April, 2016

• 17 April

  IKEA finalising its biggest overhaul in decades

  

  DELFT / Reuters In two medieval Dutch cities, IKEA’s most senior executives are finalising the biggest overhaul at the Swedish-born furniture empire in over 30 years. The aim is to help the world’s largest furniture seller better adapt to changing consumer tastes, manage its increasing size and avoid the fate of other dominant retailers overtaken by new market entrants. However, ...

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• 17 April

  China’s HNA Group buys currency exchange firm ICE

  

    LONDON / Reuters Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has agreed to buy British bureau-de-change operator International Currency Exchange (ICE), the companies said, the latest takeover in a European investment spree aimed at expanding its business outside Asia. The acquisitive Global Fortune 500 company, which secured an all-cash $1.5 billion purchase of Swiss airline caterer Gategroup Holdings on last Monday, has ...

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• 17 April

  Rules for Norwegian Air in dispute over US-Europe flights

  

    DALLAS / AP Norwegian Air Shuttle has won preliminary approval to expand flying between the US and Europe using an Irish subsidiary. The decision by the US Department of Transportation was a setback for the major US airlines and their labour unions, who said the subsidiary will be an unfair, low-wage competitor on key trans-Atlantic routes. The decision followed ...

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• 17 April

  South Africa’s Edcon defers $110mn coupon payment

  

    JOHANNESBURG / Reuters South African retailer Edcon has received support from its lenders to defer 1.6 billion rand ($110 million) of interest payments to December to boost its liquidity, it announced recently. Taken private in a highly leveraged buyout by Bain Capital in 2007, the country’s biggest clothing retailer said close to 80 percent of holders of a 2018 ...

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• 17 April

  Airbus to win Delta deal for 30 A321 jets

  

  Bloomberg Airbus Group SE is poised to win an order for at least 30 A321 single-aisle jetliners from Delta Air Lines Inc. valued at $3.5 billion or more at list prices as part of a wider fleet overhaul at the US carrier, according to people familiar with the plan. Details of the transaction are still being worked out and Atlanta-based ...

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• 17 April

  The human face of Calle Habana transformation

  

    Havana / AP In the Old Havana neighbourhood Cubans call Angel Hill, a dramatic transformation is underway. Crumbling old buildings are being replaced with expensive, shiny new restaurants and restored buildings for wealthier Cubans and tourists. Here are the stories of five residents of Calle Habana on how the changes are impacting them financially. Pedro Alejandro Lopez, 83 Lopez and ...

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• 17 April

  YouTube funds programme to develop new musical talent

  

  Bloomberg Google’s YouTube is developing new musical talent as part of an initiative called Foundry, as the company aims to improve strained relations with the music industry and bring more exclusive programming to the world’s most popular video site. YouTube said it has already hosted workshops with more than two dozen artists at its production facilities in Los Angeles and ...

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• 17 April

  Aiming to achieve sustainable success

  

    Sunaina Rana/ Emirates Business Arabian Automobiles Company under the flagship of automotive division of AW Rostamani Group, the exclusive dealer for Renault in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, has recenlty inaugurated the first ever Renault Store in the UAE. This new store, an ultra-modern facility, is located on Al Ittihad Road, Dubai. Emirates Business talks toMichel Ayat, CEO of ...

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• 17 April

  Leveraging its technology and experience

  

    Our Correspondent / EMIRATES BUSINESS Casio has been developing watches since 1970s, and later started developing PDAs and cellular phones from the 1990s to the 2000s. Leveraging its technology and experience with both watches and information devices, Casio continues to develop wrist devices that deliver true value to users in innovative ways. Casio’s corporate creed is ‘creativity and contribution’. ...

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• 16 April

  Abu Dhabi displays positive biz outlook

    Abu Dhabi / WAM The records set by the general index of confidence in the business climate and its sub-indexes in 2015 showed a continuous positive outlook amongst various businesses towards the economic conditions in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and optimism for the future in spite of slight decline of the general index value which reached 59 points ...

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