The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp.’s first-quarter revenue climbed a better-than-projected 12%, strengthened by corporate demand for cloud-computing services to support customers’ remote workers and move more of their business online. Sales in the period that ended September 30 rose to $37.2 billion, the software maker said in a statement. That exceeded the $35.8 billion average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg, and …

Bloomberg Sony Corp. raised its fiscal-year operating profit outlook by 13% to $6.7 billion as its video game unit rode a surge in demand for entertainment from home-bound consumers. The forecast, up from a previous 620 billion yen, surpassed the average analyst expectation of 658.9 billion yen and precedes the PlayStation 5’s highly anticipated November debut. Sony aims to sell …

Bloomberg Oil falls sharply with broader markets as renewed restrictions on movement in Europe clouded the outlook for the consumption once again. Crude futures in New York fall 4.6%, while those in London retreated below $40 a barrel, the lowest since October 5. Germany is proposing widespread curbs for a month, while France is preparing tougher restrictions that may include …

Bloomberg Spanish shipbuilder Navantia is stepping up its bet on offshore wind energy, a venture that stands to benefit from the European Union’s fiscal response to the pandemic. The landmark 750 billion-euro ($890 billion) pandemic-recovery aid will encourage Spain to invest more in clean energy. That could galvanise the company’s recent pivot into sea-based power projects, said Managing Director Javier …

Bloomberg Total SE and its partners made a second gas-condensate find off the southern coast of South Africa, a country that imports most of its oil. The “significant” discovery of gas condensate — a light liquid hydrocarbon — comes after Total said last year it had opened up a new “world-class” oil and gas province off South Africa. The drilling …

Bloomberg Wind and solar power have become even cheaper compared to fossil fuels in the past year, making them an attractive way to stimulate economies recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Lazard Ltd. Without subsidies, the cost of energy from onshore wind has fallen to as low as $26 a megawatt-hour while utility-scale solar is as cheap as $29, …

Bloomberg Total SE is considering natural-gas investments in Iraq, according to the Middle Eastern nation’s government. The two sides held talks about projects in western Iraq and near the southern energy hub of Basra, the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement. They hope to reach an agreement soon, the statement said, citing Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar. Jabbar met …

Bloomberg South Africa’s biggest cities are preparing to source their own power after the energy ministry this month approved letting them wean themselves off the state utility that’s subjected cities to outages for the past 13 years. Johannesburg and Cape Town, which have a combined population of about 10 million people, plan to diversify away from the electricity produced mainly …

Bloomberg Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc shareholders backed a 2 billion-pound ($2.6 billion) equity raise, a key step towards shoring up the British engine maker’s finances to outlast the Covid-19 pandemic. Investors voted 99.5% in favour of the rights issue, according to a statement. Their support means Rolls-Royce can access a further 3 billion pounds of funds, through a bond sale and …

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc sold more jets to aircraft lessors, raising almost $400 million to pad its finances against a surge in Covid-19 cases that’s pushed a travel recovery into next year. The UK discount airline said it sold nine Airbus SE A320 jets in two transactions, and will lease the planes back for almost 10 years, according to a statement. …