Saudi Arabia’s economy will expand by 3.7 percent this year and 4 percent in 2011 as the world’s largest oil supplier benefits from high crude oil prices and government spending, National Commercial Bank said today.
“Higher oil prices are expanding the dominant source of government revenues,” the Jeddah-based bank, the largest Saudi lender by assets, said in an e-mailed report today. “Foreign capital inflows and resumption of private-sector credit continue to support the non-oil sector.”
Saudi Arabia has spurred economic growth with a $400 billion, five-year investment package announced in late 2008. Growth slowed to 0.6 percent in 2009 as the kingdom’s average daily oil output fell 11 percent to 8.2 million barrels a day, according to the central bank’s annual report.
Saturday 2 October 2010
Qatar Telecom may buy Zain's Saudi unit: Sico bank | Reuters
Qatar Telecom QTEL.QA may seek to buy Zain Saudi Arabia 7030.SE, a deal which would clear a regulatory hurdle for Emirates Telecommunications' ETEL.AD bid for parent company Zain (ZAIN.KW), Bahrain-based Sico bank said.
Emirates Telecom, known as Etisalat, confirmed on Thursday it bid 1.7 dinars a share for a 46 percent stake in Kuwait-based Zain, the Gulf Arab region's third-largest telecoms firm, valuing the stake at just under $12 billion.
Investors in Zain's Saudi affiliate reacted well to the announcement of Etisalat's bid for Zain. On their first trading day after the announcement, shares in Zain Saudi Arabia rose intraday by up to 5.7 percent on Saturday."
Emirates Telecom, known as Etisalat, confirmed on Thursday it bid 1.7 dinars a share for a 46 percent stake in Kuwait-based Zain, the Gulf Arab region's third-largest telecoms firm, valuing the stake at just under $12 billion.
Investors in Zain's Saudi affiliate reacted well to the announcement of Etisalat's bid for Zain. On their first trading day after the announcement, shares in Zain Saudi Arabia rose intraday by up to 5.7 percent on Saturday."
BBC News - Can UAE's newest airline RAK Airways fill seats? (Video)
With a population of eight million people, the UAE is already well served by its three main airlines.
But now the country is launching a fourth. RAK Airways will operate from Ras Al Khaimah's small airport north of Dubai and will take on neighbouring, much larger, more established airlines.
So why launch now - and can it ever compete in such a crowded market? Philip Hampsheir went along to the launch to ask.
But now the country is launching a fourth. RAK Airways will operate from Ras Al Khaimah's small airport north of Dubai and will take on neighbouring, much larger, more established airlines.
So why launch now - and can it ever compete in such a crowded market? Philip Hampsheir went along to the launch to ask.
Saudi Arabian Shares Drop on Concern With U.S. Recovery; Earnings Awaited - Bloomberg
Saudi Arabian shares declined for the fourth straight day as U.S. stocks fell on lingering concern that Europe’s government debt crisis may threaten the economic recovery.
The Tadawul All Share Index gauge fell 0.22 percent to 6,378.39 at 2:01 p.m. in Riyadh. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemicals maker, known as Sabic, and Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom’s biggest publicly traded lender by market value, led the decline. Tadawul gained 3.8 percent last month.
“Saudi Arabia has shown a tendency to follow more defined market price actions in the U.S,” said Anas Kassem, an investment analyst at Ajeej Capital in Riyadh. “It is lacking much conviction whether to be bearish or bullish. Investors have been positioning themselves for third quarter earnings for the last week or so.”
The Tadawul All Share Index gauge fell 0.22 percent to 6,378.39 at 2:01 p.m. in Riyadh. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemicals maker, known as Sabic, and Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom’s biggest publicly traded lender by market value, led the decline. Tadawul gained 3.8 percent last month.
“Saudi Arabia has shown a tendency to follow more defined market price actions in the U.S,” said Anas Kassem, an investment analyst at Ajeej Capital in Riyadh. “It is lacking much conviction whether to be bearish or bullish. Investors have been positioning themselves for third quarter earnings for the last week or so.”
Disaster lurks for some investors at Cityscape Global � ArabianMoney
Apparently Cityscape Global will showcase investment opportunitities in Libya, Egypt and China as the brightest stars this year. Cityscape group director Chris Speller told Property magazine that investors can expect 40 to 60 per cent annual returns compared to ‘only’ 12 per cent in developed markets (please can any reader tell us to which developed market this might be referring?).
Promoters not advisers
Well, that is what is being promised by the promoters. They are sales people and you can choose to believe their claims if you like. But have the so-called serious investors that Cityscape seeks to capture learnt nothing from their recent experience in Dubai?
gulfnews : IFA concedes $67.3 million loss
Kuwait-based developer IFA Hotels & Resorts (IFA HR) has reported a loss of 19.5 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh250 million) for the 2010 financial year.
Earnings per share fell to 45.2 fils this year, while shareholder equity decreased to 50.79 million dinars. The company's total assets, however, increased by 10 per cent to 400.85 million dinars.
Chairman Ebrahim S. Al Therban said: "The company adopted the completed method of accounting as per the recommendations of the International Accounting Standard Board and so we were not able to recognise revenue based on proportion of construction completed for units sold."
Earnings per share fell to 45.2 fils this year, while shareholder equity decreased to 50.79 million dinars. The company's total assets, however, increased by 10 per cent to 400.85 million dinars.
Chairman Ebrahim S. Al Therban said: "The company adopted the completed method of accounting as per the recommendations of the International Accounting Standard Board and so we were not able to recognise revenue based on proportion of construction completed for units sold."
Dubai Doesn't Plan to Sell More Bonds in the `Near Future', Al Saleh Says - Bloomberg
Dubai, which raised $1.25 billion in a two-part bond sale this week -- its first sovereign debt issue since the Dubai World credit crisis roiled global markets -- has no current plans to issue more bonds.
The emirate doesn’t plan to issue a bond in the “near future, because the resources currently available and the operating revenue, at the present time, meet the requirements for the operating expenses and capital expenditures,” Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general of Dubai’s Department of Finance, told Dubai TV today according to a transcript of his remarks on the state-run WAM news agency.
The government of Dubai “was not under pressure,” when it sold $1.25 billion in bonds, and this was a measure taken “to enhance the development of the emirate in global markets,” Al Saleh said as quoted by WAM. The demand for the bonds is a response “to all those who doubted the ability of the emirate to deal with investors and its ability to enter global markets.”
The emirate doesn’t plan to issue a bond in the “near future, because the resources currently available and the operating revenue, at the present time, meet the requirements for the operating expenses and capital expenditures,” Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general of Dubai’s Department of Finance, told Dubai TV today according to a transcript of his remarks on the state-run WAM news agency.
The government of Dubai “was not under pressure,” when it sold $1.25 billion in bonds, and this was a measure taken “to enhance the development of the emirate in global markets,” Al Saleh said as quoted by WAM. The demand for the bonds is a response “to all those who doubted the ability of the emirate to deal with investors and its ability to enter global markets.”