Ritz-Carlton to operate Palm Hills hotel in Egypt
Real estate developer Palm Hills said on Thursday it had signed an agreement with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to operate a hotel located in the Egyptian developer s flagship project.
The 160-room Ritz-Carlton Cairo at Palm Hills October will feature a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, a spa, health club and swimming pools, according to a statement from Palm Hills.
Palm Hills did not give a value for the deal with Ritz-Carlton, an upmarket hotel brand operated by Marriott International.
Egypt continues to offer tremendous potential to the luxury industry and the opening of the Ritz-Carlton Cairo, Palm Hills is a key strategic move in expanding our presence in the Middle East/North Africa region, Ritz-Carlton President and CEO Simon Cooper said in the statement. – Reuters
Average yield slips on 273-day Egypt T-bills
The average yield on Egyptian 273-day treasury bills fell to 10.463 percent at an auction on Thursday, compared with 10.5 percent at last week s auction.
The central bank said it accepted bids for bills worth LE3 billion ($533 million), the same amount it was seeking. It accepted bids at rates between 10.32 and 10.55 percent, compared to a range of 10.3 to 10.67 percent at the previous auction.
The bills are for issue on May 12 and they mature on Feb. 9, 2010. -Reuters
Kuwait say resumes oil exports after bad weather
Kuwait said on Friday it had resumed all oil exports after they were halted on Thursday due to high wind and bad weather conditions, a spokesman for state refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) said.
Spokesman Ahmad al-Muzaiel said all oil exports were resumed on Thursday night.
Earlier on Thursday KNPC said it was suspending all exports of crude and oil products due to high wind and dusty weather and would not receive new tankers until the weather improved.
The OPEC member, which sits on 10 percent of global oil reserves, pumped around 2.23 million barrel per day in April, according to a Reuters survey. – Reuters
Iran official expects OPEC to cut output – report
Iran s OPEC governor said the producer organization was expected to lower its oil output ceiling at its next meeting later this month, Iran s Mehr News Agency reported on Friday.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi also said crude stockpiling had risen in most industrialized countries, Mehr said. – Reuters
Turkey s official industrial output plunges in March
Turkey s industrial output plunged by 20.9 percent in March compared to activity 12 months ago, after a record drop in February, official data showed on Friday.
The data, published by the Turkish Statistics Institute, showed that the biggest contraction was in the automotive sector which plummeted by 53.1 percent. Manufacturing industry output was down by 23.5 percent in total, the institute said.
Industrial output has been on the decline since August last year amid contracting domestic demand and falling exports as Turkey is hit by the global economic downturn.
Output in February this year dropped by a record 23.8 percent from the level in February 2008.
Analysts say the figures strengthen expectations that the Turkish economy is heading into recession amid the global slump.
The economy shrank 6.2 percent in the last quarter of 2008, giving it an overall annual growth rate of 1.1 percent following gains in the first three quarters.
Last month, the central bank said gross domestic product (GDP) could post a double-digit contraction in the first quarter of 2009 before returning to growth in the last quarter. Recovery would start in mid-2010, it added.
The government has revised a 4-percent GDP expansion target for 2009 and said the economy would contract 3.6 percent.
The International Monetary Fund has said it expect the contraction in the Turkish economy to reach 5.1 percent in 2009.
Turkey is currently negotiating with the IMF for a three-year fresh stand-by deal -eagerly awaited by markets – after a $10-billion (?7.5-billion) accord expired in May last year. -AFP
Total says fully functioning after Burkina Faso strike
French oil giant Total said Thursday that it was fully operational again in Burkina Faso after two weeks of strikes over a sacked employee, local media reported.
Total Burkina has taken measures for the normal functioning of its business. All activities . are presently working, country commercial director Thibault Flichy told local press.
Gas stations, aviation depots, mines and other sectors were all back in business after the stoppages, added Flichy, currently running the firm s operations in the African nation.
An unlimited strike started on April 24, causing lengthy queues at service stations owned by other fuel companies, after an elected works representative was sacked the previous day.
Total has been present in Burkina Faso for 50 years, and its national division posted net profits of ?2.4 million ($3.2 million) in 2008. -AFP
Kuwait s Zain to cut 300 jobs in Nigeria
Kuwait s Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) said on Thursday it would cut 300 jobs and outsource 450 others in Nigeria, reducing its headcount in Africa s biggest mobile phone market by more than a third.
Zain had announced on Monday it planned to cut its 15,500 global workforce by about 2,000 through to 2011 to cut costs and boost margins, although many of those employees would continue working as outsourced contractors.
Zain Nigeria will transfer the services of about 450 employees to strategic partners … also, 300 employees of the company affected by Zain Nigeria s internal restructuring have been offered exit packages, the firm said in a statement.
A Zain spokesman said the company currently employed around 2,000 people in Nigeria.
Kuwait s top mobile operator has been aggressively expanding and operates in 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
It has spent more than $12 billion in Africa since 2005, including nearly $3 billion in Nigeria, and said it planned to spend up to $2 billion more on the continent this year.
But it said this week that it may miss its goal of 30 percent profit growth in 2009 as the global downturn bites.
Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as Africa s biggest mobile market with more than 62 million subscribers, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission.
But the market is fiercely competitive, with South Africa s MTN and privately-owned Nigerian firm Glo among Zain s major competitors.
Starcomms Plc, another of the country s biggest mobile telecoms firms, said last month declining average revenue per user (APRU) across the industry as well as a sharp fall in the value of the local naira currency helped push it to a $60 million net loss in the first quarter. -Reuters
