April, 2020

• 22 April

  United raises $1bn via first US airline share sale

  

  Bloomberg United Airlines Holdings Inc raised $1 billion by selling new shares, stepping up efforts to increase capital to survive a collapse in travel demand. The company sold 39.25 million shares at $26.50 apiece, with an option for underwriters to buy an extra 10%, United said in a statement. The price is at the high end of what the stock ...

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• 22 April

  BOC Aviation tests bond markets as travel halted

  

  Bloomberg BOC Aviation Ltd, a Singapore-based aircraft leasing company, is testing bond markets at a time when global passenger airlines are nearly shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The unit of Bank of China Ltd is marketing dollar bonds at significantly wider spreads than similar debt sold in January. Since that time, the crisis has plunged the aviation industry into ...

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• 22 April

  Stuck-at-home shoppers not using e-comm

  

  Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak has stalled American retailers’ e-commerce growth, sparked traffic declines and pushed many to lower quarterly guidance, according to a survey published on Wednesday by CommerceNext, which organises conferences for retail and direct-to-consumer marketers. Since mid-February, when coronavirus began impacting the US, about half of retailers said their e-commerce traffic has been trending downward. This is a ...

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• 22 April

  SAA administrators asked to suspend job cut program

  Bloomberg South African Airways’ (SAA) administrators will be asked to suspend a legal process to dismiss the airline’s entire workforce, a labor union said. Unions with members at the state-owned airline met with South Africa’s public enterprises, labour and tourism ministers in a video conference today after the administrators said they would start talks on retrenchments after the government cut ...

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• 22 April

  Australian retail sales soar the most in March

  Bloomberg Australian retail sales soared by the most on record in March as households embarked on a buying frenzy, led by massive purchases of toilet paper, ahead of an expected lockdown to contain the coronavirus. Preliminary sales advanced 8.2% last month, exceeding the previous record of 8.1% ahead of the introduction of a consumption tax in 2000, the Australian Bureau ...

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• 21 April

  InCountry selects Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 for Mideast headquarters

  

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, the tech ecosystem powered by Mubadala, has been selected by the top US data residency hosting platform, InCountry, to be the home of its Middle East headquarters. This new development marks a strategic move to capitalise on the UAE’s growing cloud market, which Gartner predicts is set to increase by 21 percent year ...

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• 21 April

  Kremlin says crude’s crash isn’t apocalypse for Russia

  

  Bloomberg The Kremlin put on a brave face as prices for Russia’s benchmark crude closed in on levels last seen in a devastating 1998 financial crisis. “The pandemonium with futures is absolutely speculative, just a trading issue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, referring to negative prices on some US futures contracts. “There’s no need to give this ...

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• 21 April

  Abu Dhabi F&B trade hits AED1.2 billion in January

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The trade in food and beverage (F&B) in Abu Dhabi in January amounted to a total value of AED1.2 billion, according to a report by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi on non-oil merchandise trade. This overall value accounted for 7.9 percent of trade in non-oil goods in 2019 totalling AED15.2 billion, as per the centre’s figures. The ...

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• 21 April

  Careem launches grocery delivery service in Dubai

  

  DUBAI / WAM Careem has introduced a new on-demand service ‘Shops’ to deliver daily essentials, such as groceries, medicine and pet food, to homes across Dubai. The courier service company said customers can shop via the Careem NOW app and a driver will pick up and deliver the purchases in under an hour. In a statement on Tuesday, the company ...

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• 21 April

  Emirates steps up its safety measures

  Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates is stepping up precautionary measures at the airport and on board to ensure the health and safety of its employees and customers. All cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff in direct contact with passengers will now don personal protective equipment (PPE) which includes a protective disposable gown over their uniforms, and a safety visor, ...

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