February, 2017

• 8 February

  Qatar ‘very comfortable’ with current oil prices

  

    Reuters Qatar hasn’t made a decision on whether to sell debt, with current oil prices close to the level the country needs to finance spending, according to Finance Minister Ali Al Emadi. “We feel very comfortable,” Al Emadi told reporters in Doha, adding that Qatar is spending about $500 million a week on capital projects. The economy will grow ...

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• 8 February

  Rio Tinto swings to biggest gain since 2013 on iron rally

  

    Bloomberg Rio Tinto Group is delivering on a promise to reward investors as it emerges from an industry-wide downturn by paying out a bigger-than-expected dividend and announcing a surprise $500 million share buyback. Last year’s 81 percent surge in iron ore prices helped the world’s second-biggest mining company report its first gain in annual profit since 2013, exceeding analysts’ ...

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• 8 February

  UK media proposal to hinder Fox plan to buy rest of Sky

  

    Bloomberg Film director and lawmaker David Puttnam is proposing measures in the UK’s House of Lords aimed at frustrating Rupert Murdoch’s 11.7 billion-pound ($14.6 billion) plan to merge his US media company, 21st Century Fox Inc., with European pay-television broadcaster Sky Plc. The amendments to the proposed Digital Economy Bill would subject media acquirers to a so-called fit-and-proper test ...

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• 8 February

  Energy Transfer to get Dakota access pipeline nod from USA

  

    Bloomberg The controversial Dakota Access pipeline is set to gain the final go-ahead for completion after President Donald Trump asked for a speedy approval. The US Army said it will grant Energy Transfer Partners LP the easement it needs to finish the line that will ship almost half a million barrels of crude a day from North Dakota’s shale ...

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• 8 February

  Apple hires Amazon’s Fire TV head to run Apple TV business

  

    Bloomberg Apple Inc. has hired Timothy D. Twerdahl, the former head of Amazon.com Inc.’s Fire TV unit, as a vice president in charge of Apple TV product marketing and shifted the executive who previously held the job to a spot negotiating media content deals. The moves suggest a renewed focus on the Apple TV and on providing more content ...

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• 8 February

  UK profits squeezed as pound’s drop ramps up company costs

  

    Bloomberg UK companies are facing tighter margins as the pound’s slide starts to fuel cost increases, according to the British Chambers of Commerce. Sterling’s drop since Britain voted to leave the European Union is having a negative impact on the domestic sales margins of nearly half of businesses surveyed, while the effect on exports is mixed, the BCC said. ...

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• 8 February

  British firms lack digital defenses at board-level

    Bloomberg Only 5 percent of large UK companies say their boards include directors with expertise in information technology or cyber security, even though the vast majority identify hacking and other digital threats as serious risks, a report showed. In the event of a cyber attack, more than half of companies in the FTSE 100 stock index cited contingency, crisis ...

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• 8 February

  Britain’s labour gaps set to worsen as Brexit reduces migration

    Bloomberg Problems facing the British labor market including skills shortages and an aging population are likely to be exacerbated by Brexit, according to Mercer. Those gaps will no longer be filled by foreign workers, which are set to decrease in number as the UK negotiates a new relationship with the European Union, the consulting firm said in a report. ...

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• 8 February

  Hermes posts €1.6bn revenue in Q4

  

    Bloomberg Hermes International SCA added to evidence of a luxury rebound as shoppers in Asia buy more silk scarves and Birkin handbags while tourists who were deterred by terrorism return to its stores in Europe. Revenue climbed 7.6 percent to 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the fourth quarter, the Paris-based company on said Wednesday, meeting analyst expectations. Growth ...

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• 8 February

  Etihad CEO defends strategy as airline grows wide-body fleet

  

    Bloomberg Etihad Airways PJSC group chief James Hogan, who is standing down as the Gulf carrier grapples with losses at European partners, detailed growth plans for 2017 while defending his strategy as one that’s attracting passengers and is here to stay. Etihad will add 12 wide-body aircraft, including two A380 superjumbos, swelling capacity in what will be “another challenging ...

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