February, 2021

• 28 February

  Tabreed expands R&D funding pledge to boost sustainability

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) announced the launch of four pilot projects, all part of Tabreed’s R&D funding commitment, which reinforces the company’s unwavering stewardship towards sustainability beyond just environmental benefits. This will also contribute to an improvement in Tabreed’s operational efficiency while enhancing district cooling plant life and reliability, with the funding expected to contribute ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  How past vaccine races can help win this one

  

  “The vaccine works. It is safe, effective, and potent.” In 1955, those were the words that told the world US scientist Jonas Salk’s polio shot was a success. It was news greeted with popular jubilation, ringing church bells and boldface banner headlines. The sort of heartfelt relief that most of us can readily identify with, more than a year into ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Will billionaires spend on Birkenstocks?

  

  Comfy shoes have never been so hot. L Catterton, the private equity fund backed by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE founder Bernard Arnault, is nearing an agreement to buy a majority stake in Birkenstock, maker of the famously clumpy sandals, for about 4 billion euros ($4.9 billion), Bloomberg News reported. This would be the second shoe to drop in ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Warren Buffett won’t take the Reddit bait

  “All that’s required is the passage of time, an inner calm,” began a sentence in Warren Buffett’s annual letter to his followers. He was talking about the essentials of investing in a farm or business, but it felt like a metaphor for the collectively lonely and despairing moment that the world found itself in during the past year. With his ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Russia needs Alexey Navalny, warts and all

  Human rights group Amnesty International has revoked Alexey Navalny’s prisoner of conscience status because of past xenophobic comments. The jailed Russian opposition leader’s anti-migrant statements and nationalist dalliances are well-known. He has never retracted those views. Yet history books are full of imperfect crusaders — proof we can’t always choose a model citizen to galvanise others in the battle for ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Australia mulls aid to Qantas, others once wage subsidy ends

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s treasurer said he’s considering measures to support firms like Qantas Airways Ltd and others that are still struggling with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, once the government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy expires late next month. “We are looking at other measures that we can put in place post-JobKeeper to support a range of industries including the aviation sector,” Josh ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Robinsons Retail aims to boost its online sales

  

  Bloomberg Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc plans to increase its e-commerce business to between 2% and 3% of total sales this year by expanding the company’s online presence through its own Internet platforms and others. The Philippine retailer’s e-commerce sales reached 1.1% of total revenue last year, up from 0.4% in 2019, as consumers migrated to online purchases because of the ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Virgin Galactic slumps again after Branson flight delayed

  

  Bloomberg Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc sank after saying its next test flight to space won’t occur until May, three months after the previous plan and further delaying the company’s space tourism trips. The new schedule also pushed back Virgin Galactic’s plan to carry billionaire founder Richard Branson on a separate test that had been set for the first quarter, since ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Sephora plans dozens of US stores in bet on physical retail

  Bloomberg LVMH’s Sephora beauty chain said it will open more than 60 stand-alone US stores this year in addition to the hundreds of shops already planned at Kohl’s Corp locations, betting big on a resurgence of retail foot traffic as the pandemic wanes. The expansion will take place in the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles and the South, with plans to ...

  Read More »
• 28 February

  Foot Locker falls 12% after drop in sales

  Bloomberg Foot Locker Inc shares fell as much as 12% in premarket trading after the athletic-goods retailer missed analysts’ expectations for same-store sales and overall revenue. Comparable-store sales declined 2.7% in the fourth quarter ended on January 30, Foot Locker said, compared with analysts’ estimate of a 3.5% increase as compiled by Consensus Metrix. Revenue of $2.19 billion missed the ...

  Read More »