Sunday, 25 January 2009

Etisalat to invest up to $5bn in Iran

RIYADH, Jan 25 – Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) expects to invest up to $5 billion over five years in its Iran operations after winning the country's third mobile phone licence, its chairman said on Sunday.

"We will invest $4bn to $5bn in the Iranian operation in five years," Mohammed Hassan Omran said at an economic conference in Saudi Arabia.

He said Etisalat, the second-largest Arab telecommunications company by market value, would spend $1bn in the first year on its network in Iran.

Global's GCC Islamic Index –Weekly Brief dated January 22, 2009

"Following the successful launch of Global GCC Islamic Index; and in line with the growing interest in Islamic finance, Global Investment House is proud to present a “GCC Islamic Index –Weekly Brief”.



The report examines the performance of GCC Shariah compliant companies (components of the index), highlighting industry as well as individual stock performances. It also entails economic and company developments, in an effort to keep investors cognizant of local and regional issues related to Islamic finance.



In order to view the full report for the week, kindly click on the link below:

"GCC Islamic Index – Weekly Brief"



To view more reports on the Kuwaiti and other markets, please visit our website:

http://www.globalinv.net"

Global's DSM Weekly Report - January 22, 2009

"In our effort to provide the investment community, economists and researchers with an array of market reviews, we at Global Investment House are proud to present "The Weekly report on Doha Stock Market (DSM)". The report views the latest developments in DSM, trading activities, indices performance and corporate news.



In order to view the full reports kindly click on the link below:

English: "Weekly DSM Report"

Arabic: "Weekly DSM Report"



To view more reports on the Kuwaiti and other markets, please visit our website:

http://www.globalinv.net"

Global's Egypt Weekly Market Report - January 22 , 2009

"Following the successful series of Global Weekly reports covering various markets in the region, and in our effort to provide the investment community, economists and researchers with an array of such market reviews, we at Global Investment House are pleased to send to you “Egypt Weekly Market Report Update”. The report views the latest developments in Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges, trading activities, indices performance and corporate news.



In order to view the full report for the week, kindly click on the link below:

"Egypt Weekly Market Report"



To view more reports on the Kuwaiti and other markets, please visit our website:

http://www.globalinv.net"

Dar appoints Credit Suisse as adviser

Kuwaiti Islamic firm Investment Dar, which owns half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, said on Sunday it has appointed Credit Suisse as its financial adviser.

Dar said in December it was seeking to borrow up to $1 billion to refinance debt and was considering offers to sell up to 20 percent of Aston Martin.

Investment Dar will work with Credit Suisse "to consider the options available to us in this market", chairman Adnan Al-Musallam said in a statement.

Kuwaiti Noor Invest. Co. sets up joint company with Russian Gazprom

KWUAIT, Jan 24 (KUNA) -- Kuwaiti Noor Financial Investment CompanyNoor Financial Investment Company said on Saturday that it has completed procedures for the establishment of a joint venture with Russia "Gazprom Giovezeka" of the Russian gas company Gazprom.

The establishment of the new company comes as part of implementing an earlier agreement between the two sides which would set up two companies one in Russia and one in Kuwait under one joint company, Noor InvestNoor Invest Vice President and Member of Board of Directors Nasser Al-Murri told KUNA.

Al-Murri said the joint venture in Russia will work under Gazprom company, one of the most specialized companies in oil and gas in the world and will control a share of 51 percent of its shares, while NoorNoor will control 49 percent of the shares.

Kingdom Holding issues earnings upgrade

Kingdom Holding Co, the media to banking conglomerate owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said on Saturday that it had revised its fourth-quarter earnings to show an overall profit of 276 million riyals compared to 76 million riyals earlier.

The company's fourth-quarter net loss of around $8.3 billion was not affected by the revisions.

Overall profit refers to net sales minus the cost of sales, according to Saudi reporting rules posted on the stock exchange's website.

Fitch forecasts tough year for Gulf banks

Dubai: Fitch Ratings said yesterday that the difficult global economic environment has begun to have a negative impact on banks in the Gulf and made the outlook in 2009 for all banks more challenging.

The preliminary 2008 results released by the ten main commercial banks in Saudi Arabia confirmed that the fourth quarter was the worst quarter of the year for all the banks.

Nevertheless, the ten main commercial banks in Saudi Arabia remain among the highest rated by Fitch across the Gulf and generally have sound domestic franchises.

National Bonds announces the highest annual profit rate

Dubai: National Bonds Corporation PJSC, the Sharia-compliant national savings scheme, has announced the highest annual profit rate of 7.07 per cent in the UAE on saving schemes for its bond holders for a second consecutive year in 2008.

In spite of a gloomy global economic outlook, National Bonds has succeeded in achieving the highest returns for 2008 compared to the annual profit rate of 6.03 per cent achieved at the end of its first financial year in 2007.

Bondholders enjoyed the highest growth of 17.25 per cent in their profit rate in 2008 as compared to the previous year, along with the opportunity to win worth Dh 5 million in 26,318 prizes every month.

Saudi banks show fatigue

Saudi Arabia’s 10 biggest commercial banks are reporting weaker earnings for the final quarter of 2008, revealing that they have not been spared the cocktail of weaker economic growth, tighter funding and falling asset prices that have battered counterparts across the region.

Saudi Arabia’s largest bank, National Commercial Bank (NCB), yesterday issued the latest in a series of weak results, announcing a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2.55 billion riyals (Dh2.49bn). Full-year profits, it said, fell 66 per cent compared with 2007 to 2.03bn riyals.

The poor results from Saudi Arabia’s financial sector, until now considered relatively sheltered, illustrate what analysts say is a deteriorating operating environment for banks and companies this year. What began as a financial crisis in the West that sparked a global recession is now coming full circle, with low growth and weak corporate profits sapping loan demand and pushing more borrowers into default.