Bloomberg Azerbaijan closed down four more banks as the former Soviet Union’s third-largest crude exporter reels from the worst collapse in oil prices in a generation. The Financial Markets Supervisory Authority revoked the licenses of Dekabank, Kredobank, Parabank and Zaminbank to “reduce risks in the banking sector, ensure financial sustainability and increase trust,” Rufat Aslanli, head of the Baku-based ...

  Swiss watchmakers sailed into a perfect storm this year. The industry, which generates more than $20 billion in exports, was buffeted from all sides — largely by circumstances largely beyond its control, but it’s increasingly clear that the decline will continue unless the industry changes the way it designs and markets its products. In January through June, the exports ...

  Shigeki Sakamoto SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On January 22, 2013, the Philippines submitted its disputes with China over the Spratly Islands to arbitration under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Prior to this action, on August 25, 2006, China lodged a declaration with the Secretary-General of the United Nations stating that ...

  Xue Gong SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On the first day of June, a central State-owned Enterprise (CSOE), Cindare Property, affiliated with the Ministry of Finance, placed a bid for the land in Gu Village of Shanghai at the price of 5.805 billion yuan. Its premium was over 303 percent, setting a record for the highest property deal and creating ...

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. said it expects to report a $2.1 billion after-tax accounting cost for the second quarter as it absorbs expenses from programmes with well-publicised stumbles: the 787 Dreamliner, the 747-8 jumbo jet and a refuelling tanker for the US Air Force. The largest blow is related to the Dreamliner, Boeing’s carbon-fiber jet, which debuted more than two ...

  Bloomberg US back-to-school spending will grow 11 percent this year, a sign that families are more confident about the economy and ready to stock up on supplies, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. Families with children ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade will shell out about $673.57 this year, the Washington-based trade organiation said in a ...

  Bloomberg The day millennial retailer Urban Outfitters announced it was buying Philadelphia’s Vetri Family group of restaurants, including Pizzeria Vetri, to complement its clothing stores, its stock fell as much as 10 percent. Wall Street analysts couldn’t get their heads around why Urban Outfitters would incorporate restaurants into its brand. Marc Vetri, CEO Vetri Family of Restaurants, reveals how ...

  NEW YORK / AP Attacks such as the one in a Munich shopping mall and at a nearby McDonald’s on Friday may lead mall owners to increase their security or even persuade global brands to focus expansion plans on the US rather than Europe. Retail industry experts also said that at this point big iconic brands don’t appear to ...

  Berlin / AFP Terror attacks in Europe and “political and economic uncertainty” have prompted German airline Lufthansa to cut its full-year profit target, the company has announced. “Due to increasing political and economic uncertainties the Executive Board reduces forecast” for earnings before interest and tax 2016 (EBIT) to “below previous year”, the airline said in a recent statement. In ...

  AP Americans bought more homes in June, the fourth straight monthly gain as the sales rate reached its highest level in more than nine years. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose 1.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, the best performance since February 2007. Buyers are quickly ...