July, 2016

• 28 July

  Rising fuel imports prompt Pak to revive refinery plan

  

    Bloomberg Pakistan is seeking to build two new oil refineries in a bid to eliminate refined fuel imports within seven years and meet surging demand at home. The refineries, with a planned combined capacity of 24 million tons a year, are going to be built in the provinces of southwestern Balochistan and central Punjab, according to Petroleum Minister Shahid ...

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• 28 July

  Apocalypse delayed in Europe amid Brexit tale of two economies

  

    Bloomberg The euro-area is shaking off the divorce. Economic confidence in the 19-nation region unexpectedly rose this month, indicating the immediate impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union may be muted. The same may not be true in the U.K. itself, where the European Commission’s sentiment index plunged to a three-year low and two separate reports showed ...

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• 28 July

  Telefonica profits tumble on exchange rates

    Madrid / AFP Spain’s heavily indebted telecoms giant Telefonica Thursday reported a plunge in profits on adverse exchange rates but maintained its objectives for the year. It posted net profits of 693 million euros ($770 million) in the second quarter, down 54.5 percent, below the figure of 743 million predicted analysts polled by Factset. The group was hit by ...

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• 28 July

  Royal Bank ends TD’s 10-yr winning streak in JD power study

    Bloomberg Royal Bank of Canada ousted Toronto-Dominion Bank from the top spot in a J.D. Power consumer banking satisfaction ranking for the first time, ending a decade-long winning streak for the country’s second-largest lender by assets. Royal Bank captured the highest grade among Canada’s five biggest banks with 765 points on a 1,000-point scale, according to a study released ...

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• 28 July

  US to invest $11.5mn to advance Geologic Carbon Storage

    WAM The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the selection of eight new research and development projects to receive a total of $11.5 million in federal funding under DOE’s Subsurface Technology and Engineering Research, Development, and Demonstration Crosscut initiative. The new projects are focused on furthering geothermal energy and carbon storage technologies, and will be funded by the ...

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• 28 July

  France’s EDF faces crunch vote on British nuclear plan

    Paris / AFP The board of energy giant EDF is voting on Thursday on a hugely controversial project to build a nuclear power station in Britain which critics say could bankrupt the French utility. EDF’s directors are deeply divided over the planned construction of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point for £18 billion (21.4 billion euros, $23.8 billion), with ...

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• 28 July

  Volkswagen says net profit falls 57pc Q2

    Frankfurt / AFP Scandal-struck car manufacturer Volkswagen said Thursday that its profits fell in the second quarter by 57 percent to 1.15 billion euros ($1.3 billion). Second-quarter profits were weighed down by almost 2.5 billion euros of special items, mostly related to 2015’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. “Further enormous feats of strength will be needed to contain the high ...

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• 28 July

  Shell net profit tumbles on low oil prices

  

    London / AFP Royal Dutch Shell’s net profit collapsed in the second quarter on low oil prices, weak refining margins and production outages, the British energy giant said Thursday. Net profits sank 71 percent to $1.175 billion in the three months to June, compared with $3.986 billion in the same part of 2015, Shell announced in a results statement. ...

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• 28 July

  Qatar Airways to lift stake in British Airways owner

  

    Bloomberg Qatar Airways Ltd. will further raise its stake in British Airways owner IAG SA, adding to its holding after the shares plunged in the wake of the Brexit vote, according to people familiar with the matter. The state-owned carrier, already IAG’s largest investor, will boost its holding to about 20 percent from 15.7 percent, said the people, who ...

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• 28 July

  UK approves London City Airport’s $450mn expansion

  

    Bloomberg The U.K. government approved the expansion of London City Airport — a project held up by former Mayor Boris Johnson — as new Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks to underline the city’s role in the global economy in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union. The 344 million-pound ($450 million) plan for the ...

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