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UK rules out criminal action against DP World’s P&O Ferries

The UK has announced it will not pursue criminal action against P&O Ferries over mass redundancies announced earlier this year.  The company, owned by Dubai-based DP World, whose ships sail across the English Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea, laid off nearly 800 workers in March and then went on to hire cheaper agency staff, […]

US warns Russia trying to bypass Western sanctions via Turkey

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Turkish Deputy Finance Minister Yunus Elitas that Russian entities and individuals were attempting to use Turkey to bypass Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the Treasury Department said. In a phone call, the two also discussed ongoing efforts to implement and enforce the sanctions against Russia, […]

FC Barcelona still unable to register Kounde as player

Barcelona have still not been authorised to register French defender Jules Kounde as a player, one of their marquee summer signings, as the club works to comply with LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, manager Xavi Hernandez said on Saturday. “At the moment, we don’t know anything. We are on stand-by,” Xavi told a news […]

UK trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan launched free trade negotiations with the GCC in June

UK-GCC trade in numbers: relationship set for new era

Total trade between all six GCC countries and the United Kingdom increased in the year to the end of the first quarter of 2022, as talks begin on a free trade agreement aimed at further boosting the relationship. The UK posted a trade surplus with all the nations apart from Qatar, with the data showing […]

Person, Human, Suit

Elon Musk says he was joking about buying Manchester United

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, said early on Wednesday that he was joking when he tweeted hours previously that he was going to buy currently struggling English football club Manchester United Plc. “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams,” Musk posted when asked by a user if […]

Formula One governing body approves 2026 engine rules

Formula One’s governing body approved engine regulations for 2026 on Tuesday, an eagerly-awaited move that could lead to the arrival of premium Volkswagen Group brands Porsche and Audi. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said its World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) also updated the 2022 and 2023 technical rules to address safety concerns. The new power unit […]

Mammal, Animal, Canine

Cash-strapped Britons give up pets as living costs soar

Stood on her hind legs to greet any prospective owner who might approach her glass-doored kennel, Harriet is a black English cocker spaniel abandoned as a deepening cost-of-living crisis pushes growing numbers of Britons to part with their pets. She was found running along a busy road in London after witnesses saw her pushed out […]

BlackRock may spur wealthy to make crypto leap

Institutional investors and high net worth individuals have traditionally shunned cryptocurrencies as volatile and untrustworthy. The ongoing turbulence in the market, with the value of bitcoin dropping by nearly half so far this year, has not helped sentiment but there are signs this is changing. BlackRock, which has $8.49 trillion of assets under management, yesterday […]

Turkey offers ‘a warehouse and bridge’ for metals trade to Russia

Western sanctions have given the Turkish metals sector a chance to serve as “warehouse and bridge”, the head of an industry group said, citing increased interest from Russian companies and also from European Union (EU) companies seeking to sell to Russia via Turkey. The West, including Britain and European Union countries, have imposed sanctions on […]

UK firms look to power the UAE’s energy transition

The UAE’s commitment to a net zero future is being increasingly recognised worldwide and capturing the attention of global partners including Britain. A case in point is London-based Desolenator, the world’s first solar thermal desalination technology company, delivering net-zero clean water at scale to companies and communities. It uniquely uses both solar-generated heat and electricity […]

Meet the Irishman selling ice in the desert

In the ever-competitive Dubai bar and restaurant market, a new supplier has launched this week, aiming to offer venues another unique selling point: high quality, hand-cut ice. Since he officially launched on August 1, John Gillespie, founder of Artisan Ice Co., has been targeting the top 30 venues in the city and he said the […]

Consolidation coming to Gulf fintech, warns $40bn unicorn VP

Consolidation is coming to the Gulf’s fintech sector, according to Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, senior vice president for MENA at global payments processor Checkout.com. The London-headquartered fintech, which offers a full-stack platform that simplifies payments processes for large global enterprise merchants, closed a $1 billion Series D funding round in January. “In my opinion, if you’re […]

Package Delivery, Cardboard, Box

Kuwait’s Agility finalises $924m buyout of UK aviation firm

Kuwait’s Agility, one of the largest Gulf logistics companies, said on Thursday it has finalised its £763 million ($924.37 million) acquisition of British aviation services company John Menzies. Agility said it will combine the acquisition with its National Aviations Services (NAS) and the deal values Menzies at approximately £571 million on a fully diluted basis […]

Dubai ranks 18th in new index of top digital cities

Dubai is the only Middle Eastern city to be highlighted in the Digital Cities Index (DCI) 2022 – a new ranking of 30 global cities across four key pillars: connectivity, services, culture and sustainability. Ranked 18th with an overall score of 63.8, the city’s position highlights its forward-thinking approach to the digitised economy, underpinned by […]

Airbus axes remaining A350 jet deal with Qatar Airways

Airbus has revoked its entire outstanding order from Qatar Airways for A350 jets, severing all new jetliner business with the Gulf carrier in a dramatic new twist to a dispute clouding World Cup preparations, two industry sources said. No comment was immediately available from Airbus or Qatar Airways. The two aviation titans have been waging […]

GCC investors unfazed by UK real estate crackdown

A crackdown on anonymous foreign investments in UK real estate will not put off GCC buyers and may even increase deals in the long term, experts say. The Register of Overseas Entities will require anonymous foreign companies owning or seeking to buy UK land to reveal their true owners, ensuring criminals cannot hide behind secretive […]

Monitor, Electronics, Display

Fast food operator Americana appoints HSBC to advise on IPO

The Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut has added HSBC to its syndicate of advisers for its potential dual listing this year, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Americana Group has hired HSBC as a joint bookrunner on the initial public offering (IPO), which could value […]

Global investor Actis turns focus on Dubai solar platform

Actis, a London-headquartered investor in global sustainable infrastructure, has announced an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Dubai-based Yellow Door Energy Limited (YDE). Yellow Door Energy is a major solar platform in the Middle East and Africa region with around 200MW of secured production capacity.  The transaction, the value of which has not been […]

Car, Automobile, Transportation

Loss-making Saudi-backed Aston Martin says finances will improve

Aston Martin expects its finances to improve in the second half of 2022 after burning through tens of millions of pounds in cash earlier this year, it said on Friday, as easing supply chain snarls help boost deliveries of higher margin cars. Its positive free cash flow forecast comes as the luxury carmaker posted a […]

Global Islamic fintech market set to hit $179bn in 2026

The global Islamic fintech market recorded $79 billion in transaction volumes in 2021. And it is expected to grow by around 18 percent annually to reach $179 billion by 2026, according to the Global Islamic Fintech (GIFT) Report 2022 launched on Thursday. “Covid and the subsequent digitisation push has helped to accelerate the pace at […]

Lloyd's of London headquarters

Lloyd’s insurers preparing to cover Ukraine grain

Lloyd’s of London insurers and brokers are preparing to provide cover for grain shipments from Ukraine and are likely to announce their plans shortly, the commercial insurance market’s chairman said on Wednesday. Russia and Ukraine signed a deal on Friday, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, to reopen grain and fertiliser exports that have […]