Bloomberg Hugo Boss reported a plunge in first-quarter earnings amid a weak US market, a stumble as the German clothing retailer aims for growth this year. Operating profit fell 22 percent on higher costs related to marketing, online operations and reorganisation. Still, the company maintained its forecast for growth at a high-single-digit percentage rate for the full year. The shares ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group’s first-quarter loss more than doubled as fares fell and wages climbed following union deals struck by Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith after he took charge last year. The loss jumped to 303 million euros ($339 million) from 118 million euros a year earlier, with higher fuel costs and currency fluctuations also taking their toll. The loss ...

Bloomberg Apparel giant Gildan Activewear Inc is building a new manufacturing hub in Bangladesh, aiming to supply both Europe and a Chinese market that it described as “on fire.” The Montreal-based manufacturer of T-shirts and innerwear spent $45 million to buy land in the South Asian country, where it’s been since 2010 and currently employs 3,500 people. Gildan expects the ...

Bloomberg Neiman Marcus Group Inc is working with Lazard Ltd on the sale of luxury apparel platform MyTheresa, which may fetch more than 500 million euros ($560 million), people familiar with the matter said. Neiman said that it was evaluating options for MyTheresa, which has been at the centre of a dispute with creditors since the unit was effectively transferred ...

Bloomberg One of the last vestiges of traditional shopping habits is being laid to rest. Swedish fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz AB said it ceased publication of its print catalogue after 39 years with immediate effect. The move follows dwindling interest from customers in flipping through glossy pages of inventory when they can find the latest deals with their mobile ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business The UAE non-oil private sector recorded a sharp monthly improvement in business conditions — the greatest since December 2017, according to Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index. The composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy rose for the second month running in April, hitting 57.6 from 55.7 ...

Bloomberg Cyclone Fani barrelled through the eastern parts of India, unleashing heavy rain and prompting authorities in the country and neighbouring Bangladesh to evacuate a total of more than 3.5 million people to shelters. At least eight people were killed as the windstorm swamped towns and villages, the Press Trust of India reported, citing government officials it didn’t name. Dhaka-based ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Noor Bank, one of the leading Shari’ah-compliant banks in the UAE, has announced a net profit of AED217 million in Q1 2019, an increase of eight per cent over the same period last year and 220 per cent on last quarter. The Bank’s top-line revenue also rose by eight per cent during the period under review, ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration will renew several key waivers that allow Iran to keep operating a limited civilian nuclear program, a move that heads off a clash with European allies and Tehran over the fate of a 2015 deal that Trump abandoned last year. The US is extending five waivers the administration had previously granted allowing nations that remain in ...

Bloomberg Oil eked out a gain as a forecast-topping US jobs report signalled a strong domestic economy to go along with the supply disruptions squeezing global crude markets. Futures in New York rose 0.2 percent, after unemployment unexpectedly fell to a 49-year low in world’s biggest econ- omy, with cooler-than-projected wage gains. Crude nonetheless recorded a loss for the week ...