largest low-cost carrier continued to deliver solid and sustained financial performance. Air Arabia reported a net profit of AED 230 million for the first half ending on June 30, 2018; a …

Bloomberg Don Quijote Holdings Co.’s chief is interested in buying the Seiyu retail chain if Walmart Inc. is selling its Japanese operations. The Japanese discount store operator would take a serious look at Seiyu if Walmart puts it up for sale, according to comments made by Chief Executive Officer Koji Ohara at a briefing in Tokyo. He added that real …

Bloomberg Virgin Atlantic has joined British Airways in criticising long waiting times at passport control at Heathrow Airport, releasing figures showing that the Border Force hit its target for processing passengers from outside the European Economic Area on just one day in July. Virgin says passengers are “frustrated” as waits of more than two hours are becoming the norm. The …

Bloomberg Aeroflot PJSC, Russia’s largest air carrier, plunged to an almost two-year low after the US threatened sanctions that could include flight restrictions. The State Department announced new sanctions against Russia to punish President Vladimir Putin’s government for allegedly using a chemical weapon against former double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK earlier this year. A second round of sanctions …