LONDON: Oil prices rose on Friday and headed for their biggest weekly advance since late August, as the investors became less concerned over the potential effect of the Omicron Covid-19 variant on economic growth and demand for fuel. Brent crude rose one per cent to $75.16 a barrel at about 3:15pm Riyadh time, while WTI, … Read more
Saudi Global Ports has agreed a deal to help double Riyadh Dry Port’s handling capacity to 1.5 million containers/annum by 2030, Arab News reported. The Public Investment Fund-backed SGP will work with the Saudi Railway Company to improve connections between the dry port and Dammam Seaport, where it operates the first and second container terminals. SGP will … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabian national airline Saudia has set a new record in the number of daily flights since the beginning of the pandemic. The airline operated 507 flights on December 4 during the peak of operational movements, Saudi Press Agency reported. Flights to Jeddah and Riyadh topped the list of the largest share of trips, with 128 … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Aramco has announced its entry into the kingdom’s domestic lubricants market with the launch of a new line of products, Arab News reported. The oil giant timed the Orizon® launch to coincide with the inaugural Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah. The product line has been introduced in more than 20 cities, including … Read more
LONDON: Oil rose for the second day on Friday after Opec+ said it would meet again to review output if the Omicron Covid-19 variant impacts demand, Arab News reported. Prices were still headed for the sixth week of declines on concern a steady increase in supply from the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including … Read more
RIYADH: Riyadh-based fintech startup Lamaa has secured a $5.5m investment from Saudi Aramco’s entrepreneurship arm Wa’ed and Raed Ventures Arab News reported. The deal represents one of the largest seed funding rounds in Saudi Arabia. Lamaa provides financing solutions, such as supply chain finance and Buy Now Pay Later schemes, for small and medium enterprises. Wa’ed and … Read more
RIYADH: The Saudi Electricity Company is transferring its ownership of its subsidiary, Saudi Power Procurement Company, to the government, Arab News quoted the company, as saying on a bourse filing. SPPC is responsible for tendering renewable and conventional energy projects to meet the growth in the kingdom’s power demand. It also manages commercial agreements for the procurement … Read more
RIYADH: The M3 monetary aggregate, known as “broad money”, posted an annual growth rate of 7.9 per cent in October, having decelerated slightly from the September value of 8.4 per cent, Arab News quoted the data published by the Saudi Central Bank. On a monthly basis, the M3 indicator grew SR10.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in October, or … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top gamers have begun battling it out for a share of a SR4 million ($1.1million) prize pot at the kingdom’s e-League Champions event, Arab News reported. Winners from two other e-sports events held this year have come together for a final competition in Riyadh’s Media City, which kicked off on Friday, November 26 and … Read more
RIYADH: US investment bank Moelis and Co plans to open an office in the Saudi capital Riyadh and will soon begin hiring staff in the kingdom, Bloomberg reported. The New York-based company sees the kingdom attracting more foreign investors and benefiting from an “energy supercycle,” Vice Chairman Eric Cantor said in an interview. The boutique financial adviser, … Read more
Saudi Arabia is making the transition to a more diversified economy, after being reliant upon oil for much of the past century, a trend sparked by Vision 2030 as well as commitments made at the COP26 Summit last month, Arab News reported. While corporate giants such as Aramco and Sabic continue to dominate the economy, a culture … Read more
RIYADH: Foreign inflows in the Saudi capital market since 2019 have reached nearly SR135 billion ($35.98 billion), despite the kingdom being at an early stage in dealing with external investors, Arab News quoted Capital Market Authority chairman Mohammed ElKuwaiz, as saying. Opening the market for foreign investment supports diversification of funding sources for listed companies, ElKuwaiz said, … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is preparing 160 privatisation deals and intends to announce more of these operations next year, Arab News quoted Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, as saying. Speaking at the Financial Stability Conference, Al-Jadaan said while the Al-Jadaan will not be fully privatiSed as a service provider, parts of it, such as radiology, could be. He … Read more
JEDDAH: flyadeal launched its first direct flight from Jeddah to Dubai on Thursday, signalling the company’s first international journey from the airport, Arab News reported. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Saudia, now operates six routes to the UAE on a daily basis, with the other five originating from Riyadh. “We selected Dubai as our first international … Read more
RIYADH: Hotel operator Marriott International has signed an agreement with Saudi’s Sela Sport Company to develop two new luxury hotels in Saudi Arabia, Arab News reported. The St Regis Riyadh and The Jeddah Edition are expected to open in prime city locations in 2022. The former is to be located at the entrance of the Diplomatic Quarter … Read more
RIYADH: The Arabian Centers Co, announced the opening of The View center in Riyadh, Arab News quoted a bourse filing, as saying. This is the 23rd centre in the firm’s commercial centres portfolio, the company said in the statement. Total leasable space in the centre is 52,000 sq-metres with over 170 shops. The company will … Read more
RIYADH: Top Saudi real estate developers have formed a tripartite alliance to establish a housing project in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The alliance will build 580 villas spread over 300,000 sq. m. Al-Othman Group, Tamimi Real Estate, Isam Khairi Kabbani allied under Tilal Properties will develop the project in Aljwan, north of Riyadh. The project … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Exim Bank has announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with HSBC Bank and Saudi British Bank to advance trade and export financing and credit insurance, Arab News reported. The partnership is in line with the Saudi Exim Bank’s objectives to boost the export of Saudi products and services. Bank’s CEO Saad Alkhalb said … Read more
RIYADH: KKR & Co, an American global investment company, plans to buy all of Telecom Italia, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The move aims at revamping the Italian telecommunications company that’s seen its market value fall more than 8 per cent to €7.4 billion ($8.4 billion) this year. The US company plans to separate … Read more
RIYADH: Alibaba Group Holdings, Tencent Holdings and Baidu were among the companies ordered by China’s competition watchdog to pay fines of 21.5m yuan ($3.4 million) in the latest round of sanctions in the country’s ongoing crackdown on monopolies, Bloomberg reported. The companies must pay 500k yuan ($78k) for each of the 43 antitrust violations, the State Administration … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s launch of its first women’s football league on Monday will clear the way for girls who dream of turning professional — and maybe even playing in a World Cup. Long condemned for harsh restrictions on women, Saudi Arabia lifted a decades-old ban on female footballers only a few years ago, and it is now aiming … Read more
RIYADH: The cryptocurrency market is witnessing sharp declines in the past few hours, CNBC Arabia reported. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell by more than 5 per cent in the past 24 hours to trade near levels of $57,000, its lowest level since Oct. 13. The Ethereum currency also fell by about 7 per cent during the … Read more
RIYADH: Kitopi, the world’s leading managed cloud kitchen platform, has invested in multiple regional food and beverage groups as part of its next phase of growth, according to a company statement. The Dubai-based company has begun initial investments in Cloud Restaurants (famous for Go! Greek and Go! Healthy), Leap Nation (famous for Tawook Nation and … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has announced the launch of 15 investment opportunities for poultry project schemes in Al Madinah province as of December 6, 2021 for a period of one month, SPA reported. The opportunities announced cover the Al Khobar, Al Hinakiyah and Shajwa governorates. Investors can apply through Aradi (lands) platform, the … Read more
RIYADH: US Ford Motor Co will explore buying chips directly from GlobalFoundries, as a response to a global semiconductor shortage that’s crimped profits and production, Bloomberg reported. The Dearborn Michigan-based automaker said Thursday it’s forming a “strategic collaboration” with GlobalFoundries, which went public in a $2.6 billion listing last month and recently moved its headquarters from California … Read more
RIYADH: US Moody’s Investors Service has changed its outlook for Global Energy to stable from positive, based on its expectation that the pace of improvement in fundamental conditions across the industry will ease over the next 12-18 months, Arab News quoted a statement, as saying. Moody’s stable global outlook stems from the earnings directions for … Read more
RIYADH: The high price of ocean shipping could boost global inflation by 1.5 per cent in 2023, with smaller, trade-dependent countries potentially suffering the most, Bloomberg reported, citing the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Geneva-based agency said shipping rates have increased more than fourfold over the past decade. The current price to ship a … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s government offered SR-denominated Sukuk worth SR614.179 million ($164 million) for the November issuance, Arab News quoted the National Debt Management Center (NDMC), as saying in a statement. The issuance comes under the Saudi Arabian government SR-denominated Sukuk programme. The kingdom collected a total amount of SR74.2 billion of Sukuk in monthly issuances … Read more
