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

  ALKESH SHARMA / Emirates Business Increasing attention on converged systems and cloud solutions has started taking a toll on the Middle East’s hardware market. As more enterprises and businesses in the region move towards cloud computing, hardware market registered a flat growth in 2015, according to a recently released data. In a new research report released by International Data …

  Our Correspondent / Emirates Business Al Tayer Motors — the official importer-dealer for Lincoln in the UAE — has broken ground for a new concept showroom, incorporating sales, service and spare parts, for the luxury brand at Al Ittihad Road in Dubai. Kumar Galhotra, President of Lincoln, present at the ground-breaking ceremony said, “It’s an honour to be here …

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi Airports has announced that Emirates Leisure Retail, ELR, HMSHost International, Lagardere Capital, and SSP, four world-class food and beverage retailers, have been awarded the concessionaire contracts for Abu Dhabi Airports’ Midfield Terminal Building, MTB. Once operational, the MTB will constitute a number of world first exclusives in terms of its F&B offerings, including …

    Emirates Business India continues to be a crucial part of Etihad Airways’ growth strategy contributing significantly to the airline’s global operations, to job creation and to connectivity for India. Addressing a media conference in Mumbai to mark the launch of Etihad Airways’ daily A380 service to India’s commercial capital, Etihad Airways Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Baumgartner, said that …

  Bloomberg Societe Generale SA reported an unexpected increase in first-quarter profit, boosted by consumer banking, and announced plans to deepen cost cuts at its investment bank. The shares jumped. Net income rose to 924 million euros ($1.06 billion) from 868 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said on Wednesday. That beat the 765 million-euro average estimate of …

  Bloomberg Prashant Jain, who oversees $27 billion at HDFC Asset Management Co., took home Rs.61.7 million ($931,000) in salary and Rs.163 million in stock options in the year ended on March 31, figures posted on the fund’s website for investors show. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co., the second-largest fund, paid its Chief Investment Officer S. Naren Rs.48 million, while …

  Bloomberg HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA is appealing a HK$605 million ($78 million) fine imposed by Hong Kong’s securities regulator in connection with its sales of structured products including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.-related notes between 2003 and 2008. The appeal hearing began in the city on Wednesday after the Securities and Futures Commission previously alleged failures in internal controls …

  Paris / AFP France’s BNP Paribas has became the first European major bank to post a profit rise for the first quarter, delighting analysts and sending its shares sharply higher. Net profit grew by over 10 percent year-on-year to 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) for the first three months of the year, thanks to one-off gains but also to …

  New York / AFP Erste Group Bank AG, Austria’s biggest bank, beat analyst expectations for first-quarter profit as a sharp drop in bad debt provisions outweighed declining lending and fee revenue. Net income came in at 274.7 million euros ($316 million) in the three months through March compared with 226 million euros a year earlier, the Vienna-based bank said in …

  Madrid / AFP Spanish banks, which slimmed down after a property boom went bust in 2008, are once again closing branches and slashing jobs as their profitability is hit by stiff competition. The country’s three biggest lenders — Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank — last week all posted lower first quarter net profits, especially in Spain, which is grappling with …