April, 2016

• 16 April

  4 Indonesian sailors kidnapped off Malaysia

    Kuala Lumpur / AFP Gunmen have abducted four Indonesian sailors and shot and wounded one crew member on the high seas off the east coast of Malaysia’s Sabah state, waters where Abu Sayyaf militants are known to operate, a senior police official said on Saturday. If the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf is confirmed to be behind the kidnapping off Borneo, ...

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• 16 April

  Ferrari’s luxury goals face policy reset as Prada hits skids

  

  Bloomberg Ferrari NV’s ambition to compete with luxury-goods brands like Hermes or Prada has failed to make headway in the six months since its initial public offering, raising pressure on the new board to reset the sports-car maker’s strategy. Scepticism over the company’s prospects has caused the stock to tumble about 20 percent since its October listing. The new board ...

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• 16 April

  Spain sells off ‘ghost airport’

    Madrid / AFP Spanish judicial authorities revealed that the ‘ghost airport’ of Ciudad Real, a symbol of the country’s financial excess in the boom years, had been sold off for 56 million euros ($62 million). Spain’s construction and property sectors boomed until the downturn hit seven years ago and one victim was the airport, initially touted as an alternative ...

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• 16 April

  Bang & Olufsen talks halted with Chinese suitor

  

    Copenhagen / AFP Bang & Olufsen, the Danish maker of upmarket consumer electronics, said that it had ended takeover talks with a Hong Kong investor after the expiry of a deadline for a bid. The Danish group said its board of directors had been given several deadlines, the last of which was on Friday, during its takeover talks with ...

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• 16 April

  Allegiant Air says it’s boosting safety facilities after mishaps

  

    Bloomberg Allegiant Airlines, which came under special scrutiny by federal safety regulators last year, said operations are improving after it increased spending on safety management, training facilities and younger aircraft. “We’re investing in everything we know to invest in,” Chief Operating Officer Jude Bricker told reporters. “Most of the indicators we watch are positive. Everything is moving in the ...

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• 16 April

  Polish shoe retailer CCC sees Q1 loss, keeps 2016 targets

  

    WARSAW / Reuters Poland’s CCC, Eastern Europe’s largest shoe retailer, swung to a net loss in the first quarter of 2016 due to poor weather and an earlier Easter than last year, but still expects a big rise in 2016 sales, its deputy chief said. “March was indeed very weak and there will be a net loss in the ...

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• 16 April

  China’s realty sector makes a comeback

  

    Bloomberg China’s economy stabilized last quarter and gathered pace in March as a surge in new credit spurred a property sector rebound while raising fresh questions over the sustainability of the debt-fueled expansion. Gross domestic product rose 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, meeting the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and in line ...

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• 16 April

  Affordable-housing crisis moves inland in USA

    Bloomberg When Nashville Mayor Megan Barry was campaigning last year, she made increasing the city’s stock of affordable housing a big part of her platform. It’s not hard to see why: Home prices in the cradle of country music have jumped 58 percent over the past three years as workers flocked to the city’s thriving economy. One in four ...

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• 16 April

  Spain’s banks drawn back to homebuilder loans as sales surge

    Bloomberg Some Spanish banks are advancing more loans to home builders and cutting their borrowing costs, eight years after they froze credit for construction as the nation’s property bubble burst. CaixaBank SA, Spain’s third-largest bank, will this year lend €1.4 billion for developer financing, more than twice the amount in 2015, the lender said. Banco de Sabadell SA gave ...

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• 16 April

  Home in USA has fewer tax benefits than thought

  

    Bloomberg The tax benefits of homeownership, which generations of U.S. residents have counted on, have been elusive for typical buyers since mortgage rates started tumbling in 2008, according to an analysis by John Burns Real Estate Consulting LLC. For a married couple who put 20 percent down on a median-priced home and borrowed the rest, the standard deduction for ...

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