Aviation Air Arabia declares 25% dividend as revenue soars UAE low-cost airline Air Arabia has increased its dividend payout after turnover grew by double-digits in 2024, the company said in a statement. Based in Sharjah and traded on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), Air Arabia will pay a 25 percent cash dividend or AED1.2 billion to shareholders. The company’s shares have risen 11 percent […] March 18, 2025
Petrochemicals Borouge proposes share buyback after merger stock slide Abu Dhabi petrochemicals company Borouge will seek shareholder approval to buy back up to 2.5 percent of its shares, it said on Monday, after its share price plunged on this month’s news of its merger deal with Austria’s Borealis. Borouge’s majority shareholder Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austria’s OMV said they had agreed to merge […] March 17, 2025
Oil & Gas Adnoc targets Mubadala’s energy assets State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is reportedly considering acquiring the energy assets of Mubadala Investment Company, one of the emirate’s sovereign wealth funds. Talks between the two companies, which stalled over valuation, are expected to resume soon, possibly after the end of Ramadan, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. The deal was previously valued […] March 17, 2025
Aviation Dubai Aerospace buys 17 aircraft for $1bn Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the Middle East’s largest aviation leasing and engineering company, has acquired 17 aircraft for $1 billion from multiple sellers, the company said in a statement. Eighty percent of the aircraft are manufactured by Airbus, while the remaining 20 percent are from Boeing. The aircraft have been leased to 11 airlines in […] March 17, 2025
Infrastructure Dubai’s Tabreed explores acquisitions for expansion Dubai-listed district cooling company Tabreed is aiming to expand through acquisitions and organic growth in the UAE and global markets. “We aim to grow our connected capacity by 3 percent to 5 percent annually over 2025 to 2027,” chief financial officer Adel Salem Al Wahedi wrote in the company’s 2024 annual integrated board report. The […] March 17, 2025
Real Estate High demand drives gains in Abu Dhabi real estate Rental and sale prices in Abu Dhabi grew strongly in 2024, driven by tight supply and intense competition in the property market, according to a market survey. Residential rents grew 20 percent in 2024, while sales prices climbed by 11 percent, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Core. Prices for homes in Khalifa […] March 17, 2025
Tech Sheikh Tahnoon to lobby US to ease UAE microchip controls The UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is to travel to Washington to try to convince the Trump administration to ease export controls on advanced semiconductors. Sheikh Tahnoon, the brother of the UAE’s president, will press US cabinet officials for easier access for the UAE to American technology and discuss further […] March 17, 2025
Tech Gulf digitalisation growth barely moving needle in productivity Improvements in the availability and quality of digital infrastructure and services have yet to impact productivity growth in the Gulf economies in any meaningful way, according to IMF officials, past and present. The digitalisation of government services – through online portals for administrative tasks or e-procurement platforms – as well as the advent of tele-health […] March 16, 2025
Banking and Finance Ominvest 2024 profits hit by insurance subsidiary losses Losses at an insurance subsidiary caused by the deadly floods that struck Oman and the UAE last year hit profits at Oman International Development and Investment Company (Ominvest), a large listed holding company. Ominvest reported net profit of $96 million in 2024, down 7 percent year on year from $104 million in 2023. The company’s […] March 14, 2025
Manufacturing UAE aluminium exports to US jump ahead of tariffs The UAE’s exports of aluminium to the US jumped in the first 11 days of March, data from the US Department of Commerce showed, as buyers stocked up on shipments from their second-biggest supplier before the US tariffs took effect on Wednesday. So far in March, the UAE exported 68,560.29 metric tonnes of aluminium to the […] March 14, 2025
Oil & Gas Gulf Navigation buys Nasdaq-listed Brooge Energy Dubai-listed Gulf Navigation Holding is building its presence in the midstream oil and gas and logistics sectors following the acquisition of a Nasdaq-listed oil refining and storage company. Shareholders on Thursday approved the buying of assets and companies owned by Brooge Energy Limited, the company said in a statement to the Dubai stock exchange. This […] March 14, 2025
Business of Sport Sports and entertainment park added to Dubai’s free zones Dubai is adding a sports and entertainment business park to its more than 30 free zones. The International Sports and Entertainment Free Zone (ISEZA), which will be housed inside the existing Dubai World Trade Centre free zone, will compete with similar sports technology business parks in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and even Israel. Dubai’s free zones […] March 13, 2025
Banking and Finance Aldar’s green sukuk seven times oversubscribed Aldar Properties said the $500 million sukuk (Islamic bond) issued by its subsidiary was oversubscribed more than seven times. The sukuk order book of Aldar Investment Properties reached $3.6 billion, with regional and global investors making up 61 percent and 39 percent of the requests, the developer said in a statement. Sukuk are sharia-compliant bonds […] March 13, 2025
Logistics DP World raises 2025 capex to develop global assets Dubai-headquartered DP World intends to increase its capital expenditure this year to upgrade its global assets despite geopolitical challenges. DP World’s Capex reached $2.2 billion in 2024 compared with $2.1 billion in 2023, the state-backed ports operator said in a statement published on Nasdaq Dubai. Capex for 2025 is set at $2.5 billion, primarily targeting […] March 13, 2025
Manufacturing EGA reveals sharp drop in profits Profits at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) have fallen by nearly a quarter as a result of the suspension of operations in Guinea and introduction of corporation tax in the UAE. In October 2023, the Guinea Alumina Corporation, a subsidiary of EGA, was hit by the Guinean government’s decision to halt exports of bauxite, a raw […] March 13, 2025
Banking and Finance Emirates NBD to buy stake in Egypt’s Banque du Caire Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank by assets, has begun due diligence ahead of buying a stake in Egypt’s sixth-largest commercial bank, Banque du Caire. The purchase would be the latest sale of a government-owned asset in a stalled privatisation programme, according to regional media. Egypt agreed an expanded $8 billion loan from the International Monetary […] March 13, 2025
Tech MGX makes $2bn crypto investment in Binance UAE technology investment company MGX has invested $2 billion-worth of stablecoins into Binance, the world’s largest exchange for digital tokens by trading volume and users, according to a statement. Binance said on Wednesday that acquisition of a minority stake in MGX is the “biggest-ever” injection of funds into a crypto company, the largest investment ever […] March 13, 2025
Transport E-hailing boosts Dubai’s luxury transport sector Trips in Dubai’s upmarket transport sector, mainly limousines, rose by nearly half last year, driven by increasing app usage, the state-run Wam news agency reported, citing the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The number of trips reached more than 43 million last year, up from 30 million in 2023, driven by so-called e-hailing, or […] March 12, 2025
Employment Deutsche Bank ups benefits to retain Middle East staff Deutsche Bank has raised the parental leave entitlement in its Middle East and Africa regional offices in a bid to offer attractive benefits to employees in an increasingly competitive environment. The new policy, effective since the start of the year, gives primary caregivers of newborns or newly-adopted children up to 26 weeks of fully-paid leave, the […] March 12, 2025
Oil & Gas Adnoc to ramp up investments in US gas sector The international investment arm of UAE state oil company Adnoc will soon make a significant investment in US natural gas, Adnoc CEO Sultan Al Jaber said on Tuesday. The UAE is a member of the Opec+ producer group and one of the world’s top oil producers. Adnoc’s wholly-owned international investment arm XRG has about $80 billion in assets and […] March 12, 2025
