July, 2018

• 9 July

  Brexit brouhaha cannot beat dollar weakness

  

  You’d hardly know there was a UK political crisis going by looking at the pound. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan was so distasteful to one of her leading cabinet ministers that he quit — surely that is a recipe for the currency to tank. And yet, sterling managed to climb to its highest in almost a month versus the ...

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• 9 July

  Mid-sized asset managers ride into valley of death

  

  Rumours of the demise of medium-sized asset managers have proved to be greatly exaggerated, so far. But a combination of rising costs, a stagnant pool of profit and dwindling revenue in the next five years will hasten a divide in the industry between bigger firms enjoying economies of scale, and smaller specialists that can justify charging higher fees by excelling ...

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• 9 July

  Want faster economic growth? Embrace diversity

  

  During the past four decades, the US has become much more racially and ethnically diverse. The share of non-Hispanic white people residing in the country is now only 62 percent, while Hispanics and Asians together make up 22.5 percent. Since 2014, less than half of the kids born in the US have been born to two non-Hispanic white parents. Some ...

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• 9 July

  7-Eleven lands in Vietnam, aims for 100 stores

  

  Bloomberg For decades, Vietnamese have shopped, snacked and hung out at the country’s traditional markets: colorful, chaotic mazes of open air stalls where vendors hawk everything from fruits and vegetables, to sandwiches and sodas to the odd clucking chicken. Seven-Eleven is pushing a different model. The Japanese-owned chain in August opened its first outlet in the country, an air-conditioned, Wi-Fi ...

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• 9 July

  London Stansted owner sees quick fix for Brexit aviation threat

  

  Bloomberg London Stansted and Manchester airports owner MAG said it sees a relatively easy fix for the potential grounding of flights between the UK and European Union in the event of a so-called hard Brexit. The existing open-skies regime that permits unfettered flying by EU airlines within the bloc could easily be maintained by adopting a structure “mimicking” the status ...

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• 9 July

  Air France-KLM shares jump on June traffic rise, CEO speculation

  

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM shares jumped the most in more than a year after a French newspaper reported that the troubled carrier is getting closer to appointing a new boss, and June traffic figures were better-than-expected. The French government — the airline’s biggest shareholder — is pushing Catherine Guillouard, who heads Paris metro operator RATP, as the future chief executive officer, ...

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• 9 July

  Amazon doesn’t scare Chilean mall operator poised for IPO

  

  Bloomberg Amazon may be the bogeyman for many a business, and shopping mall investors have been among the most frightened. But MallPlaza’s not scared. The Chilean mall operator is prepping for an IPO this month, and its executives have been shrugging off the threat posed by the titan of e-commerce in recent meetings with analysts, citing the frequent addition of ...

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• 8 July

  Abu Dhabi Construction Cost Index grows 9.9%

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Construction Cost Index (CCI) in Abu Dhabi reached a level of 103.5 percent during the first quarter of 2018, an increase of 9.9 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017, according to statistics issued by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi, SCAD. Construction costs also rose during first quarter of 2018 by 5.6 percent, compared to ...

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• 8 July

  UAE invests $23bn in airport upgrades

  

  DUBAI / WAM Dubai will host the first Global Investment in Aviation Summit (GIAS) — a major aviation conference — to be attended by the world’s 500 top aviation investors, as the UAE emerges as the region’s biggest aviation hubs. The high-profile delegates from 40 countries will include 20 aviation ambass- adors, ten knowledge partners, 200 aviation officials and 300 ...

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• 8 July

  Sharjah’s Al Bait heritage resort set for Sept opening

  SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shur-ooq) has announced, in cooperation with General Hotel Management Ltd (GHM) that September 1 will be the opening date for the region’s most coveted heritage resort, “Al Bait,” located in the Heart of Sharjah the largest historical preservation and restoration project in the region. The opening of the five-star hotel, Al ...

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