January, 2017

• 15 January

  Saudi’s Almarai Q4 net profit up to $130mn

  

    Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company, reported a 1 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts, and said cost controls would continue to be a priority. Almarai said net profit totalled 488.5 million riyals ($130 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, up from 483.7 million riyals in ...

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• 15 January

  Clean energy spending drops as China slows growth

  

    Bloomberg Global investments in renewable power dropped the most on record in 2016 as demand in China and Japan faltered. Worldwide spending on clean energy fell 18 percent from 2015’s record high to $287.5 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It was the first decline since 2013 and comes as environmental policies face pressure from ...

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• 15 January

  German utilities face tough year as power rally set to stall

  

    Bloomberg German utilities from RWE AG to EON SE may struggle to convince investors they can adapt to the renewable energy revolution even after the industry’s unprecedented shakeup in 2016. Headwinds range from a power price rally that’s forecast to fade this year to a multi billion-euro nuclear clean-up bill. While planned spending curbs and thousands of job cuts ...

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• 15 January

  India’s cash ban unlikely to mar Modi’s election chances

  

    Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s disruptive cash ban is unlikely to damage his party’s performance in upcoming state polls. In fact, it might even help. Modi’s move to invalidate 86 percent of circulated currency in Asia’s third-largest economy forced millions of Indians into lengthy bank queues. It has also dented India’s world-beating growth as the country’s cash-dependent economy ...

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• 15 January

  China’s clean air bid scares rivals in duel over dirty fuel

  

    Bloomberg China’s recent push to clean up its air is leaving some of its neighbours feeling threatened. The Asian country’s road to cleaner air has been gradual, with lead-free gasoline only becoming a requirement in 2000, almost three decades behind the US. This month, China imposed new curbs on the amount of sulfur in vehicle fuels to about a ...

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• 15 January

  Japan’s Abe pledges biz opportunities worth $646mn in Indonesia

  

    BOGOR / AP Japan and Indonesia affirmed a deepening of economic and political ties during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is using a four-nation tour of Asia to underscore his government’s role in countering China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. After meeting with Abe, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the increase in Japanese ...

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• 15 January

  Swiss watchmaker biggies urge industry to slow down

  

    Bloomberg The people who make some of Switzerland’s most expensive watches have a word of advice for the rest of the industry: Slow down. That might help avoid a repeat of the last two years, when watchmakers had to cut jobs and repurchase inventory after their rush into the Chinese market hit a wall. As more than two dozen ...

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• 15 January

  UK considers $1,200 charge to hire EU workers after Brexit

    LONDON / AP Britain is considering charging employers 1,000 pounds ($1,200) a year for every skilled worker they recruit from the European Union after the UK leaves the bloc, the country’s immigration minister said. Robert Goodwill told a House of Lords committee the charge is “something that’s been suggested to us that could apply” to EU workers. Britain has ...

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• 15 January

  Brexit to bring profit for Britons selling property in Portugal

    Bloomberg Just weeks after the UK voted to leave the European Union, Peter Thompson, a British healthcare consultant, sold one of his two homes in the fishing town of Tavira in Portugal’s Algarve region, capitalizing on the plunge in the pound against the euro. Thompson and his wife, who spend half the year in the British northwest county of ...

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• 15 January

  Home sale agreements fall apart across USA

    Bloomberg Spending months to find the perfect home in your price range, only to have your mortgage application rejected, or a home inspection turn up expensive repairs, is a nightmare—one that is coming true with increasing frequency, according to a new report from real estate listings website Trulia. A Trulia analysis of US listings shows that 3.9 percent of ...

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