April, 2016

• 6 April

  Thai retail gets hip riding on $50bn govt stimulus hopes

  

  BANGKOK / Reuters In a downtown Bangkok mall, ripped jeans and mirror sunglasses aimed at fast-fashion teens show how Thai retailers are getting ready for the next big thing — a government stimulus package they’re betting will revive sales after years of stagnation. The goods are on sale in US brand Aeropostale Inc’s first Thai store, recently opened in a ...

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• 6 April

  Finland’s Tokmanni plans flotation in second quarter

  

  HELSINKI / Reuters Finland’s largest discount store chain Tokmanni Group, majority owned by buyout house Nordic Capital, said it is planning a possible stock market flotation. Tokmanni, with 156 stores, had sales of 755 million euros ($859 million) and an underlying operating profit margin of 5.8 percent last year. Sources said last year a float could value the company at ...

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• 6 April

  Kuwait Airways selects aeroLINE to improve crew management

  

  Emirates Business Kuwait Airways, one of the pioneers of air travel in the Middle East, has selected aeroLINE CREW from Information System Associates FZE (ISA) as their new crew management system. aeroLINE CREW is an unparalleled crew management facility, built with latest cutting edge technologies, and it empowers airlines to significantly lower operating costs, improved operational efficiency and empowers crew ...

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• 6 April

  Air Arabia Jordan launches direct flights to Riyadh

  

  Amman / EMIRATES BUSINESS Air Arabia Jordan has announced the launch of a new route from Amman to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia effective April 14, 2016. Flights will be operational three times weekly. This will be Air Arabia Jordan’s first expansion in 2016 and Riyadh will be the third Saudi Arabian city to be serviced by the carrier after Dammam ...

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• 6 April

  Stockmann CEO departs amid restructuring

  

  HELSINKI / Reuters Loss-making Finnish retailer Stockmann announced the surprise departure of its chief executive, after 16 months in the job, raising questions over the company’s ongoing restructuring. Per Thelin, who will leave the company immediately, was recruited in 2014 to revive the department store and fashion chain group after its earnings fell due to a recession in Finland and ...

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• 6 April

  Air France-KLM shares nosedive after chief quits

  

  Paris / AP Shares in Air France-KLM went into freefall on Wednesday, a day after the company said Alexandre de Juniac is to resign as chairman and CEO to take charge of aviation industry group IATA. Juniac helped Europe’s second biggest airline group return to profit last year for the first time since 2008, but his four-year spell at the ...

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• 6 April

  A millennium of Mideast art

  

  London / Emirates Business This year marks the 40th anniversary of Britain’s World of Islam Festival, a ground-breaking series of exhibitions opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. That same year, Sotheby’s pioneered London’s first ‘Islamic Week’, which has taken place in April and October every year since. In celebration of these landmark events, Sotheby’s is staging its most wide-ranging ...

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• 6 April

  Flying dogs, wimpy men and singing dead: The future of TV

  

  Cannes / AFP Tired of “Big Brother”, too afraid to turn on “The Apprentice” now that Donald Trump is at the gates of the White House? Never fear. In the television future dogs will fly, people will come back from the dead and parents will choose their children’s dates. These are just some of the new reality television concepts coming ...

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• 6 April

  Good food, great service and excellent coffee

  

  Our Correspondent/ Emirates Business Australian cafe chain, ‘The Coffee Club’ entered the UAE market in the beginning of 2015 with its first branch at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall and later expanding to Dubai in March 2015. Over the past one year, the coffee chain has ventured into different locations in the UAE. “The first year has been a whirlwind. The ...

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• 6 April

  UAE’s first fully air-conditioned indoor sports facility

  

  Our Correspondent / EMIRATES BUSINESS Insportz Club is an indoor sports centre that offers the community in general the facility for indoor cricket, football, basketball, hockey, table tennis and others; all in a professionally managed environment which includes expert coaching. InSportz is UAE’s first fully air-conditioned indoor sports facility based in Al Quoz 3 Dubai. The arena also boasts of ...

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