Bloomberg South African banks are preparing for the worst when it comes to the threat of another downgrade of the country’s debt. “FirstRand anticipated the downgrades since 2015 and has been working on a number of proactive strategies to mitigate the impact,” said Andries du Toit, the treasurer at Johannesburg-based FirstRand Ltd., the country’s second-biggest bank by assets. The measures ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE announced the biggest commercial-plane transaction in its history, securing an order for single-aisle aircraft valued at nearly $50 billion at the Dubai Airshow, outdoing Boeing Co.’s own $20 billion mega-deal. Wednesday’s pact for 430 A320neo planes with US investor Indigo Partners marked a turnaround for Airbus at the Gulf expo, where it had been trailing its rival. ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s new 737 Max jets will offer the latest and greatest in flying efficiency from Boeing Co.—at least once all the kinks are worked out. In its first month of flying, the 10 Max planes in Southwest’s fleet ranked behind its more seasoned aircraft for on-time performance. While the hiccups weren’t serious, they served as a reminder ...

Bloomberg Pratt & Whitney is close to unveiling a design change for engines used in Airbus SE A320neo and Bombardier Inc. C-Series jets aimed at fixing issues with a carbon seal that has led customers to ground dozens of brand new planes, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Pratt is switching to a proven technology that reduces instances ...

Bloomberg Home Depot Inc. saw sales surge in the wake of this year’s barrage of hurricanes, but the storms still took a toll on the Atlanta-based retailer’s bottom line. Even as cleanup and rebuilding efforts helped the chain’s sales top analysts’ estimates, expenses related to the storms reduced operating profit by $51 million. Customers stocked up on less profitable plywood ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Baroness Rona Fairhead, UK Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion at the Department for International Trade (DIT) told Emirates News Agency (WAM) that the UAE is to invest 1.5 billion Pounds (AED7.5billion) in the UK in areas of renewable energy. “Brexit will help the UK pursue a more open economic policy. We are accelerating ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced a significant investment to upgr-ade its Bab field, re-energising one of its largest onshore producing assets to sustain and enhance output. This is an important step towards delivery of the ADNOC group’s 2030 smart growth strategy that seeks to increase its crude oil production capacity and reduce cost, ...

DUBAI / WAM Aviation District, the integrated aerospace ecosystem within Dubai South, has added another phase, a Suppliers Complex, to the development of its world leading ‘Aerospace Supply Chain’, offering maintenance and manufacturing solutions to meet all the practical aspects of the aviation and aerospace industries. The Dubai South Aerospace Supply Chain is a landside free zone development of multi-purpose ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The latest edition of the OPEC World Oil Outlook predicts oil will remain the world’s largest source of energy over the next two decades, despite the increasing importance of renewables. Released in an exclusive briefing to senior industry executives at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), the latest edition of the World Oil ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) announced that it has expanded its services portfolio to the oil and gas industry. This is the company’s first foray outside of the naval, marine and defence sector, as it opens up to opportunities beyond its traditional industries of focus. Marking its business success and new direction, the company also revealed ...