August, 2017

• 15 August

  ‘UAE to see surge in cashless transactions by 2020’

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Cash is still the reigning king, but that is likely to change rapidly given the UAE’s thrust towards cultivating smart economies, says Xpress Money’s Associate Vice President – Strategy, Digital & BIA, Arundhoti Banerjee. Xpress Money – one of the world’s most dependable money transfer brands – believes that cashless transactions will become far more common ...

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• 15 August

  UK seeks interim customs union with EU to smooth Brexit path

  

  Bloomberg The UK government said it wants to maintain tariff-free, bureaucracy-light trade with the European Union for a period of up to two years after Brexit, a proposal cheered by British businesses but which is likely to raise eyebrows on the continent. Ahead of the publication Tuesday of the first of a series of new papers aimed at fleshing out ...

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• 15 August

  Metro says minimum wage jump to add $39mn in labour costs

  

  Bloomberg Canadian grocer Metro Inc. is bracing for as much as C$50 million ($39.2 million) in additional costs next year due to a minimum wage increase in Ontario. The Montreal-based company said it’s reviewing how to mitigate the impact of the measure on growth as it reported a decline in same-store sales and earnings that missed estimates. Profit for the ...

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• 15 August

  Amazon to seek $16 billion bond sale for Whole Foods

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is turning to the debt markets to fund the $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. and power Jeff Bezos’s planned conquest of the supermarket business. The world’s largest online retailer is selling $16 billion of unsecured bonds in as many as seven parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. In a sign ...

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• 15 August

  Hedge funds break up with Apple, Facebook shares

  

  Bloomberg Hedge funds have adored the FAANGs for so long it’s no wonder that two of them—Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc.—are losing their appeal. Ken Griffin’s Citadel sold 3.4 million shares of Apple, the majority of its stake. And Viking Global Investors, led by Andreas Halvorsen, shed 9.6 million shares of Facebook, or most of its holding. These are just ...

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• 15 August

  Goldman adds pay, perks in Silicon Valley war for tech talent

  

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is upping its game to lure top technology talent. The Wall Street firm recently boosted pay for programmers fresh from college to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook Inc. And it’s enlisting a Silicon Valley fixer, Andrew Trout from Square Inc., for a new post leading engineering recruitment. The moves are the work ...

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• 15 August

  OPEC’s success spoiled by 2018 oil supply concerns

  

  Bloomberg Oil investors are already worrying over the potential fallout when OPEC’s deal to cut output expires, marring emerging signs that the accord to shrink a glut is finally succeeding. Uncertainty about how supplies curbed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will be returned to the market in 2018 is clouding the outlook for crude, according ...

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• 15 August

  Egypt’s tourism revenue triples as FX crisis fades

  

  Bloomberg Egypt tourism receipts almost tripled and worker remittances rose in the last three months of its fiscal year, marking another step in the country’s economic recovery from a crippling dollar shortage. Tourism revenue rose to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter that ended June 30, from $510 million in the same period a year ago, according to initial central ...

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• 15 August

  US sanctions on Venezuela could be a boon to Asia

  

  SINGAPORE / Reuters Asia would be the biggest beneficiary of any potential sanctions by the United States on Venezuela’s oil sector, said traders and analysts, as exports from the South American OPEC member could be redirected to the region, filling a vacuum left by producer supply cuts. Washington is considering sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry in response to the ruling ...

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• 15 August

  Kuwait to issue tender for $1.2bn solar project

  

  Bloomberg Kuwait will issue a tender to build the estimated $1.2 billion Dibdibah solar-power plant in the first quarter of 2018 as part of the country’s plans to produce 15 percent of power from renewable energy by 2030. OPEC’s fifth-biggest oil producer set a Sept. 7 deadline for companies to express interest in the 1 gigawatt project, Shukri AbdulAziz Al-Mahrous, ...

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