BUSINESSBUSINESSThursday 26 October 2017

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Sri Lanka looks at strategic

partnership

WOQOD’s net income reaches QR643m

Dow & Brent before going to press

UDC records solid net profit; revenue grows by 18%The Peninsula

United Development Company (UDC), Qatar’s leading real estate developer, reported a net profit

of QR482m for the first nine months of this year ended Sep-tember. The company’s revenue grew by 18 percent year-on-year to QR1.5bn. The net profit attrib-utable to its owners reached QR436m and basic earnings per share is at QR 1.23.

Commenting on the results, UDC Chairman Turki bin Moham-med Al Khater said: “UDC has posted results that reveal the true quality of the Company and its

f lagship project , The Pearl-Qatar.”

“ Even under challenging con-ditions, UDC has been able to

sustain its business by offering premium, high quality office,

residential and retail properties across a wide range of styles and

quality that only The Pearl-Qatar can offer. The strength of UDC rests with its broad mix of reve-nue sources that include land plots, apartment and townhouse as well as residential, office and retail leasing. This flexibility has allowed UDC to adopt to chang-ing market conditions and follow the demand which in turn has helped make it a leader in its field and a leading Qatari sharehold-ing company”, he said.

The Chairman said UDC will be developing Al Morjan Project, located adjacent to the Abraj Quartier district, into world class residential, commercial and entertainment development. Details of this new development

will be formally announced once the design is completed but this project has the potential of becoming a magnificent destina-tion that will help sustain UDC’s future growth.

Ibrahim Al Othman, UDC President and Chief Executive Officer stated that “UDC has been tested in 2017 but we have shown that we are flexible enough to achieve suitable financial results in the face of challenging business conditions. It is encouraging to see the momentum that is building and to know that we are on track to delivering favorable financial returns to our shareholders”.

Al Morjan Project

UDC will be developing Al Morjan Project into world-class residential commercial and entertainment development. The project has the potential of becoming a magnificent destination that will help sustain UDC’s future growth.

Turki bin Mohammed Al Khater (left), UDC Chairman, and Ibrahim Al Othman, UDC President and Chief Executive Officer

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22 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

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WOQOD’s net income reaches QR643mThe Peninsula

Qatar Fuel’s (WOQOD) net income, excluding minority interest for the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30,

2017 stood at QR643m, down 17.2 percent compared to QR777m for the corresponding period last year.

The main reasons for the year-on-year fall in earnings was primarily attributed to the change in fuel margins and transportation tariff.

Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi, WOQOD’ CEO, said that the Board of Directors of WOQOD chaired by Ahmed Saif Al Sulaiti approved the unaudited finan-cial statements for the period ended September 30, 2017. The Board also reviewed the imple-mentation process of the company’s current and future projects and gave its recommen-dations thereto.

Al Muhannadi confirmed that the net income (excluding minority interest) for the Q3, 2017 alone amounted to QR270m compared to QR237m for the same period 2016,

representing an increase of 14 percent. Similarly, the net income for the third quarter 2017 alone went up by 37 percent as compared to the second quarter of 2017.

Al Muhannadi said that WOQOD is making all efforts to improve the results in future. He explained that WOQOD group has embarked on a number of cost optimisation initiatives and, in spite of additional operating costs related to new stations, managed to reduce the cash operating expenses by 6 percent for the period ended September 2017, as compared to the same period last year.

In respect of the company’s projects, Al Muhannadi said that the number of petrol stations in operation under the company’s ownership, or management, including mobile petrol stations, has reached to 58. This includes six petrol stations, including two mobile petrol stations, opened

during the year 2017. In addition, 13 stations are under construc-tion and twelve 12 under tendering and designing stage. WOQOD is planning to increase the number of petrol stations to 83 by the end of 2018 and 120 by 2022.

Al Muhanadi also stated that WOQOD is currently coordinat-ing with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment for the allocation of more loca-tions for petrol stations.

With regards to FAHES cen-tres, he said that two new centers started operation during the period to September 2017, and another station will be opened by the end of this year.

With respect to the Bitumen Terminal expansion, Al Muhan-nadi said that it is expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of 2018. Retail activities include fuel sales from petrol sta-tion and non-fuel revenues, i.e. Sidra stores sales, car wash

(manual and automatic), repair workshop, tyres, oil change and other services. Fuel & non-fuel sales grew by 25.5 percent and 8.4 percent respectively com-pared to the same period last year.

Electronic Payment System “WOQODe” and Introduction of Credit and Debit Cards for Fuel Sales at Petrol Stations

WOQOD introduced the elec-tronic payment system WOQODe in January 2016. The system works through an electronic Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip tag fitted in the vehi-cle’s fuel tank. The number of tags installed during the period to September 30, 2017 reached 69,078 tags, representing an increase of 150 percent over the corresponding period 2016.

Al Muhannadi also pointed out that WOQOD is in the proc-ess of accepting debit and credit cards for fuel sales at petrol sta-tions by the end of this year 2017.

Quarterly income

Net income (excluding minority interest) for the Q3, 2017 alone amounted to QR270m compared to QR237m for the same period 2016, representing an increase of 14 percent.

The net income for the third quarter 2017 alone went up by 37 percent as compared to the second quarter of 2017.

UDC records solid profit; revenue grows by 18%

“The Pearl-Qatar is now a mature development that is home to a growing commu-nity of 25,000 residents, yet there are many exciting res-idential , retail and entertainment concepts wait-ing to be rolled out that are a testament to the vast resources we have at our dis-posal. It is now apparent that The Pearl-Qatar is destined to become a premier invest-ment, tourism and leisure hub for the State of Qatar”, Ibra-him Al Othman, UDC President and CEO, said.

Reliable streams of reve-nue, developed from diversified sources will ena-ble UDC to sustain positive financial results from one year to the next even when the market is soft. In addition, cost saving initiatives have made UDC more cost efficient and thus more profitable, the UDC President said.

The past nine months have been marked by many positive developments, with the foundation for several exciting development projects being laid that are designed to enrich the ambiance and life style experience of resi-dents and visitors while boosting the occupancy rate of residential units and retail outlets in The Pearl-Qatar.

The third quarter wit-nessed the signing of an agreement with Mohammed Hamad Al Mana Group for the sale of land plot located on the island at La Plage South district. This land will be used for the development of a commercial mall, to be known as “04 Mall”.

The Peninsula

Vo d a f o n e Q a t a r announced its financials for the six months ended

September 30, 2017, and reported a net profit of QR47.8m (excluding Amortiza-tion) representing an improvement of 26.4 percent driven by assets becoming fully depreciated.

Despite the network outage that took place in July, the Com-pany’s EBITDA stood at QR236m for the six-month period ended September 30 2017. EBITDA Margin improved in H1 2018 to reach 25 percent, up from 23.7 percent over the same period last year repre-senting a 1.3 percentage points increase (year-on-year) aided by a more profitable product mix and a QR18m reversal of provisions no longer required.

Total revenue and service revenue in H1 2018 declined to QR945m and QR899m respec-tively due to events arising from the network outage and an aggressive pricing environment. The net financing position con-tinued to improve to reach QR626m in Q2 2018 recording the lowest level in the Compa-ny’s history.

By the end of September 2017, the total customers number decreased to 1.38 mil-lion (to be exact 1,389,000) customers, 68,000 customers lower compared to the same period last year due to the impact of the network outage, a slowdown of economic growth and the timing of holidays.

However, Postpaid custom-ers grew by 20.8 percent led by

the popularity of Vodafone’s FLEX plans. FLEX is an innova-tive product which gives customers the freedom and flexibility to use data, make local & international calls and SMS interchangeably on one balance with no pre fixed quota.

Commenting on the results, Ian Gray (pictured), CEO, Vodafone Qatar, said: “Despite the setback in July, our recov-ery and growth plans continue. We also recently announced our new brand positioning ‘The Future is Exciting…. Ready?’ in which we want our customers to truly feel our commitment to Qatar and trust that the Voda-fone brand will always be their digital partner delivering great innovation and world class technology.”

“Moreover, I’m very pleased that a number of changes to our Articles of Association were approved by shareholders at our Extraordinary General Assembly meeting held last week. These changes, includ-ing change of the Company’s financial year end to Decem-ber each year, will closer align the Company to other listed companies in Qatar,” contin-ued Ian Gray.

QEWC reports over QR1.31bn

net profit for nine monthsThe Peninsula

The Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) has reported a net profit

of over QR1.31bn (net of non-controlling interests) for the first nine months of this year ended September 30 , up 6 percent compared to about QR1.23bn for the corresponding period last year.

The Earning per Share (EPS) amounted to QR11.92 in 2017 compared to QR11.21 for the same period in 2016. The Board

of Directors of QEWC held its fourth meeting for the year 2017 yesterday, chaired by Khalid bin Said Ali Al Rumaihi, Vice-Chair-man of the QEWC. The Board discussed the positive financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and the financial position as at that date, which was reviewed by the external auditors of the com-pany M/S Ernst & Young.

The company’s sales during the period reached at about QR2.36bn, witnessing a growth of 2 percent compared to over

QR2.32bn for the same period last year. The Board expressed satisfaction with company’s financial performance.

The Board discussed devel-opments in the company’s various projects which are under construction and under review. The major projects dis-cussed are Umm Al Houl Power Project, Lusail Tower Project, Solar Power Project (Siraj Energy) and various interna-tional Projects which are handled directly by Nebras Power Co.

Doha Bank bags coveted award for sustainabilityThe Peninsula

Doha Bank, one of Qatar’s leading banking and financial services provid-

ers, has won the “Golden Peacock Award for Sustainabil-ity in Financial Sector” at a high profile event.

The Institute of Directors (IOD), India hosted the London Global Convention 2017 between October 25-27, 2017, which incorporated the 17th Interna-tional Conference on Corporate Governance & Sustainability, Presentation of Golden Peacock Awards & Global Business Meet in London.

The theme of the event was “The Board: Emerging Issues of Corporate Governance and Sus-tainability Challenges”.

Dr R Seetharaman (pic-tured), CEO of Doha Bank received the award and stated that this award is a recognition for Doha Bank’s Board for its active involvement in Corporate Governance. Doha Bank is rec-ognised as one of the few ‘Domestic Systemically Impor-tant Bank’ (DSIB) in Qatar. The

Bank is committed to adhering to and promoting good corpo-rate governance at every level within the Bank from the Board of Directors and Senior Manage-ment down to branch and divisional management and operational employees working throughout the organization in Qatar and the other cross-bor-der and international locations where the Bank operate

Dr Seetharaman also gave the special address on October 25, at the event. Providing an insight on global economies, he said: “According to IMF Oct 2017 Outlook, the global upswing in economic activity is strengthen-ing and the Global growth is projected to rise to 3.6 percent in 2017 and 3.7 percent in 2018 respectively. A stronger rebound in advanced economies in 2017 to 2.2 percent and in 2018 to 2 percent respectively. Emerging and developing economies expected to grow by 4.6 percent in 2017 and 4.9 percent in 2018 respectively.” Seetharaman highlighted on the sustainabil-ity of Qatar and its banking sector in recent times.

He said: “Qatar’s total reserves is $340bn including assets of its Sovereign Wealth Fund, QCB reserves cash and Gold. Essentially the 30 percent reserves in June was only QCB reserves to improve local mar-ket liquidity. Qatar’s reserves are more than twice of its GDP. The challenges remains in terms of alternate supplies, airport or seaport. Qatar had made alter-nate arrangements for supplies and hence sorted out. Essentially the plan A to plan B is a conver-sion which is what Qatar was engaged in. The operational reserves have proved to be a right model and is working well. Qatar economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2017 and

3.1 percent in 2018 The eco-nomic blockade in Qatar has not affected liquefied natural gas markets, as Qatar’s exports have continued and structural reforms are progressing.”

He added: Doha Bank was able to manage its funding well in June 2017 when there was knee jerk reaction. Its treasury, wholesale, international and retail Banking departments worked in an integrated man-ner under Guidance from Doha Bank Board. The unprece-dented blockade against Qatar had helped Qatari banks to reinvent themselves to explore the opportunities lying beyond their traditional markets. The blockade also gave an oppor-tunity for Qatari banks to tap new markets that they haven’t been to before. Qatar Banking Asset growth was more than 5 percent YTD till Sept 2017. The Overall Lending growth was 6 percent YTD till Sept 2017 with Government and real estate being the main contributors. The Deposit growth was close to 10 percent YTD till Septem-ber 2017.”

Vodafone Qatar results show strong cash generation

South Africa signals rising debt as ratings downgrades loomCape Town

Bloomberg

South Africa forecast higher debt and wider fiscal deficits over the next three years, heightening the risk of

further credit ratings downgrades as a fight for control of the ruling party limits policy choices. The nation’s currency and bonds weakened.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba (pictured) painted a bleak picture of the state of the country’s finances in his first mid-term budget yesterday, with growth and revenue set to fall well short of projections made in February. He

warned there was little scope to raise taxes or cut spending.

“It is not in the public interest, nor is it in the interests of government, to sugarcoat the state of our economy and the challenges we are facing,” Gigaba said in a written copy of a speech to lawmakers in Cape Town. “Improving our economic growth outlook over the period ahead remains our biggest challenge.”

The deteriorating debt trajectory threatens to trigger a downgrade of the country’s local-currency debt rating to junk by S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service, which could spur massive capital outflows. S&P and Fitch Ratings Ltd stripped

South Africa of its investment-grade foreign-currency assessment in April, citing concerns about policy uncertainty and lackluster growth, just days after Gigaba replaced Pravin Gordhan as finance minister. The rand weakened 0.9 percent against the dollar as of 2:23pm yesterday in Johannesburg, while the yield on benchmark government bonds due December 2026 rose 12 basis points to 8.97 percent.

Efforts to put Africa’s most-industrialized economy back on track have been hamstrung as leaders of the ruling African National Congress

wrangle over who will replace President Jacob Zuma as party leader in December. Zuma’s implication in a succession of scandals, including allegations that he allowed members of the wealthy Gupta family, who are in business with his son, to loot billions of rand from state companies have further dented investor confidence. Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing.

The Treasury expects the economy to expand 0.7 percent this year, down from 1.3 percent predicted in the February budget, and trimmed its growth forecasts for the next three years.

23THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017 BUSINESS

Sri Lanka looks at strategic partnership with QatarSatish Kanady The Peninsula

Sri Lanka is looking to reinforce its presence in Qatar. The nation, with a vision to emerge as an ‘upper middle-income

economy’, is keen to explore fresh opportunities beyond the labour market participation.

“As a nation, Sri Lanka is transforming into the hub of the Indian Ocean, with a knowledge-based, highly competitive and a social-market economy….At this juncture the Qatari market is important for Sri Lanka”, the country’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiu-deen stated yesterday.

Bathiudeen was addressing a high-profile Qatar-Sri Lanka Business Forum, here yesterday. Qatar has a very good potential in the fields of education, tech-nology, and infrastructure. “We are looking forward to establish-ing fruitful business linkages and

partnerships with Qatari author-ities in all conceivable areas for co-operation”, he said.

Elaborating on Sri Lanka’s potential as an ideal investment destination, the minister said Sri Lanka has created a very con-ducive environment in the country for the promotion of Foreign Direct Investments with

investment safeguards and guar-antees provided in the Constitution itself.The country is a signatory to the Agreements on the Avoidance of Double Taxa-tion and for the Promotion and Protection of Investments between Qatar and Sri Lanka which can act as a catalyst to cre-ating a win – win partnership in

promoting future investments. Our educated and adaptable workforce will be another asset.

The fast-developing infra-structure projects such as the Western Region Megapolis, Colombo Port City and the pro-posed Financial City will pave the way for Sri Lanka to become the prominent financial hub in the region.

It has already commenced to attract investment from India, South Asia, Middle East and the European countries, he said. The Sri Lankan Government has established an International Arbitration Centre in Sri Lanka.

Through this center, it is expected that international companies would be able to resolve commercial-related dis-putes. The export sector is the live wire of the national econ-omy and the focus is to revive our engagement with our for-eign friends.

We are implementing a series of reforms to revitalize Sri Lanka’s export competitiveness including the ease of doing busi-ness. It will integrate the country more closely with the region and the rest of the world.

The supportive legal reforms to be introduced will consider-a b l y i m p r o v e t h e business-friendly environment. Reforms will be introduced par-ticularly to the new Inland Revenue Act, Foreign Exchange Act, State Land Bank Act, Anti Dumping Act, State Commercial Enterprises Act, Ports and Air-ports Act etc. Sri Lanka has also entered into several trade agree-ments that have provided

convenient access to Sri Lankan businesses to venture into the South Asian region and beyond. Amongst such agreements is the Free Trade Agreement signed between Sri Lanka and India.

It provides for many thou-sands of items to enter into the Indian market at zero tariff rates. The FTA with Pakistan that is in place and the other FTAs being negotiated with China and Singapore will pro-vide even bigger market access.

“While governments could facilitate a trade and investment framework, it is the private enterprise that forge partner-ships and develop new frontiers of co-operation in order to real-ize economic potential of such alliances.

It is therefore our hope that the forum will create a platform for networking by both our entrepreneurs and the business personnel to reap the expected targets in our trade and invest-ment relations”, he said.

Financial hub

The fast-developing infrastructure projects will pave the way for Sri Lanka to become the prominent financial hub in the region.

Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce, addressing Qatar-Sri Lanka Business Forum at the Sheraton, yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula

London

Reuters

Gold fell to a 2-1/2 week low yesterday after reports that Republican senators

favoured John Taylor to become the next head of the US Federal Reserve which drove the dollar and US bond yields higher. Tay-lor, a Stanford University economist, is seen as someone who could put the Fed on a path of faster interest rate increases compared with current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires next February.

US 10-year Treasury yields rose to their highest since March. Higher interest rates push up bond yields and tend to strengthen the dollar, which reduces the appeal of non-yield-ing bullion and makes dollar-denominated gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per-cent at $1,273.76 an ounce at 1143 GMT after hitting $1,271.45, the lowest since October 6. US gold futures for December delivery were 0.3 percent lower at $1,274.70 an ounce.The market

was pricing in one rate increase in December and one more next year, while the Fed itself envis-aged three rate hikes in 2018 and was likely to move more rapidly than previously expected under Taylor, they said. On the tech-nical side, gold slipped below its 100-day moving average, cur-rently at around $1,275.

Higher interest rates and hopes of tax cuts in the United States were pushing investors to riskier assets, said Bhar. Infight-ing on Tuesday among Republican senators however dampened hopes of quick

progress on tax reform, while Commerzbank analysts warned that a sharp rise in interest rates could knock the stock market.

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank is expected to announce tomorrow a trimming of its monthly bond purchases, with data yesterday showing German business confidence at a record high.

In other precious metals, sil-ver was down 0.3 percent at $16.89 an ounce. Platinum was 1 percent lower at $911.05 an ounce and palladium was down 0.2 percent at $960.45 an ounce.

Fed chair talks push gold to 2-1/2 week lowBoeing lifts profit forecast but sees higher tanker costsNew York AFP

Boeing reported mixed results yesterday, lifting its full-year profit forecast,

but announcing that costs on a high-profile tanker programme had once again risen unexpect-edly. Net income fell 18.7 percent to $1.9bn for the quarter ending September 30. Revenues rose 1.7 percent to $24.3bn. Boeing said costs on the KC-46 military refueling tanker had risen again,

with $329m in additional spend-ing due to changes as the venture moves into late-stage testing and certification.

Boeing booked expenses of more than $1bn on the tanker in a series of announcements in 2015 and 2017. The Air Force tapped Boeing in 2011 for the contract, which Boeing said in a July securities filing was worth $4.9bn. The aerospace giant lifted its full-year profit forecast range by a dime to $11.20 to $11.40 per share.

24 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

Britain’s Finance Secretary, Philip Hammond, uses a microscope to examine protein crystals during his visit to The Francis Crick Institute in London, Britain, yesterday.

Promoting R&D

Eurozone bond yields hold near highs London

Reuters

Eurozone government bond yields came off weekly highs yester-day ahead of an auction of German

10-year Bunds that could prove an indicator of market sentiment ahead of a key European Cen-tral Bank meeting.

Germany’s debt agency is set to sell €3bn of 10-year Bunds, the euro zone’s benchmark bonds, and demand for the sale could give an indication of what investors expect for Thursday’s monetary policy decision.

Yields across the eurozone bond market have risen sharply earlier this week on expectations the ECB will announce a reduc-tion in its bond-buying programme, which ordinarily should presage a strong auction.

But lingering doubts on the pace of this withdrawal may cap

demand, analysts said.“The yield level is the most

important point for the auction, but I don’t think we will see an astonishing result because there is still a chance for a hawkish message from the ECB,” said DZ Bank strategist Rene Albrecht.

The ECB is largely expected to signal a withdrawal from extraordinary stimulus when it meets today as recent economic

indicators suggest that the euro-zone has broadly recovered from the crisis years of 2010-2012.

The main point of contention now is the pace of the with-drawal. A survey of business sentiment by the Ifo economic institute due out yesterday morning could further inform the outlook for the region.

Most analysts expect asset purchases to be trimmed to 30 billion euros a month from €60bn from January for nine months, following recent source-based stories suggesting ratesetters favour a “lower for longer” scenario.

Eurozone yields were a touch lower last Thursday across the curve, but held near recent highs. Germany’s 10-year bond yield edged lower to 0.47 percent, just a basis point below the two-week high of 0.48 percent hit earlier this week.

Most other eurozone bond yields were also similarly lower, with analysts suggesting volumes

will be muted ahead of the ECB meeting. Southern European government bonds, seen as most sensitive to any tightening of monetary policy, were largely unchanged.

This meant that the gap between US and German 10-year borrowing costs was close to its widest level since June at 195 bps, as monetary policy expectations

for the two regions diverge.While investors expect euro-

zone ratesetters to largely be cautious about tightening pol-icy, the possibility that US President Donald Trump appoints a hawkish Federal Reserve chief has pushed US Treasury yields above 2.40 per-cent for the first time in five months.

People walk past the new ECB headquarters in Frankfurt in this file picture.

Bond buying

Yields across the eurozone bond market have risen sharply earlier this week on expectations the ECB will announce a reduction in its bond-buying programme, which ordinarily should presage a strong auction.

M&S clothing & beauty director Jenkins to head White Stuff

Speculators target Chinese elevator maker ‘Huning’ stocks

Lloyds Banking braves Brexit with surge in profits

MARKS & Spencer’s direc-tor of clothing and beauty Jo Jenkins has resigned to join private clothing chain White Stuff as chief executive, the British retailer said yesterday.

A Marks & Spencer spokesman said the company was delighted for Jenkins, whose talent was reflected in the progress she had made both professionally and for the business.

“Becoming CEO at a com-pany like White Stuff is a natural next step for her,” he said.

Jenkins’ resignation will come as a blow to Chief Exec-utive Steve Rowe, who is trying to revive clothing sales at the 133-year-old retailer by simplifying ranges, improv-ing product and availability and reducing promotions.

Shanghai

Reuters

A little-known Chinese elevator maker saw its Shenzhen-listed shares

surge the maximum 10 per-cent yesterday.

The reason? The compa-ny’s name resembles that of Wang Huning, a Chinese Communist Party theoretician who was elevated yesterday to China’s apex of power.

The frenzied buying in Hangzhou Huning Elevator Parts Co , whose business has nothing to do with Wang, offers the latest example of the enduring influence of short-term speculators, despite regulators’ stepped-up campaign against “pump and dump” trading.

The government is intro-ducing more foreign institutional investors, hop-ing they can help improve the trading culture in the coun-try ’s s tock market - sometimes likened to a casino. US index publisher MSCI will include China A-shares in its global indexes next year. But yesterday’s surge in Huning Elevator shows that many investors still pick stocks merely by name, not fundamentals.

“This is pure speculation, spurred by irrational eupho-ria. It has nothing to do with fundamentals,” said Yang Hai, analyst at Kaiyuan Securities.

“Heady investors who chased the stock will be burnt.”

London

AFP

Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday that its net profit jumped 63 percent

in the first nine months of 2017, as the British economy remains resilient in the face of Brexit.

LBG in a statement that its bottom-line net profit rose to £2.8bn ($3.7bm) in the period from January to September from £1.7bn year earlier.

“In the first nine months of the year, we have delivered strong financial performance,” said chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio (pictured).

“Our differentiated UK-focused business model continues to deliver with the UK economy remaining resilient.”

Highly dependent on its high-street banking activities, LBG lifted overall revenues by nine percent in the January-Sep-tember period, benefitting from a comparatively solid domestic market, despite the uncertain-ties related to Britain’s planned departure from the EU.

“The economy is more resil-ient than expected, there is full employment,” Horta-Osorio said in a conference call to journalists.

“There is some pressure on the real wages, but the depreci-ation of the pound is a boost for exporters,” he said.

Underlying profit grew by eight percent, “driven by organic growth” and the bank’s credit card business.

The British government bailed out Lloyds following the

2008 world financial crisis at a cost of about £20bn, handing the state a 43-percent stake in the bank. But it returned to full pri-vate ownership in May. As part of its recovery, the bank focussed less on international markets and more on its British operations.

The solid performance of Britain’s housing market and strong returns from its credit card book also helped boost profits, it said.

In the past, LBG’s perform-ance had been hit weighed down by compensation claims from customers who had been mis-sold a controversial insurance product known as PPI. But no additional charges were taken in the last quarter, the bank said.

In 2011, British banks lost a high court appeal against tighter regulation of PPI, which pro-vides insurance for consumers should they fail to meet repay-ments on a credit product such as consumer loans, mortgages or payment cards.

PPI became controversial after it was revealed that many customers had been sold it with-out understanding that the cost was being added to their loan repayments.

UK’s GDP expands 0.4% in Q3London

AFP

Britain’s economy picked up speed ever so slightly in the third quarter (Q3),

official data showed yesterday, strengthening expectations for an interest rate hike next month.

Gross domestic product grew by 0.4 percent in the period from July to September, after expanding by 0.3 percent in the preceding three months, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

The strongest motor of growth was the service sector, which grew by 0.4 percent com-pared to the second quarter, driven mainly by the finance

sector and computer program-ming activities, according to the ONS.

Strengthening industrial production figures also contrib-uted to growth, outweighing a decline of 0.7 percent in the construction sector.

The GDP reading outdid market expectations, which were for growth to match the 0.3-percent figure recorded in the period from April to June.

Analysts said the slight pick-up in growth has increased chances of a rate hike at the next meeting of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.

“Despite the Brexit head-winds, UK growth is good

enough to give the (BoE) the green light for a rate rise next Thursday,” said Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte.

The government welcomed the figures ahead of its 2018 budget, to be delivered in a dif-ficult economic and political context.

“We have a successful and resilient economy which is sup-porting a record number of people in employment,” said finance minister, Philip Ham-mond. “My focus now, and going into the budget, is on boosting productivity so that we can deliver higher-wage jobs and a better standard of living for people across the country,” he said.

Amazon to deliver packages into customers’ living roomsLondon

Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc is going to start delivering packages not just to doorsteps, but

inside homes as well.The new service, called

Amazon Key, incorporates a smart lock fitted to a customer’s door, as well as a security cam-era to record the movements of the delivery person, the com-pany said yesterday.

Doors will only be opened for delivery if the relevant driver is verified by Amazon’s system, and the driver is never given keys or codes to unlock doors manually. The service is a perk

available only to Amazon’s pre-mium Prime subscription users, and starts at $250. The In-Home Kit includes an Amazon Cloud Cam and one of several smart locks made by Yale and Kwikset.

“Amazon Key gives custom-ers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely deliv-ered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors,” Peter Larsen, vice president of deliv-ery technology, said in a statement.

The service marks the latest attempt by Amazon to embed itself in people’s daily lives and make products easily

attainable. Its voice-activated Echo speaker can place orders on Amazon’s web site as well as play Amazon content like music and books. Amazon has also been experimenting with a delivery service to make more products available for free two-day delivery.

Amazon Key will be availa-ble in 37 US cities from November 8. Amazon will also offer free installation of the kits. The security camera, dubbed Cloud Cam, will also be sold as a standalone device for $120. Much like competitor Google’s Nest Cam, it allows for remote monitoring of homes, two-way communication and web-based

video recording. Amazon Key also opens the door to future integration with in-home serv-ice providers, such as cleaners and pet sitters, in the coming months.

The company intends to give home-owners the ability to let third parties enter, conduct their business, and depart with the house fastened up securely. While the work is taking place, the customer can track and talk to the hired hands using Ama-zon’s Cloud Cam.

Brands already signed on to enter dwellings via Amazon Key include ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc.’s Merry Maids and animal caregiver Rover.com.

An Amazon staff delivers a packet to a customers’ living room in the US in this file picture.

25THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017 BUSINESS

Canada’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau (left) receives a standing ovation before delivering the Fall Economic Statement in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. A surging Canadian economy has reduced the government’s budget deficit this year by billions of dollars, the finance minister said.

Canadian economyLufthansa looks to expand after years of cost-cuttingFrankfurt

AFP

German airline group Lufthansa confirmed its objectives for the full year yesterday, reporting a third

quarter that saw it beat analysts’ expectations even as it gobbled up parts of bankrupt rival Air Berlin.

“The Lufthansa group is back on the offensive and our figures show it,” chief executive Carsten Spohr (pictured) said.

Between July and Septem-ber, the key summer holiday period for European carriers, Lufthansa’s net profit fell by 17 percent year-on-year to ¤1.18bn ($1.4bn). But the decline was largely due to an accounting effect, the airline said in a state-ment. In the third quarter of 2016, Lufthansa’s bottom line had been boosted by the elimi-nation of provisions following a pay and pensions deal with staff.

The third-quarter figure for this year nevertheless beat ana-lysts’ expectations slightly. And underlying or operating profit, Lufthansa’s preferred measure of its own performance, increased by 32 percent to ¤1.52bn.

The group said higher ticket prices, subsidiary Brussels Air-lines integrating into its books and leasing a number of planes from competitor Air Berlin ahead of its bankruptcy all flowed into higher revenues, which grew 11 percent to ¤9.81bn.

Profit margins increased at

all of its airlines, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels Air-lines and Austrian Airlines, as well as at freight business Lufthansa Cargo. The result “gives us the investment and growth capabilities we need to play an active part in the con-solidation of the European airline market,” Spohr said.

For the full year, Lufthansa confirmed its forecast for an increase in operating profit from the ¤1.75bn reported in 2016.

Over the first nine months, it had already achieved ¤2.6bn in operating profit.

After years spent looking for savings and smoothing over frictions with different groups among its 130,000 employees, Lufthansa has once again turned its eyes outward with plans to expand across the skies of Europe.

Lufthansa has snapped up more than half the aircraft belonging to bankrupt former competitor Air Berlin and recently made an offer to take

over some European routes from Italy’s Alitalia.

Brussels will have its say on the Air Berlin acquisition, with the group hoping the European Commission’s competition reg-ulators will give the green light by the end of the year.

“On some routes there is now a very high market share or even a monopoly, it’s our job to stop that,” competition com-missioner Margrethe Vestager told the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung daily yesterday.

Lufthansa may have to give up some of those connections to win the Commission’s favour, she added.

Chief executive Spohr said that he was “ready” to give up some slots in exchange for the deal going ahead.

The planes bought from Air Berlin will go to strengthen the fleet at Eurowings, Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary, expected to report a net profit for the first time this year.

Lufthansa topped the DAX index of blue-chip German shares around 1230 GMT yes-terday, with stock trading up 2.8 percent at ¤26.92.

Airlines get ready for new US security rules from todayWashington

Reuters

New security measures including stricter passen-ger screening take effect

today on all US-bound flights to comply with government requirements designed to avoid an in-cabin ban on laptops, air-lines said.

Airlines contacted by Reu-ters said the new measures could include short security interviews with passengers at check-in or the boarding gate, sparking con-cerns over flight delays and extended processing time.

They will affect 325,000 air-line passengers on about 2,000 commercial flights arriving daily in the United States, on 180 air-lines from 280 airports in 105 countries.

The United States announced the new rules in June to end its

restrictions on carry-on elec-tronic devices on planes coming from 10 airports in eight coun-tries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified security threats.

Those restrictions were lifted in July, but the Trump adminis-tration said it could reimpose measures on a case by case basis if airlines and airports did not boost security.

European and US officials said at the time that airlines had 120 days to comply with the measures, including increased passenger screening. The 120-day deadline is today. Airlines had until late July to expand explosive trace detection testing.

“We see this as a big issue for China Airlines,” Steve Chang, senior vice president of the Tai-wanese firm told media yesterday, adding the airline was

trying to consult with the Amer-ican Institute in the country over the issue.

Korean Airlines, South Korea’s flagship carrier, also said it had a lot of concerns with the new measures.

“We are asking customers to show up at the airport early ... It’s just inconvenient for the pas-sengers,” President and Chief Operating Officer Walter Cho told Reuters in Taipei.

Lufthansa Group said on Tuesday the measures would be in place by today and travellers could face short interviews at check-in or at the gate.

Economy passengers on Lufthansa’s Swiss airline have been asked to check in at least 90 minutes before departure.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said it would suspend in-town check-in and self bag-drop serv-ices for passengers booked on

direct flights to the United States. The airline said passengers would also have short security interviews and it has advised travellers to arrive three hours before departure.

Singapore Airlines Ltd said the security checks could include inspections of personal elec-tronic devices as well as security questioning during check-in and boarding.

Airlines for America, a US trade group, said the changes “are complex security measures” but praised US officials for giv-ing airlines flexibility in meeting the new rules.

Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of the International Air Transport Association, said the industry understoood security threats to aviation were made regularly but in this case the US government had not shared any specific dan-gers before changing the rules.

“What we have seen is very strange,” he told reporters in Tai-pei. “Unilateral measures announced without any prior consultation... That is something that is very concerning and disturbing.”

At their annual meeting in Taipei, Association of Asia

Pacific Airlines (AAPA) mem-bers passed a resolution calling for security measures to be risk-based, outcome-focused and proportionate to the probable threat.

“Unilateral actions taken by individual governments react-ing to emerging threats may result in unnecessary disruption or lead to unintended safety con-sequences,” said the members.

AAPA includes most large Asian airlines but not mainland Chinese carriers.

“The risk is other countries make similar demands,” AAPA

Director General Andrew Herd-man said.

US authorities in June also increased security around air-craft and in passenger areas, and other places where travellers can be cleared by US officials before they depart.

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokes-woman declined to discuss the specific changes but said “the United States continues to work with our partners to raise the baseline of global aviation secu-rity and keep the entire travelling public safe.”

The TSA said in July it was imposing new security rules requiring US domestic airline travellers to remove all elec-tronic items larger than mobile phones such as tablets, e-read-ers and video game consoles from carry-on baggage for screening.

Operating profit

The Q3 operating profit, Lufthansa’s preferred measure of its own performance, increased by 32% to ¤1.52bn.

Over the first nine months, the airline had already achieved ¤2.6bn in operating profit.

Self-driving bus to shuttle Bavarian townsfolkBad Birnbach

AFP

German state-owned rail company Deutsche Bahn unveiled its first-ever

driverless bus yesterday, say-ing the shuttle will bring passengers through a pictur-esque spa town to the train station.

The test route for the self-driving machine is in Bad Birnbach, set in the rolling hills of the southeastern state Bavaria not far from the Czech and Austrian borders.

Made by French startup EasyMile, the 12-person bus will offer free rides on an eight-minute route linking the baths, the town centre and the station, Deutsche Bahn (DB) said in a statement.

“We’ve just driven autono-mously into a new era of

transport,” DB boss Richard Lutz, who rode along on the

first trip, said in a statement.The rail operator has

launched a subsidiary dubbed Ioki to test future modes of transport, focussing especially o n e l e c t r i c - p o w e r e d mobility.

From 2018, the new buses will operate on test routes in several German towns, includ-i n g t h e c o u n t r y ’ s second-largest city Hamburg.

DB hopes that in the future they will operate like a private car service, picking up passen-gers from home on demand and bringing them to the sta-tion -- picking up others with the same destination along the way.

Across the Americas, Asia and Europe, a number of cities -- including Paris, Lyon, Las Vegas and Dubai -- are already experimenting on a small scale with autonomous vehicles complementing public trans-port systems.

US durable goods data suggests strong business equipment spending

Opel drives Peugeot’s salesFRENCH carmaker PSA Peu-geot Citroen said that revenues grew strongly in the third quar-ter, powered by the recent acquisition of Opel-Vauxhall.

PSA said in a statement that group-wide revenues jumped by 31.4 percent to ¤15bn ($17.6bn) in the period from July to September. In its core brands of Peugeot, Cit-roen and DS, revenues were up 11.6 percent at ¤8.4bn, with volumes and market share increasing in most regions, except China. Growth was mainly driven by the product mix and the worldwide suc-cess of new models.

Richard Lutz, CEO of German railway company Deutsche Bahn, stands in front of the first German autonomous public transport bus during a presentation in Bad Birnbach, southern Germany, yesterday.

Washington

AFP

New orders for key US-made capital goods increased more than

expected in September and shipments rose for an eighth straight month, pointing to robust business spending that should help to mitigate the impact on the economy from the hurricanes.

The sign of strong business investment on equipment in the third quarter supports views that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates for a third time this year in December.

The Commerce Department said yesterday non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1.3 percent last month after an upwardly revised 1.3 percent increase in August.

Economists had forecast orders of these so-called core capital goods increasing 0.5 percent last month after a pre-viously reported 1.1 percent jump in August. Core capital goods orders advanced 3.8 per-cent year-on-year.

Shipments of core capital goods climbed 0.7 percent after soaring 1.2 percent in August. Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.

Core capital goods ship-ments have now increased for eight straight months.

Business spending on equipment is expected to have

contributed to economic growth in the third quarter, which could help to cushion the blow on GDP from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The Commerce Department report also showed inventories increasing 0.6 per-cent in September, the largest gain since June 2015.

This bolsters expectations that inventory accumulation provided a boost to growth in the third quarter. The govern-ment is due to publish its advance GDP estimate for the July-September quarter tomor-row. Strong business spending on equipment is helping to sup-port manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the US economy.

Last month, orders for com-puters and electronic products increased 1.6 percent after surg-ing 1.8 percent in August. There were also increases in orders for fabricated metal products. But orders for machinery, primary metals and electrical equip-ment, appliances and components fell.

Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toast-ers to aircraft meant to last three years or more, shot up 2.2 per-cent last month amid a 5.1 percent rise in demand for transportation equipment. Durable goods orders increased 2.0 percent in August.

Orders for motor vehicles and parts edged up 0.1 percent last month after accelerating 2.8 percent in August. Unfilled orders for durable goods increased 0.2 percent in Sep-tember after being unchanged the prior month.

26 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE Index 8,124.73 0.18 %

QE Total Return Index 13,624.70 0.18 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,188.35 0.23 %

QE All Share Index 2,277.17 0.13 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 2,556.17 0.03 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,508.43 0.54 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,682.95 1.22 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,596.12 0.69 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,980.45 1.31 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,025.92 0.23 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 4,784.07 1.54 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

24-10-2017Index 8,124.73

Change 14.57

% 0.18

YTD% 22.15

Volume 8,361,385

Value (QAR) 186,021,823.04

Trades 2,193

Up 16 | Down 26 | Unchanged 0023-10-2017Index 8,110.16

Change 7.25

% 0.09

YTD% 22.29

Volume 5,101,664

Value (QAR) 139,723,239.63

Trades 1,855

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR149.5033 per grammeSILVER QR1.9830 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

All Ordinaries 5972.686 10.177 0.17 5987.3 5635.1

Cac 40 Index/D 5411.34 16.54 0.31 5442.1 4733.82

Dj Indu Average 23441.76 167.8 0.72 23485.25 17883.56

Hang Seng Inde/D 28302.89 147.92 0.53 28798.78 21883.82

Iseq Overall/D 6755.11 -24.39 -0.36 7157.43 6369.05

Kse 100 Inx/D 41564.71 273.03 0.66 53127.24 39478.05

S&P 500 Index/D 2569.13 4.15 0.161795 2578.29 2245.13

Currency Buying SellingUS$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 4.7954 QR 4.8631

Euro QR 4.2626 QR 4.3222

CA$ QR 2.8412 QR 2.8972

Swiss Fr QR 3.6452 QR 3.6970

Yen QR 0.03162 QR 0.03224

Aus$ QR 2.7829 QR 2.8376

Ind Re QR 0.0556 QR 0.0567

Pak Re QR 0.0342 QR 0.0349

Peso QR 0.0696 QR 0.0709

SL Re QR 0.0235 QR 0.0240

Taka QR 0.0432 QR 0.0445

Nep Re QR 0.0348 QR 0.0354

SA Rand QR 0.2626 QR 0.2678

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - A LIST OF SHARES FROM THE WORLD

A C C-A/D 1806 28.2 12492

Aban Offs-A/D 186.4 0.35 202711

Ador Welding-B/D 527 -8.35 2264

Aegis Logis-A/D 233 -0.4 61325

Alembic-B/D 38.95 -0.05 45324

Alkyl Amines-B/D 579.85 -3.2 2318

Alok Indus-B/D 3.35 -0.04 730153

Apollo Tyre-A/D 241.25 0.95 118301

Asahi I Glass-/D 375.75 -0.35 1804

Ashok Leyland-/D 128.55 0.15 592380

Bajaj Hold-A/D 2852.85 -37.95 2720

Ballarpur In-B/D 11.85 -0.19 342299

Bata India-A/D 781.8 -6.9 12451

Beml Ltd-A/D 1746.8 9.05 36897

Bhansali Eng-B/D 108.2 -0.05 270750

Bharat Bijle-B/D 1045.55 -31.45 4390

Bharat Ele-A/D 170.55 -3.85 208103

Bharatgears-B/D 141.3 -0.35 1473

Bhartiya Int-B/D 615 -7.1 16681

Bhel-A/D 90.6 2.65 1204574

Bom.Burmah-A/D 1593.15 -32.8 42742

Bombay Dyeing-/D 198.4 -4.1 315760

Camph.& All-Xc/D 865 -3.45 3134

Canfin Homes-A/D 504.45 -34.5 154982

Caprihans-Xc/D 106 0.1 2255

Castrol India-/D 385.65 9.4 93017

Century Enka-B/D 347.75 -12.4 7527

Century Text-A/D 1361.4 31.45 68373

Chambal Fert-B/D 140.7 -7.7 156586

Chola Invest-A/D 1094.45 -84.3 23418

Chowgule St-Xt/D 14 0 2709

Cimmco-B/D 93.45 0.55 13533

Cipla-A/D 593.55 -1.7 39431

City Union Bk-/D 157.4 -2.15 17184

Colgate-A/D 1038.3 -18.65 9117

Container Cor-/D 1358.95 18.65 10020

Dai-Xc/D 405.5 -0.5 1019

Dcm Financia-B/D 3.15 0.06 11280

Dcm Shram Ind-/D 336.45 -10.15 14367

Dhampur Sugar-/D 316.05 10.5 150770

Dr. Reddy-A/D 2351.95 -10.95 17645

E I H-B/D 146.15 5.75 17278

E.I.D Parry-A/D 367 9.45 222417

Eicher Motor-A/D 31606.5 140.4 1081

Electrosteel-B/D 31.7 -2.35 186363

Emco-T/D 17.45 -0.25 26391

Escorts Fin-Xt/D 5.2 -0.27 3100

Escorts-A/D 729.25 -4.5 76034

Eveready Indu-/D 325.8 -5.35 3371

F D C-B/D 179 0.2 2753

Federal Bank-A/D 121.05 -3.5 1072351

Ferro Alloys-X/D 20.96 -1.86 1537434

Finolex-A/D 734.95 28.95 7121

Forbes-B/D 1799 21.1 1076

Gail-A/D 459.2 15.9 352937

Gammon India-Z/D 5.87 0.18 85625

Gangotri Tex-Z/D 0.95 0.03 1250

Garden P -B/D 34.05 0.35 5391

Godfrey Phil-A/D 1000 -6.35 3136

Goodricke-Xc/D 272.9 -6.05 14465

Goodyear I -B/D 806.2 -4.45 3879

Hcl Infosys-A/D 48.6 0.35 324899

Him.Fut.Comm-B/D 28.9 -1.1 2963232

Himat Seide-B/D 365.25 -2.05 16730

Hind Motors-B/D 7.19 -0.12 70282

Hind Org Chem-/D 19.1 0.05 37363

Hind Unilever-/D 1273.55 2.3 49810

Hind.Petrol-A/D 462.85 -3 103745

Hindalco-A/D 266.75 -2.15 237230

Hous Dev Fin-A/D 1677.9 -44.8 104382

I F C I-A/D 23.75 0.95 1193784

Idbi-A/D 65.2 10.9 4106040

Ifb Agro-B/D 640 -26.7 8406

Ifb Ind.Ltd.-B/D 887 -3.35 2472

India Cement-A/D 189.9 7.45 630506

India Glycol-B/D 325.75 -0.45 91951

Indian Hotel-A/D 112.6 1.45 119474

Indo-A/D 115.8 1.35 177169

Indusind-A/D 1593.7 -71 333266

J.B.Chemical-B/D 278.8 3.9 445909

Jagson Phar-B/D 33.65 -0.7 4814

Jamnaauto-B/D 60.6 1.65 630402

Jbf Indu-B/D 211.25 -6.4 11509

Jct Ltd-Xc/D 3.26 -0.06 230720

Jenson&Nich.-T/D 8.1 -0.48 8503

Jindal Drill-B/D 155.1 0.2 13458

Jktyre&Ind-A/D 146 -0.05 76621

Jmc Projects-B/D 428.4 4.1 6537

Kabra Extr-B/D 135.4 -2 5457

Kajaria Cer-A/D 689 -9.9 11937

Kakatiya Cem-B/D 363.5 0 4754

Kalpat Power-B/D 371.25 8.5 7744

Kalyani Stel-B/D 410.2 5.6 47118

Kanoria Chem-B/D 85.05 -2.2 22613

Kg Denim-Xc/D 62 0.85 3742

Kilburnengg-Xd/D 85 -0.9 23678

Kinetic Eng-Xc/D 69 0.15 4657

Kopran-B/D 69.3 -0.1 20532

Lakshmi Elec-X/D 744 9.65 8774

Lgb Broth-B/D 925.9 -15.85 6289

Lloyd Metal-Xd/D 18.8 -0.95 256196

Lumax Ind-B/D 1688.7 -24.3 1160

Lupin-A/D 1003.75 -22.75 204852

Lyka Labs-B/D 52.65 -1.85 22363

Mah.Seamless-B/D 466 -15.2 9173

Maha Scooter-B/D 2680 -108.65 1427

Mangalam Cem-B/D 363.7 -5.45 3184

Maral Overs-B/D 43.65 -0.2 12521

Mastek-B/D 346.1 2.25 66975

Max Financial-/D 575.45 2.55 64693

Mrpl-A/D 129.7 -0.85 103318

Nagreeka Ex-B/D 34.1 -0.9 2772

Nahar Spg.-B/D 115.15 6.35 26080

Nation Alum -A/D 89.45 4.15 1612784

Navneet Edu-B/D 166.35 -3.55 7963

Neuland Lab-B/D 1084.5 -29 2207

Nrb Bearings-B/D 133.05 -0.4 8031

O N G C-A/D 176.8 0.8 398971

Ocl India-B/D 1303 -9.8 1843

Oil Country-B/D 51.6 3.45 90096

Onward Tech-B/D 136.05 -3.65 51235

Orchid Pharm-T/D 18.3 0.85 70253

Orient Hotel-B/D 38.35 -1.8 38442

Orient.Carb.-B/D 1345.9 1.2 3501

Orient.Carb.-B/D 1345.9 1.2 3501

Patspin India-/D 26 -0.65 17822

Punjab Chem.-B/D 401.2 0.6 3662

Radico Khait-B/D 211.9 -9.3 372592

Rallis India-A/D 237.95 -14.2 117580

Rallis India-A/D 237.95 -14.2 117580

Reliance Indus/D 526.8 -6.1 206062

Ruchi Soya-B/D 22.45 -0.25 163487

Saur.Cem-Xc/D 82.5 0.4 63818

Sterling Tool-/D 266.3 1.1 2490

Tanfac Indu-Xd/D 105.95 -5.3 154395

Tanfac Indu-Xd/D 105.95 -5.3 154395

Thirumalai-B/D 1759.7 -59.1 16040

Til Ltd.-B/D 522.9 3.95 3617

Tinplate-B/D 254 -12.6 301335

Ucal Fuel-B/D 197.95 -4.2 16306

Ucal Fuel-B/D 197.95 -4.2 16306

Ultramarine-Xc/D 266.5 -3.5 36040

Unitech P -A/D 6.19 0.07 2111626

Univcable-B/D 161.15 0.35 10738

3I Group/D 943.5 3.5 323572

Assoc.Br.Foods/D 3338 -25 162561

Barclays/D 198 0.05 12491999

Bp/D 492.73 -3.55 5552978

Brit Am Tobacc/D 4929.5 104.5 1784632

Bt Group/D 269 -3.55 7241081

Centrica/D 171 -1.3 4301181

Gkn/D 314.2 -5.8 1700481

Hsbc Holdings/D 748.8 2 8108652

Kingfisher/D 308.9 4 2550729

Land Secs./D 956.345 -6.5 642918

Legal & Genera/D 266.9 -1.5 2238485

Lloyds Bnk Grp/D 67.8 0.4 138131944

Marks & Sp./D 344.1 -0.6 2815949

Next/D 4882 -10 109996

Pearson/D 707 2.5 970486

Prudential/D 1855 -6.5 931084

Rank Group/D 219.7 -1.4 52720

Rentokil Initi/D 327.1 0.8 872126

Rolls Royce Pl/D 932.5 -4 498278

Rsa Insrance G/D 629.5 -2.5 439301

Sainsbury(J)/D 244.5 -1.9 1514336

Schroders/D 3488 3 46559

Severn Trent/D 2110 -26 121527

Smith&Nephew/D 1412.67 3 561383

Smiths Group/D 1550.67 -9 159668

Standrd Chart /D 773.05 -9.9 2027333

Tate & Lyle/D 644 -6 437880

Tesco/D 185.7 -1.1 3199605

Unilever/D 4099 -14 1112393

United Util Gr/D 828.8485 -9 505314

Vodafone Group/D 216.75 0.55 13670303

Whitbread/D 3691 -62 444731

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

COMPANY CLOSE NET VOLUME NAME CHG TRADED

LONDON

Crude may still be languishing near $50, but Big Oil is on track to rejoin the world’s cor-porate elite by squeezing more cash from each barrel.

The five biggest oil producers generated about $34 billion of cash from operations in the third quarter, according to estimates from Jefferies LLC. That puts each of them at least on a par with tech giant Face-book Inc., a welcome return to the top tier of global business after three years on the skids.

The oil majors are reaping the benefits of deep cost cuts, but they’re still not doing quite enough. The tar-get: being able to fully fund dividends and investments at $40, or even $30 a barrel, according to BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley.

“It’s not peak diet yet,” said Dudley, who sees poten-tial for even more stringent cost and spending discipline. “Our industry is going through a great, massive change in the cost structure.”

Total SA, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are scheduled to announce results on Oct. 27, BP on Octo-ber 31 and Royal Dutch Shell Plc two days later. Here are five things to look out for in third-quarter earnings.

Cash is king for the oil majors as they negotiate crude’s biggest downturn in a generation. It’s one of the most important metrics for investors as they gauge com-panies’ ability to keep paying dividends without having to borrow.

Four of the five big oil companies are forecast by Jefferies to boost cash compared with the preceding quarter.

Oil majors have deferred projects, renegotiated con-tracts and laid off thousands of employees in an attempt to cut costs and generate income in a low crude-price environment. That’s helped lower the price at which they can cover their dividend payout and capital expenditure.

BP, Shell and Total continue to give a portion of shareholder payouts in shares and are still unable to cover the entire dividend. In the third quarter, BP reduced the price at which it would cover the dividend and spending to $54 a barrel and Shell to $55. Brent crude averaged $52.17 in that period and traded near $58 yesterday.

Big Oil has demonstrated this year that it can live with oil at $50. Analysts expect that trajectory to con-tinue in the third quarter as oil prices rose and cost cuts continued.

“We expect the tone of the earnings calls to be broadly positive,” said Jason Gammel, a London-based analyst at Jefferies.

Expenditure is another key metric for investors, after companies promised to rein in the lavish spending that came with $100 oil. At the same time, the market still wants to see if producers are plowing enough money back into projects to ensure future growth.

Spending by the five biggest companies combined is likely to drop for a fourth consecutive year in 2017, according to estimates by UBS Group AG. It could rebound next year, but may only reach 2016 levels by the end of the decade, the bank said.

Concern about growth is showing in oil industry shares, which have lagged behind the wider market and crude this year. Though the sector outperformed in Sep-tember, it’s behind again in October as investors doubt the sustainability of the rally in oil prices.

The Canadian government encour-aged Bombardier to make a deal with Airbus SE for its CSeries planes to thwart a potential ven-ture with Chinese investors,

according to five sources familiar with the matter.

It signaled its preference for Airbus after Bombardier failed to reach an agreement with Boeing Co earlier this year that would have given the US company a stake in the CSeries jetliners, according to the sources. The Canadian government’s role has not been previously reported.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s admin-istration took a calculated risk in steering Bombardier toward Airbus , according to the sources. It helped save a key product for Bombardier and likely resolved a brew-ing trade dispute with the United States, but potentially set back efforts to improve trade and economic ties with China.

The deal with Airbus came at a critical time for Bombardier. Its $6bn CSeries pro-gram, already losing money, had become the subject of a trade dispute in which Boe-ing charged in a complaint to US authorities that the jetliners benefited from Canadian government subsidies and unfair pricing.

Bombardier had considered a Chinese partnership as early as 2015, after talks about a possible merger with Airbus became public and fell apart. This year, as negoti-ations with Boeing over a CSeries partnership faltered and concerns about the future of the program mounted, Bom-bardier’s interest in a deal with China intensified, two sources said.

The prospect of such a deal raised con-cern within the Canadian government, two of the sources said, where officials believed jobs or technology could be “siphoned

away” to China. They also expressed uneas-iness about what some saw as inadequate Chinese safeguards against intellectual property theft.

In a series of calls with Bombardier in August and September, Innovation Minis-ter Navdeep Bains and Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, as well as senior officials in Trudeau’s office, urged Bombardier to contact the European com-pany, the two sources said.

“From the federal government’s point of view, anything was better than a link-up with China,” according to an Ottawa source. The source said the government suggested to Bombardier that Chief Executive Alain Bellmare reach out to his counterpart at Airbus, Tom Enders.

The government’s efforts eventually helped pave the way for an October 16 agreement in which Airbus took a major-ity stake in the narrow-body, medium-range CSeries jets for one dollar.

But they also came at a time when Ottawa is pushing for closer economic ties with Beijing. Canada, concerned about Washington’s threats to scrap the NAFTA trade deal, wants to bolster relations with China in order to cut its heavy dependence on exports to the United States. Talks between Ottawa and Beijing are ongoing.

Bombardier declined to discuss its CSeries negotiations. Representatives of Bains, Champagne and Trudeau declined to comment. Beijing officials declined to comment. Boeing also declined to comment.

Asked whether Airbus had stepped in because of concerns about China obtain-ing a stake in the CSeries, Airbus CEO Enders said: “We were obviously not privy to these discussions.”

Bombardier’s most recent discussions about a Chinese tie-up centered on Comac, a Chinese state-owned firm developing pas-senger jets, according to a source familiar with the Canadian company’s thinking.

Financial terms of any potential deal were not known. Comac did not immediatley respond to requests for comment.

Sources said Comac was also among the companies Bombardier held talks with in 2015, along with national aerospace con-glomerate AVIC and possibly a state-owned investment fund.

For Bombardier, a tie-up with the Chi-nese would have offered access to the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, providing a boost to its struggling CSeries program. Bombardier has not a secured CSeries sale in 18 months.

Inside Bombardier, however, executives worried that talks with potential Chinese partners were not moving quickly enough, according to sources.

With discussions stalled, Bombardier approached Boeing last spring, three of the sources said. Bombardier offered Boeing a stake in the CSeries under similar terms to those later offered to Airbus, two of the sources said.

The US company agreed to study the proposal, but eventually decided against it based on its experience with a troubled pur-chase of Canadian aerospace assets in the late 1980s.

That once again Bombardier’s focus back on a deal with the Chinese - until Ottawa pressed the case for discussions

withAirbus over the summer.

Anto Antony Bloomberg

India’s government has won a resounding reception from investors and credit-rating

firms for its unprecedented pledge of Rs2.11 trillion ($32bn) in capital for the country’s beleaguered state banks.

The move, which drove an index of government-run banks up as much as 26 percent, is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to help lenders meet tighter capital-reserve requirements, as slower economic growth and

falling demand erode borrowers’ ability to repay loans. Soured debt is now the highest since 2000, hampering credit expansion that’s needed to spur Asia’s third-largest economy.

“The proposed infusion is a sizable jump over what had been pledged before as India is seeking to plug a large part of the core equity gap at the state-run banks,” said Jobin Jacob, a Mumbai-based associate director at Fitch Ratings Ltd. This addresses “weak core capitalisation, one of the key drivers for our negative outlook on the South Asian nation’s banking sector.”

Moody’s Investors Service analyst Srikanth Vadlamani said the move is a “significant credit positive” for India’s state-run banks. The amount of capital pledged is enough to address the lenders’ solvency challenges and recapitalize them adequately, Vadlamani, who is vice president of the financial institutions group

at the unit of Moody’s Corp., said by phone.

The government will sell Rs1.35 trillion recapitalisation bonds, while banks will raise another Rs760bn through “budgetary support” and from the markets, according to the plan announced Tuesday.

The funds vastly outstrip the Rs700bn that India had pledged two years ago to inject by 2019, and is likely a recognition that the government had underestimated the impact ballooning bad loans would have on credit growth. Previous central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan had taken broad steps to bring soured credit under control, including encouraging banks to merge with each other and forcing lenders to recognise hidden bad debt.

“These funds will help in efficiently managing risk and c r e d i t c a p i t a l - r e l a t e d requirements of the banks,” State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish

Kumar said in an emailed statement.

Shares of State Bank of India jumped 28 percent, the most in 25 years, while Punjab National Bank soared by a record 46 percent. The PSU Index of government lenders climbed 30 percent.

Analysts were largely positive on what Kotak Institutional Equities called a “capital bazooka.” The resolution of soured credit is expected to accelerate as banks mark down their impaired loans, Kotak analysts led by M B Mahesh wrote in a report. The recapitalization will help banks meet higher provision requirements under new accounting rules starting April 2018, said analysts at CIMB Securities India Pvt.

There was some caution: bank lending will take time to improve, according to Nilanjan Karfa, an analyst at Jefferies India Pvt.

India’s government is providing most of the equity

capital because investors are reluctant to buy shares of lenders given their concerns over profitability and asset quality.

The country’s soured-debt ratio is the worst among the world’s largest economies, data compiled by the International Monetary Fund show. State-run banks account for almost 90 percent of all non-performing loans in the South Asian nation, according to Credit Suisse Group AG data. Privately owned banks aren’t immune. Shares of Axis Bank Ltd. tumbled last week after the private-sector lender said it expects credit costs to surge because of an increase in soured debt.

As of Tuesday, Fitch had a negative outlook on Indian banks based on its assessment of the sector’s weak core capitalization. Moody’s highlighted significant capital shortfalls at several banks, while assigning a stable outlook to the banking system.

Big Oil set to make Facebook-level cash even with oil at $50Rakteem Katakey Bloomberg

Canada pushed for Airbus deal as Bombardier courted China

Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher Reuters

Bombardier had considered a Chinese partnership as early as 2015, after talks about a possible merger with Airbus became public and fell apart.

Previous central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan had taken broad steps to bring soured credit under control, including encouraging banks to merge with each other and forcing lenders to recognise hidden bad debt.

Markets, Moody’s applaud $32bn bazooka for India banks

BUSINESS VIEWS 27THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017

28 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017BUSINESS

BACK TO BUSINESS

Euphoric German businesses brush off Brexit, coalition blues

sight

Reuters

A euphoric mood among German con-s t r u c t o r s a n d

manufacturers drove busi-ness confidence to an all-time high in October.

A survey showed, reflect-ing optimism that an upswing in Europe’s largest economy has further to run.

The Munich-based Ifo economic institute said yes-terday its business climate index which is based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, rose to 116.7 from an upwardly revised 115.3 in September.

Ifo said a continuing recovery in the eurozone was helping German exporters feel more posi-tive about the upswing. This was especially true for cap-ital goods manufacturers and mechanical engineer-ing firms.

“Companies are very optimistic about the months ahead. They also upwardly revised their very favour-able assessments of the current business situation,” Ifo chief Clemens Fuest said in a statement. “Germany’s economy is powering ahead.”

Ifo economist Klaus Wohlrabe said the economy was unfazed by complex coalition talks that Chan-cellor Angela Merkel has embarked on with two other parties after her con-servative bloc lost ground in a national election last month.

The record high read-ing, which came after two consecutive monthly falls, beat a Reuters consensus

forecast of 115.2. Wohlrabe added that companies also appeared to be taking in their stride Britain’s sched-uled departure from the European Union, a stand-off between the Spanish government and the region of Catalonia and US tax reforms.

If the Ifo indicator rose again in November, a change in the growth fore-cast for Europe’s largest economy could be needed, Wohlrabe said.

Leading German eco-nomic institutes this year raised its 2017 forecast to 1.9 percent, from 1.5 per-cent previously.

A survey published by His Markit this week showed Germany’s private sector posted the highest increase in new orders in 6-1/2 years in October.

Record-high employ-ment, rising real wages and ultra-low borrowing costs are constantly driving a consumer-led upswing that helped Merkel win a fourth term in office on Septem-ber 24.

Commerzbank chief economist Joerg Kraemer said the positive cycle in Germany should continue thanks to the ultra-low interest rate environment created by the European Central Bank.

“We are not in a normal economic cycle,” he wrote in a note to clients. “There are no disruptions (expected) as the monetary policy of the ECB, which is too loose for Germany, will push the economy forward for another couple of years.”

Capital Comment

The reserves of the central bank are now at $44.3bn, so it is a record high. These operations have contributed in increasing the dollar assets of the central bank.

Riad Salameh, Governor, Central Bank, Lebanon.

Eurozone’s PMI

Toyota Concept-AI is on display at the Toyota booth during the Tokyo Motor Show in Tokyo, yesterday.

Refresco agrees French-Canadian buyoutThe Hague AFP

Refresco, Europe’s largest juice and soft-drink bot-tler, said yesterday it had

agreed a ¤1.6bn ($1.9bn) takeo-ver bid from a consortium of French and Canadian investors.

The Dutch independent bot-tler, which works with brands such as Innocent and Del Monte, had fended off an initial offer from the Paris-based PAI pri-vate equity firm in April worth ¤1.4bn.

But following a higher offer by a consortium led by PAI and including British Columbia-based investors bcIMC, Refresco’s management said yesterday they had agreed “on a recommended cash public offer of 20 euros for all shares of Refresco”.

The deal, which is 22 per-cent above the company’s average share price since July, would value the company at ¤3.3bn, said a joint statement issued by Refresco and the con-sortium of investors.

“This offer represents a fair value for our shareholders and

is yet another milestone for the company,” said Refresco chief executive Hans Roelofs (pic-tured), urging shareholders to accept the deal.

“We are convinced that this is a good transaction for the company and all stakeholders involved,” he added.

Bloomberg News said the move was “another win in the recent wave of shareholder activism in Europe” as it said the deal was the result of an activ-ist shareholder encouraging Refresco’s management to reconsider a sale.

It added that multinationals from Nestle to Credit Suisse are

confronting “demands for strat-egy shifts”.

News of the accord comes after Refresco in July agreed to buy the soda business of the Canada-based Cott Corp for $1.25bn (¤1.1bn).

The consortium’s offer for Refresco is subject to the acqui-sition of Cott being completed—something which is set to happen by the end of 2017.

The Rotterdam-based com-pany bottles soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers across main-land Europe, Britain and the United States.

It employs some 5,500 peo-ple and last year bottled some 6.5 billion litres of soft drinks and juice, earning a net profit of ¤82m.

The offer will be formally launched in December, with Refresco due to hold an extraor-dinary annual general meeting of shareholders, with the aim of sealing the deal in the first quar-ter of 2018.

Markets reacted positively on Thursday with Refresco’s shares on the Amsterdam AMX rising 2.4 percent by midday to ¤19.70.

Things to see at Tokyo Motor ShowTokyo

AFP

From a car that wants to be your friend to another that burns off the fat: here are the hot-test vehicles on display

at the Tokyo Motor Show.The biennial event opened for

a media preview yesterday, before throwing its doors open to the public until November 5.

The event will feature con-cept vehicles from top Japanese manufacturers, as well as fresh offerings from major European firms, such as Volkswagen, Peu-geot Citroen and Volvo.

An ‘understanding’ car The petrol heads that flock to

the Tokyo Motor may really love their car but now there’s a car that loves them back.

Artificial intelligence is mak-ing further inroads into cars, with vehicles monitoring emotions, alertness, and stress levels for safe driving, including offering an option to take the wheel if the driver is tired or stressed.

Japanese giant Toyota has created a series of

concept vehicles that aims to “understand” the driver so that machine and user can bond as “partners.” “It loves you back,” said one Toyota executive. The headline unit of Toyota’s “Con-cept-i” is a futuristic four-wheel model that talks to the motorist like a confidant. It reviews the person’s behaviour patterns, as well as latest news and social media activity, to assess what the driver needs or wants to hear in a given situation, like offering comforting words to a parent after a fight with a teenage daughter inside the vehicle.

Nissan, Honda and Mitsubi-shi will also feature vehicles assisted by artificial intelligence that analyses the driver, passen-gers and road conditions for a safe and comfortable ride.

Country for old men Japan is well on its way to

becoming the first “ultra-aged” society, with 28 percent of the population over 65 and the car industry is doing its best for those who need a little help.

Toyota will showcase a vision for a two-seater electric vehicle that uses a joystick for easy

operation, assisted by auto-drive technology. Its design and spa-cious interior allow wheelchair users to easily transfer to the driv-er’s seat. The vehicle also provides information on whether the driv-e r ’ s d e s t i n a t i o n i s wheelchair-friendly.

Toyota will also display a Seg-way-like personal mobility unit called Concept-i Walk. But unlike Segway, the concept unit moni-tors the surrounding environment and the operator’s physical and psychological conditions to ensure a safe ride.

Gadget central Fittingly in gadget-obsessed

Japan, several car manufacturers are unveiling extras for vehicles that make life run that little bit more smoothly.

Smartphone texting app Line is teaming up with Toyota to show off “Clova”, a cyber assist-ant that can read text messages for motorists that cannot bear to disconnect while driving, among a range of other functions.

With automated driving all the rage, Honda will showcase its “NeuV” electric vehicle concept that drives itself, even when

unmanned, so that multiple peo-ple can share the car. This could be especially popular in Japan where many urban motorists are reluctant to buy cars because they only drive at the weekend.

Sporty, Olympic electric cars

As tighter emission regula-tions around the world force global automakers to develop electric units, manufacturers at the show will be parading their latest offerings, with the empha-sis on polished, sporty design.

Nissan has put its LEAF elec-tric in the hands of its motor sports engineers to create the NISMO concept that also offers autonomous drive features.

Honda is staying secretive, but has promised to unveil “Honda Sports EV Concept” for the first time. Mitsubishi is dis-playing its e-Evolution concept, billed as a “high-performance all-electric crossover SUV.” Meanwhile, Toyota will show off a hydrogen powered fuel-cell bus concept named “Sora”, which will serve as a base for 100 buses to be introduced next year to run in Tokyo ahead of 2020 Olympics.

Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for October.

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