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

  Bloomberg Shares in the sister company of Godiva Chocolatier Inc. plunged in Istanbul after an April Fools’ Day-themed commercial went wrong. The confectioner, Ulker Biskuvi AS, faced an immediate and intense backlash to its 50-second animated clip, with protesters including a government lawmaker gathering outside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Istanbul residence over the weekend. The politician, Metin Kulunk, said ...

  Bloomberg Japanese stock benchmarks advanced on their first trading day of the new fiscal year as industries focused on Japan’s domestic economy helped prop up the market. The Topix rose 0.3 percent, as foodmakers, retailers and telecommunications companies boosted the gauge. Defensive sectors were likely to be bought after an advance in their US counterparts, Shoji Hirakawa, chief global ...

  Emirates Business Despite sluggish global economic growth, low oil prices, ‘Trumponomics’ and Brexit, the UAE will lead Middle East passenger growth in 2017 with an annual increase of more than 6.3%, according to estimates from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). However, aviation-related discussions during Arabian Travel Market this year will no doubt be dominated by the recent US-led ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Etihad Airways’ bookings to the United States are healthy despite last month’s introduction of a ban on most electronics from the cabins of passenger flights to the United States, the Abu Dhabi carrier said on Monday. On March 25, the U.S. banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from passenger cabins on direct flights to ...

    Bloomberg A European Union probe into McDonald’s Corp. is entering its final stages after officials gathered information on whether the Big Mac maker unfairly benefited from a hefty tax break in Luxembourg, according to people familiar with the case. The European Commission may be moving ahead with a decision in the McDonald’s case before the EU’s summer break ...

  NEW DELHI / AP From Bollywood superstars to political heavyweights, the Regal theater hosted some of India’s biggest names over more than eight decades. But with nostalgic theater-goers singing their way to the exits after a final showing of a Bollywood classic, the iconic New Delhi theater has closed its doors to make way for a multiplex. “It’s the end ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Sunday visited an exhibition held as part of the 7th Annual Investment Meeting, AIM 2017, a world-leading, emerging markets’ foreign direct investors platform under the theme, “International Investment and Competitiveness”. As many as 250 companies ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), announced on Sunday that it has succeeded in achieving a compliance rate of 100 percent regarding the disclosure of the annual financial statements of its listed public joint stock companies within the deadline of 90 days from the end of the fiscal period. All public, and private, listed companies listed ...

  Bloomberg First Gulf Bank PJSC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC completed a merger to create the United Arab Emirates’ biggest bank with assets of $180 billion, with the new entity to be called First Abu Dhabi Bank. The lender began trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Sunday under the ticker NBAD, with shares up 1.5 ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The UAE plastics industry is the fastest growing in the GCC, growing by 24.2% per annum in the past decade. This is according to the ‘GCC Plastic Industry Indicators 2016’ report due to be released at the 8th edition of GPCA PlastiCon by Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), the go to resource for industry ...