Saturday 20 October 2012

UPDATE 1-Saudi Telecom Q3 profit up 25 pct, misses forecast - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Saudi Telecom Co (STC), the Gulf's No.1 telecom operator, reported a 25 percent jump in third-quarter profit, missing market expectations.
The increase in net profit was because of growth in broadband and business sector services as well as higher revenue from international operations, Saudi Telecom said on Saturday.
The former monopoly made a net profit of 1.95 billion riyals ($520 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with a forecast for 2.42 billion in a Reuters poll.

UAE stock markets showing signs of recovery - The National

Wadah Al Taha remembers a time when half a trillion dirhams traded on the Dubai bourse.

After all, such a high figure for annual trading values - almost unthinkable today - was as recent as 2005. But those were different times.

As foreign investors gradually return to trade UAE stocks, brokers and traders say it is unlikely that they will develop the same appetite for local companies at the peak of the bubble.

Saudi Stock Market close - October 20, 2012

General Index
Intraday  3 month  
 Daily Statistics
 Date20/10/2012
 General Index6809.3
 Change (%)-0.03%
 Change-1.89
 T. Volume165464967
 T. Companies 158
   Advanced73
   Declined55
   Unchanged24
   UnTraded6


STOCKS NEWS MIDEAST-Saudi stocks end flat on Saturday - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Saudi shares close flat on Saturday, reversing earlier losses.
The all-share closes at 6,809 points.
The petrochemical index slides 0.2 percent lower at 5,781 points, dragged lower by heavyweight Saudi Basic
Industries Corp (SABIC) lost 0.6 percent.
The banking index closes 0.3 percent lower at 14,974 points.

Dana Gas starts output in Egypt - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Dana Gas said on Saturday its Egyptian affiliate had started commercial output at a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant in the North African country, with the first propane cargo loaded on Oct 1.
The Egyptian Bahrain Gas Derivatives Co is a joint venture between Dana's subsidiary Danagaz Bahrain, the government-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co and Arab Petroleum Investments Corp.
The Ras Shukheir plant will have a production capacity of  120,000 tonnes a year of propane and butane using gas feedstock supplied by Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.

STOCKS NEWS MIDEAST-Saudi stocks drop in early trade - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Saudi shares start lower on Saturday, weighed by banking and petrochemical stocks, after oil prices fell on
Friday.
The all-share dips 0.8 percent to 6,759 points and the petrochemical index slides 0.9 percent to 5,742 points.
Shares in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) drop 0.8 percent in early trading.

FSLR to Build Solar Plant in Dubai - Analyst Blog - NASDAQ.com

First Solar, Inc. ( FSLR ) has been chosen to build a 13 megawatt ("MWDC") solar photovoltaic ("PV") power plant in Seih Al Dahal by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA).  The company will not only provide advanced thin-film PV modules but will also offer engineering, procurement and construction services.

Located approximately 50 kilometers south of Dubai, the Arab Emirates Dirham's ("AED") 12 billion project is spread over an area of 48 square kilometers. On an average, the power plant has the capacity to generate more than 22 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, which is sufficient to meet the average annual electricity requirement of more than 500 homes. Being eco friendly, the electricity generated by the plant will be approximately equal to eradicate 1,600 cars from the road per year. With the optimum use of both PV and solar thermal technology, the plant will displace more than 14,000 metric tons of CO2 per annum. The project will eventually help Dubai to get 5% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

UPDATE 1-Saudi's Mobily says 3Q net jumped 23 percent, beating forecasts - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Saudi's No.2 telecom company, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), said on Saturday its third-quarter net profit jumped 23 percent to 1.51 billion riyals ($403 million) over the same period of 2011, beating analyst forecasts.
The firm, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat, attributed its performance to higher revenue from its
data and business units and higher sales of smartphones.
Analysts polled by Reuters on average had forecast Mobily, which competes with the Gulf's No.1 operator, Saudi Telecom Co, and Zain Saudi, part-owned by Kuwait's Zain, would make a quarterly profit of 1.44 billion
riyals.

Reduce trade barriers to spur regional growth - The National

King Mohamed VI of Morocco is to arrive in the UAE on Monday, with a dozen advisers and ministers, as part of a tour of four GCC capitals. There is a lot to discuss - but trade, and particularly trade in food - should top their list.

The visitors' hope to find funding for development projects in Morocco, a country where GDP per capita is about $5,000 (Dh18,350). That's less than a quarter of the figure for Bahrain, which is by this measure the least prosperous GCC state.

That disparity, along with the obvious matter of geography, suggests that progress may be slow towards the notion, first mentioned in public 18 months ago, that Morocco (along with Jordan) might join the GCC. The proposal has been under study, with no visible progress, ever since.