BUSINESSMonday 12 February 2018

PAGE | 20PAGE | 18Qatar Chamber

hosts visiting US delegation

QIMC records QR206.1m net profit for 2017

Market swings aren’t worrying: LagardeREUTERS

DUBAI: Sharp swings in global financial markets in the past few days are not worrying since economic growth is strong but reforms are still needed to avert future crises, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

Christine Lagarde (pic-tured), speaking at a confer-ence on global business and social trends in Dubai, said economies were also supported by plenty of financing available.

“I’m reasonably optimistic because of the landscape we have at the moment. But we cannot sit back and wait for growth to continue as normal,” she said in her first public com-ments on market movements since the latest round of turmoil at the end of last week.

“I’m ringing not the alarm signal, but the strong encour-agement and warning signal.”

Global stock markets were hit by wild fluctuations, with the US benchmark S&P 500 tum-bling 5.2 percent last week, its biggest weekly percentage drop since January 2016. The

volatility was fuelled by investor worries about rising interest rates and potential inflation.

Lagarde repeated an IMF forecast, originally issued last month, that the global economy would growth 3.9 percent this year and at the same pace in 2019, which she said was a good backdrop for needed reforms.She did not give details of the reforms she wanted to see beyond saying authorities needed to move to regulation of activities, not entities.

“We need to anticipate where the next crisis will be. Will it be shadow banking? Will it be cryptocurrencies?” she said.

QNB committed to strategic projectsMOHAMMAD SHOEB THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Chairman of QNB Group, H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi, yesterday noted that the bank will remain committed to impor-tant projects, and boosting local production by supporting the private sector, especially the SMEs. And at the same time QNB will continue its focus to strengthen the Group’s presence in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia region by expanding its branches’ network or through acquisitions.

On its operations in Qatar, the Chairman said that the Group will focus on maintaining its market share and profitability in the public sector while enhancing its leadership in per-sonal and corporate banking.

“The Group is commited to supporting the country’s busi-ness sector and working as a key supporter to promote local pro-duction, economic development and national strategic projects by supporting all economic activities, including major state-sponsored projects and small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” Al Emadi said in his address at the QNB’s Ordinary General Assembly Meeting, yesterday.

The General Assembly approved all the items on the agenda of the meeting, including the Board of Directors’ recom-mendation to distribute a cash dividend of 60 percent of the nominal share value (QR 6 per share) to shareholders.

The QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa region, witnessed a strong and robust performance in 2017 with a net profit of QR13.1bn, up by 6 percent com-pared to 2016 and total assets increased by 13 percent from December 2016 to reach QR811bn ($222.71bn), the highest ever achieved by the Group.

Commenting on the finan-cial results of the bank, the Chairman said that the QNB Group has posted the highest profits in its history in 2017 thanks to its financial strength, solid financial position and the expansion of its global network

amid the continued recovery in global economic growth, espe-cially in some regions where the Group is present.

He also noted the Group’s success to achieve its growth goals despite some challenges facing the global economy, including tight monetary poli-cies and rising debt levels thanks to the outstanding efforts exerted by QNB team. QNB Group’s expansion, while providing a wide range of banking innova-tive products and services, have resulted in maintaining a con-servative risk profile, Al Emadi s a i d , p o i n t i n g o u t

that international operations continued to achieve a high rate of the Group’s profits, which amounted to 36 percent.

He said that this success is also a result of a strong, effec-tive and responsible governance framework, while the Group continues to work on intro-ducing additional policy and procedural controls with its international branches in rec-ognition of the importance of good governance in achieving business prosperity.

The Chairman of the region’s largest lender also provided an overview of the Group’s business plans for 2018 aimed at main-taining QNB’s leading position through diversifying income sources and expanding the range of activities across the Group. The ability to meet shareholders’ expectations remained a core consideration for this year.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the AGM, Ali Ahmed Al Kuwari (pictured), Group CEO, said: “2017 was an excel-lent year for the QNB Group recording record profit. QNB was also recognised as the most val-uable banking brand in the Middle East and Africa region with a brand value worth $4.2bn, witnessing 10 percent growth.”

Ooredoo Group reports QR33bn in revenueTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar-based telecom major Ooredoo Group’s revenue rose to QR32.7bn for the year 2017. The Group’s customer base expanded by 18 percent to 164 million during the period, the Group announced yesterday.

The 2017 increase in revenue was mainly driven by strong con-tributions from Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Maldives and Oman. Excluding Foreign Exchange translation impact, revenues increased by 2 percent compared to the reported 1 percent revenue increase.

The significant expansion in the customer base was powered by multiple customer acquisition activities in Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, Maldives and Palestine.

Ooredoo Group EBITDA increased 3 percent to QR13.8bn with a corresponding increase in EBITDA margin to 42 percent, indicating a further improve-ment in operational performance from FY 2016 (41 percent). Excluding Foreign Exchange translation impact, Group EBITDA increased by 4 percent year-on-year.

New government levies in Oman and one-off provision

reversals in 2016 led to a decrease in Group net profit to Ooredoo shareholders by 10 per-cent to QR2bn. Excluding these, the normalized net profit attrib-utable to Ooredoo shareholders increased by 1 percent.

Increased monetization of data business, with significant data growth coming from con-sumer and enterprise customers, saw data revenue increasing to 46 percent of Group revenue.

Revenue from data contributed QR15.3bn in 2017, up 16 percent from QR13.1bn in 2016.

Group B2B revenue stood at QR5.5bn in 2017 reflecting Oore-doo’s ongoing investment to sup-port the growth of businesses, SMEs and governmental clients.

Ooredoo continues to be a data leader in its markets with 4G networks now available in 8 of Ooredoo’s 10 markets. The

networks have been further enhanced across all 4G markets. Wataniya Mobile launched serv-ices in the Gaza strip in October 2017, and is now able to target a significant market, with the Gaza strip constituting about 40 per-cent of the Palestinian market. Looking to next-generation net-work services, Ooredoo Qatar became one of the world’s first companies to offer “5G Speed Experiences”, with download

speeds of up to 1 Gbps, in a spe-cial demonstration during Qatar’s National Day in December 2017. Indosat Ooredoo was awarded 5 MHz of the 2.1 GHz spectrum from the Govern-ment of Indonesia in Q4 2017 after winning the spectrum auc-tion, part of which will be used for 4G capacity. The company started deployment of seamless 4G coverage in high value areas outside of Java.

Commenting on the Group’s solid results, Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, said: “2017 was another very good year for Ooredoo Group, with growth in revenues, EBITDA, EBITDA margin and customer

numbers. Most importantly, during 2017 we focused on what we do best: enrich people’s dig-ital and real-life journeys. We expanded access to 4G services in most of our operations and prepared our network for 4.5 and 5G.A significant moment for the year was the much awaited launch of operations in Gaza, Palestine, with the largest invest-ment in telecommunications in Gaza in nearly two decades.”

“We are proud to have received global recognition for enabling Qatar to have the fastest average broadband connection speeds in the Middle East and North Africa, and 7th-fastest in the world, and for leveraging the power of broadband for sustain-able development.

Indosat Ooredoo celebrated its 50th anniversary during 2017, marked by numerous achieve-ments not the least of which is its successful transformation into a leader in Indonesia’s digital space.We maintain our leader-ship position and commitment to connecting and developing the citizens of emerging economies where we operate and are proud to now serve almost 164 million people.”

→ Continued on page 20

Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani (left), Chairman of Ooredoo Group and Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer.

QNB Group has posted the highest profits in its history in 2017

Group B2B revenue stood at QR5.5bn in 2017 reflecting Ooredoo’s ongoing investment to support the growth of businesses, SMEs and governmental clients.

9,044.82 +151.55 PTS1.70 %

QSE FTSE100 DOW BRENT7,092.43 -78.26 PTS1.09%

24,190.90 +330.44 PTS1.38% Dow & Brent before going to press

$59.05 -1.85

18 MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018BUSINESS

QIMC records QR206.1m net profit for 2017

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Industrial Manu-facturing Company (QIMC) has posted a net profit of QR206.1m for the year ended December 31, 2017, up from QR193.8m reported a year ago. The total equity of the company’s share-holders is QR1.57bn compared to QR1.55bn for 2016. The earn-ings per share (EPS) has reached QR4.34, compared with QR4.08 for the same period of 2016.

The financial results were announced after the board of directors meeting yesterday, which was presided over by the Chairman Sheikh Abdul Rah-man bin Mohammed bin Jabor Al Thani (pictured).

Announcing the results, the Chairman of the Board said the Board of Directors has agreed to convene the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Assem-blies on Sunday, March 11, 2018 in Radisson Blu Hotel to submit

recommendations for the dis-tribution of 30 percent of Cash Dividend and the approval of other agenda.

The agenda for the ordinary general assembly include hear-ing of the Board of Directors’ report on the Company’s activ-ities, its financial position for the financial year ending December 31st, 2017 and its future development plans.

The extraordinary general assembly will consider the amendment of the Articles of Association of the company according to Commercial Com-panies Law No. 11/2015 and the Corporate Governance Law No. 5 of 2016 and authorize Chair-man of the board for necessary action. It will also take decisions on authorising the Board of Directors to carry out acquisi-tions in the company’s activity, in which the volume of invest-ment of the company’s total assets does not exceed 2.5 per-cent upon the approval of the r e l e v a n t r e g u l a t o r y authorities.

Lulu Exchange to invest $3.5m in tech start-upTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Lulu Exchange Holdings, the leading financial services company, has announced that it will invest $3.5m in tech startup ARKIN Technologies LTD.

Through the collaboration, Lulu Exchange Holdings plans to offer a holistic suite of finan-cial products and services in their cloud-banking, constitut-ing a digital revolution in the financial services space.

Lulu Exchange Holdings plans to take ARKIN’s expertise to offer everything from cloud banking, real-time remittances, bills payment and Prepaid Mas-terCard and VISA, tap payments, prepaid products, API banking and even chat applications to various markets in the region and worldwide. ARKIN’s plat-form is also armed with two-factor authentication and one of the highest encryptions in the world.

“We are excited to announce this partnership with ARKIN Technologies LTD. We do not want to be seen as just investors putting in capital, but as partners with promising startups like ARKIN sharing our expertise and leveraging on mutual strengths to offer cus-tomers simple and smart digital financial solutions,” said Adeeb Ahamed, Managing Director, Lulu Exchange Holdings.

ARKIN is helmed by Ralph Santos, CEO, who is one of the pioneers in the FinTech indus-try, having experience in the field before ‘fintech’ entered the corporate vernacular.

Through his vast experi-e n c e a c r o s s m u l t i p l e industries in key positions, Ralph has found ground-breaking and innovative start-ups that have success-fully redefined the digital landscape and provided a platform for greater financial inclusion.

He created the highly suc-cessful VMoney digital platform, offering an extensive

end-to-end financial solution for businesses and consumers offering integratable online

payments and funds disburse-ments for online and retail merchants, government insti-tutions, medical organizations, educational facilities, and busi-ness enterprises.

“This is an exciting collabo-ration for us, and we are proud to partner with Lulu Exchange Holdings. With its focus on investments offering mutual strategic value, wide reach and unique solutions, Lulu Exchange Holdings is the right match for ARKIN and is a natural next step toward engaging and support-ing the wider financial ecosystem,” said Ralph Santos.

Adeeb Ahamed (left), Managing Director, LuLu Exchange Holdings with Ralph Santos, CEO, ARKIN Technologies Ltd., after signing the partnership deal.

Aamal IR website ranked third among listed peersTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Aamal Company (Aamal), one of the GCC’s fast-est growing diversified companies, announced that its investor relations website has been ranked third among the 45 companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).

The ranking is according to the results of the 2017 Annual Investor Relations Excellence Program announced in an award ceremony recently.

The programme, now into its third year, is an initiative introduced under the auspices

of the QSE and is widely regarded as a hallmark of excellence.

It is designed to recognise those QSE-listed companies for the quality and effectiveness of their investor relations web-sites, whilst encouraging alignment with international best practice.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Aamal, commented:“I would like to express my thanks to the Qatar Stock Exchange for its ongoing support for the Investor Rela-tions Excellence Program, an

initiative which we wholeheart-edly support. Naturally, we are very pleased that our investor relations website has received creditable recognition amongst its listed peers.”

“I believe this is testimony to our commitment to adher-ing to investor relations best practice, including the mainte-nance of strong and clear two-way relationships with the markets. We will further develop and refine our approach as the Company con-tinues to grow and diversify,” Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani added.

The total equity of the company’s shareholders is QR1.57bn compared to QR1.55bn for 2016. The earnings per share (EPS) has reached QR4.34, compared with QR4.08 for the same period of 2016.

Through the collabo-ration, Lulu Exchange Holdings plans to offer a holistic suite of financial products and services in their cloud-banking, consti-tuting a digital revo-lution in the financial services space.

ARKIN’s platform is armed with one of the highest encryptions in

the world.

Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori (left), CEO of QSE giving away the award to an official from Aamal Company, as Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, Director, Listing Department of QSE, looks on, at the 3rd Annual IR Excellence Program, recently.

19MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018 BUSINESS

20 MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018BUSINESS

Qatar Chamber hosts visiting US delegationTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Chamber (QC) yesterday hosted a delegation representing the Business Exec-utive for National Security (BENS), an American nonprofit organization, led by its President and CEO Norton Schwartz.

QC Chairman Sheikh Khal-ifa bin Jassim Al Thani headed the Qatari side in the presence of number of board members.

Sheikh Khalifa said that the wise leadership and Qatari gov-ernment managed to combat the blockade. “We overcame the impacts of the blockade with the least cost in record time,” he said.

“ T h e s i e g e h a d

some benefits. It has encouraged businessmen and the private sector to invest in new factories and companies which helped to

increase Qatar’s self-efficiency in various goods and commod-ities,” he noted.

He said that Qatar Central Bank exerted great efforts in providing the US currency in the market and prevented any imbalance in the monetary sys-tem. These actions helped protect the national currency and protected the investments in the country.

He pointed out that the blockade had no impact on busi-ness climate, assuring that during initial days, many pro-investment initiatives were inaugurated which are sup-ported by the government. Foremost among them wass “Own a factory within 72 hours”

which attracted 8000 investors who were interested to estab-lish new factories throughout the Single Window service.

Underlining the importance on Hamad Port and opening new marine lines with several

countries, he noted that these have opened the window for the private sector to establish busi-ness and partnerships with its counterparts in friendly countries.

On his part, Norton Schwartz

said that the American business-men and investors are confident with the Qatari economy, not-ing that there are many Qatari investments in the US and both countries enjoy distinct relations.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani (second right), Qatar Chamber Chairman during his meeting with the BENS delegates led by its President and CEO Norton Schwartz (second left), at Qatar Chamber headquarters, yesterday.

GCC primary debt issuances expand to $174.17bn in 2017SATISH KANADY THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The aggregate primary issuance of bonds and sukuk by GCC entities, including central banks’ local issuances (CBLIs), GCC sovereign and corporate issuances, totaled $174.17bn in 2017, a 3.96 percent increase from the total amount raised in 2016.

Central banks’ local issu-ances are fixed income securities issued by GCC central banks in local currencies and with short maturities for the purpose of regulating levels of domestic liquidity. During 2017, a total of $69.90bn was raised by the GCC central banks, namely by the Central Bank of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman,as per the publicly avail-able documents from the respective central banks. The Central Bank of Kuwait raised the highest amount with Kuwait Dinar10.93bn (36.179bn), rep-resenting 51.76 percent of the total amount raised by CBLIs through 70 issuances, followed

by the Central Bank of Bahrain, which raised a total of BHD5.39bn ($14.33bn), Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said in a report yesterday.

The GCC Bonds and Sukuk market is composed of bonds and sukuk issued by GCC Sov-ereign, corporate entities and

financial institutions, for financ-ing purposes in local and foreign currencies. A total of $104.26bn was raised in the GCC bonds market in 2017, a growth of 1.78 percent from $102.44bn raised in 2016.

On a quarterly basis, the fourth quarter of 2017 recorded the highest value of issuance with USD39.44 billion raised through 59 issuances while the third quarter was the most sub-dued as $17.87bn was raised through 45 issuances.

Geographical Allocation: Saudi Arabia was the leading issuer in 2017, raising $41.60bn through 20 issues and repre-senting 39.9 percent of the total value raised by the GCC issuers during the year.

The UAE based issuers raised $32.61bn during 2017, up by 35 percent as compared to $24.3bn raised in 2016 and representing 31.3 percent of the total market. Kuwait entities represented 10.4 percent of the total issuances, raising $10.83bn as compared to $4.52bn raised in 2016.

Omani issues represented 7.8

percent of the total value of issu-ances, raising $8.12bn through 8 issues.

Amidst the regional crisis, Qatari entities raised $6.18bn from 62 issues, however the pri-mary issuances dropped by 67.8 percent compared to $19.22bn raised in 2016. Bahraini entities represented 4.7 percent of the total issuances, raising $4.90bn through 6 issues.

Sovereign issues continued to dominate the GCC bonds and Sukuk market in 2017 contrib-uting 62.6 percent to the overall market with a total value of $65.28bn as compared to $65.82bn in 2016. Total value raised by corporate entities in 2017 increased by 6.46 percent, to $38.98bn in 2017 from $36.61bn in 2016. Saudi Arabia Government raised a total of $37.28bn out of which SAR58.45bn ($15.78bn) through domestic bonds and $21.5bn through US Dollar denominated Bonds and Sukuk. The year was also instrumental for the Kuwaiti debt market as the Kuwait Government issued its

debut Euro-dollar bonds in March raising $3.5bn through five-year bonds at a coupon of 2.75 percent and $4.5bn through ten-year bonds at a coupon of 3.75 percent. Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain governments raised $10bn, $7bn and $3bn respec-tively. Qatar was the only GCC sovereign entity not tapping the international bond markets in 2017.

Conventional issuances raised $81.42bn, or 78.08 per-cent of the total amount raised in GCC bonds and sukuk mar-ket during 2017. Sukuk raised $22.85bn, 81 percent higher as compared to $12.63bn raised in 2016 and represented a share of 21.91 percent of the market in 2017.

On the sector allocation, the Markaz report noted govern-ment sector accounted for the largest amount raised during the year, with $65.28bn represent-ing 62.6 percent of the total amount raised as compared to $65.82bn issued in 2016. The Financial sector followed with $22.29bn (21.4 percent of total

market) raised through 227 issues.

Issuances with tenures of six to ten years raised the highest amount, $42.9bn, through 35 issuances, representing 41.2 per-cent of the total amount raised. However, maturities of 5 years or less increased to $39.79bn representing 38.2 percent of the market as compared to $11.93bn in 2016 representing 11.4 percent.

During 2017, 73.3 percent of the total issuances or 126 GCC Bonds and Sukuk issuances, with an aggregate value of $76.46bn were listed on exchanges. Listing on interna-tional exchanges accounted for 99 percent of the listed issues with an aggregate value of $75.56bn.

As of 31 December 2017, the total amount outstanding of cor-porate and sovereign bonds and sukuk issued by GCC entities was $425.68bn. Government issuances made up the major-ity of the total amount outstanding with $203.39bn, or 47.8 percent of the total amount.

He pointed out that the blockade had no impact on business climate, assuring that during initial days, many pro-investment initiatives were inaugurated which are supported by the government.

Colombia wants to build Venezuela financial rescue planREUTERS

NEW YORK: Colombia has contacted international lending agencies about devising a finan-cial rescue plan worth up to $60bn for neighbouring Vene-zuela if President Nicholas Maduro leaves power, Colom-bia’s finance minister said in an interview on Friday.

Hyperinflation and severe recession in oil-rich Venezuela are prompting Venezuelans to flee over the border to Colom-bia, now about 2,000 a day, Colombian Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said.

Officials the International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank are just beginning to understand the impact of the exodus, he said.

“What happens when Maduro falls? We should not improvise. There should be a plan because Venezuela will require financial support,” Cardenas said. He estimated Venezuela would need about $60bn in loans under a new government and economic policies.

Colombia wants to partici-pate in international lending to Venezuela and take a more direct role in providing financ-ing to help Venezuela rebuild its economy.

“We as a government in Colombia are willing to be part, not just of that conversation and of that plan, but also to provide

financing for that transition,” Cardenas said.

Colombia would benefit from a recovery in exports to Venezuela, he said. Cardenas said cross-border trade a dec-ade ago was close to $7bn a year.

As the number of Venezue-lans crossing the border increases, including unattended children who get free vaccina-tions and education, Colombia estimates it will need $30m to build an assistance center to give the migrants a temporary place to stay before deciding their next move.

Venezuela’s economy is suf-fering from hyperinflation, shortages in basic food and medicine and increasing lawlessness.

US economic sanctions on Venezuela could expand.

Currently they cover individual members of Maduro’s govern-ment and a ban on buying new Venezuelan debt. Washington is considering restrictions on imports of Venezuelan crude oil and exports of US refined prod-ucts to Venezuela.

The sanctions are meant to pressure Maduro over his restrictions on political opposition.

“We think the days of Maduro are numbered. The implosion of Venezuela’s econ-omy is accelerating,” Cardenas said.

Maduro, whose approval ratings are low, is seeking re-election in a vote that must be held by the end of April. US Sec-retary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this month raised the prospect that Venezuela’s mili-tary could oust Maduro.

Colombia’s Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas speaks during an interview with Reuters in New York, US.

Algeria eyes subsidy reforms to help close budget deficitREUTERS

DUBAI: Algeria’s government is looking at reforms to its subsidy system as it seeks to eliminate the state budget deficit within about three to four years, its finance minis-ter Abderrahmane Raouia said on Saturday.

The government may cut gasoline subsidies in 2019 and other subsidies in 2020, Raouia told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Arab finance ministers and Inter-national Monetary Fund officials to discuss fiscal reforms in the region.

He declined to specify what subsidies might be cut in 2020, beyond saying the cur-rent subsidy system kep prices low for a wide range of goods and services, from electricity to bread and cooking oil. Raouia stressed that subsidy cuts would occur in the con-text of reforms to make the system more efficient and more supportive of lower-income Algerians. Algeria depends heavily on oil and gas revenues, and its finances have been helped by a rebound of global oil prices in recent months, as well as by cuts in state spendingf. The IMF estimates it ran a fiscal deficit of 3.2 percent of gross domestic product last year.

→Continued from page 17

“For our shareholders we continue to deliver long-term growth and value. The Board of Directors proposed a cash div-idend of QR 3.5 for 2017,” added Sheikh Abdulla, Chairman of Ooredoo.

Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo said: “I am pleased to report very solid results across the board. Group revenue increased 1 percent to QR32.7bn, driven by growth in Indosat, Iraq, Oman, Maldives and Kuwait. During 2017, we continued to streamline our operations and achieved sig-nificant savings in 2017, particularly through our focus on centralised purchasing and infrastructure sharing. As a result, we increased our EBITDA by 3 percent to QR13.8bn and improved our EBITDA margin to 42 percent.”

“We are a well monetized data business, with QR15.3bn in data revenue now account-ing for 46 percent of our total revenues. In our home market in Qatar we became one of the world’s first companies to offer “5G Speed Experiences.” Our biggest international operation, Indosat Ooredoo delivered another year of growth, with

increases in revenue and EBITDA. Ooredoo Oman increased its fixed service cus-tomers by one third, while Ooredoo Kuwait, Ooredoo Algeria and Ooredoo Tunisia expanded 4G coverage to cater for the increased data traffic. With a strong efficiency pro-gramme, Ooredoo Myanmar reported positive EBITDA for the first time on a full year basis,”Sheikh Saud added.

Ooredoo Qatar delivered positive results for the year, building on its close links with the community and record of innovation.The company gained further value market share. It also ensured sustain-able free cash flow levels via a series of cost optimisation pro-grammes.Revenue stood at QR7.8bn, while EBITDA was QR3.9bn.

Network enhancement pro-grammes delivered a significant upgrade of data services in 2017. In December, the com-pany was able to offer customers a “5G speed experi-ence” as part of Qatar National Day celebrations. The roll-out of Ooredoo Fibre connected another 55,000 homes in 2017. Digital entertainment also delivered good revenue growth, with Ooredoo tv attracting more than 100,000 customers by the end of the year.

Ooredoo Group reports QR33bn in revenue for 2017

During 2017, 73.3 percent of the total issuances or 126 GCC Bonds and Sukuk issuances, with an aggregate value of $76.46bn were listed on exchanges. Listing on international exchanges accounted for 99 percent of the listed issues with an aggregate value of $75.56bn.

21MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018 BUSINESS

Investors brace for swings as US inflation risesREUTERS

NEW YORK: The inflation bogeyman has reared its ugly head and sent US stock inves-tors racing for the hills in recent days.

Next week, coming off one of the most volatile stretches in years, two important readings on US inflation could help deter-mine whether the stock market begins to settle or if another bout of volatility is in store. If the Jan-uary’s US consumer price index due next Wednesday from the US Labour Department, and the producer price index the next day, come in higher than the market anticipates, brace for more selling and gyrations for stocks.

US consumer prices rose 2.1 percent year-on-year in December and is forecast to stay around that pace this month.

“If we get a hot CPI print it will insert additional uncer-tainty, but if we get a quiet, below-consensus print, you may see yields down and equities rally,” said Jason Ware, Chief Investment Officer & Chief Econ-omist at Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The equity market has become highly sensitive to infla-tion this month. A selloff in US stocks earlier this week was in large part sparked by the Feb-ruary 2 monthly US employment

report which showed the largest year-on-year increase in average hourly earnings since June 2009.

Recent US tax cuts that may spur economic growth, the pros-pect of more government bor-rowing to fund a widening fiscal deficit, and rising wages, have all pushed up benchmark US Treasury yields to near four-year highs.

“This is how we started, go back to Friday and this is exactly where we were,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in New York. “The conver-sation about equity risk pre-mium, interest rates and infla-tion, we are coming full circle.”

The jump in wage inflation pushed yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note closer

to the 3.0 percent mark last seen four years ago, denting the attractiveness of equities, and unnerving investors fearful inflation will force the US Fed-eral Reserve to raises short term interest rates at a faster pace than is currently priced into the market.

The current earnings yield for the S&P 500 index compa-nies stands at 5.4 percent, below the 6.4 percent average of the past 20 years. As bond yields rise the spread between the two nar-rows, prompting asset allocation changes between equities and fixed income.

Investor concerns over infla-tion was reflected in Lipper funds data on Thursday, which showed U.S.-based inflation-protected bond funds attracted $859 million over the weekly period, the largest inflows since November 2016.

On Thursday, New York Fed-eral Reserve President William Dudley said the central bank’s forecast of three rate hikes still seemed a “very reasonable pro-jection” but added there was a potential for more, should the economy look stronger.

Traders are currently putting the chances of a 25 basis point hike by the Fed at its March meeting at 84.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Benchmark 10-year note

yields this week rose to a four-year high of 2.885 percent. On Friday, benchmark 10-year notes last fell 1/32 in price to yield 2.853 percent.

While many analysts were predicting bond yields to rise this year as global economies improve, the suddenness of the move was a large factor in the recent stock market selloff.

The 10-day correlation between the S&P 500 index and yields on the 10-year note was at a negative 0.79, as of late Thursday.

On Friday, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index closed out their worst two-week performance since August 2011.

“The pace really does matter,” said Ron Temple, Head of US Equities and Co-Head of Multi Asset Investing at Lazard Asset Management in New York.

“If we see 3.0 percent next week that is going to spook people more - the equity market psyche is fragile at this point.”

The fragile investor psyche is likely to lead to continued vol-atility coming off a week that saw the Dow suffer its largest intraday index point decline in history last Monday, nearly 1,600 points. The Dow currently has an average intraday swing over the past 50 days of 265.76 points, the highest since March 2016. While volatility has

subsided a little from the heights touched earlier this week, it is far from an all clear, Nigol Kou-lajian, chief executive of Quest Partners, a New York-based sys-tematic commodity trading advisor with $1.4bn in assets under management, said.

Koulajian pointed to the fixed income market as the main catalyst right now for near-term moves in the stock market.

“Investors need to keep a very, very close eye on fixed income,” he said. “The catalyst needn’t be big. When the market is this levered, even tiny events can trigger a big avalanche.”

But analysts also caution yields are not at levels that

should be alarming to investors, and in fact are at levels that signal a healthier global economy, and the performance of some stocks this week points to a belief the consumer is also getting healthier.

The average yield on the 10-year Treasury note over the past 30 years is 4.834 percent, still well above current levels.

“Fundamentals are still pos-itive, there is strong economic growth and strong earnings growth - those will help stocks move higher over time,” said Kate Warne, investment strate-gist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

“But it doesn’t do much for predicting short-term moves.”

Traders seen working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, in this file picture.

Nafta must protect workers left behind by global economyAFP

LOS ANGELES: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for better protection of workers “left behind” by globalization and technolog-ical development -- and said North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations should take this into account.

“The wave of technolog-ical innovation,” particularly in Silicon Valley, which Tru-deau visited Thursday, “can be hugely positive and trans-formative,” he said on Friday during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, near Los Angeles.

“But we cannot allow it to sweep some people and their families aside,” he said, adding the issue must be discussed as part of ongoing efforts between Canada, the US and Mexico to revamp Nafta. Tru-deau called for improved sharing of wealth and help for people “whose livelihoods have been disrupted by global economic shifts” -- adding he and US President Donald Trump agree “too many people have been left behind.”

“We need to collectively do a much better job of ensuring the benefits of trade are shared more broadly to more people,” he said.

Six rounds of Naftatalks have already concluded -- the most recent on January 29 -- but the Canadian premier said the toughest issues remain, including “rules of origin in the auto industry.” On Wednesday, Trudeau said in Chicago that Canada was ready to withdraw from Nafta, described by Trump as a “bad joke,” if current negotiations did not conclude with a satis-factory deal for the country.

But he added Friday that “trade is not a hockey game” with a winner and a loser, and that the trade pact has bene-fited Canada, the US and Mexico. “It’s vitally important we build on that progress and not step back from progress made with extraordinary efforts by our countries,” he said.

Alibaba to invest $865m in China home improvement chainBLOOMBERG

HONG KONG: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to buy a 15 percent stake in a chain of Chinese home improvement and furniture stores as part of its pushing into “new retail,” the company said yesterday.

The e-commerce giant will invest about 5.45 billion yuan ($865m) in Beijing Easyhome Furnishing Chain Store Group

Co., and support the digital transformation of its 223 stores by applying Alibaba’s exper-tise in cloud and logistics plat-forms, it said in a statement.

The deal adds to founder Jack Ma’s shopping spree in brick-and-mortar retailers that has shaken up supermarkets and department stores by linking Alibaba’s online business with physical stores -- the premise of the

“new retail” initiative. While Alibaba earlier this month reported revenue that topped analyst estimates and raised its growth forecast, its shares tumbled after investments in brick-and-mortar assets and digital media squeezed profit margins in the December quarter. The company also said it will buy 33 percent of Chi-nese payments giant Ant Financial.

Putin at Russian business weekRussian President Vladimir Putin (right) speaks with head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin during a session at the Week of Russian Business, in Moscow, Russia.

Bank of Japan to keep Kuroda at helm until 2023: ReportsAFP

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan is to keep Haruhiko Kuroda (pictured) at its helm until 2023 under government plans to retain him as a pillar of its pro-spending policy, reports said on Saturday.

The government will pro-pose to parliament reap-pointing 73-year-old Kuroda for a second five-year term as early as this month, the Nikkei business daily quoted anony-mous government sources as saying. His current term ends on April 8.

Other media, also quoting anonymous government sources, said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration was in the final stages of a r r a n g i n g K u r o d a ’ s reappointment.

He would be the first BoJ governor to serve two terms in half a century as Abe’s ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament.

Soon after he became prime minister, Abe hand-picked Kuroda, a former finance ministry bureaucrat who later headed the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, as BoJ chief.

Kuroda has since taken drastic measures to pump money into markets in what was called a monetary “bazooka”.

It has played a key role in Abe’s growth blitz -- a mixture of huge monetary easing, gov-ernment spending and reforms to the economy.

“Mr Kuroda is a symbol of Abenomics and replacing him would pose risks,” the Nikkei quoted a top government offi-cial as saying.

Their efforts have weak-ened the yen and boosted share prices and corporate profits.

The Japanese economy has been expanding on robust exports and domestic demand spurred by infrastructure upgrades ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games.

With wage growth and consumption persistently luke-warm, however, the world’s third largest economy is still battling deflation.

Its core inflation rate rose only 0.5 percent last year, far from the two-percent target Kuroda initially said he planned to achieve in two years.

The fragile investor psyche is likely to lead to continued volatility coming off a week that saw the Dow suffer its largest intraday index point decline in history last Monday, nearly 1,600 points.

US economy is at risk amid immigration curbs: Maersk CEOBLOOMBERG

COPENHAGEN: The chief exec-utive officer of the world’s biggest shipping company says curbs on immigration backed by the administration of Pres-ident Donald Trump risk hurting the US economy.

“The US economy is run-ning at full steam and there-fore wages have started to rise,” which “in itself is posi-tive,” Soren Skou (pictured), the CEO of A P Moller-Maersk A/S, said in a phone interview. “But if the US succeeds in

cutting off immigration, it will be very challenging to keep the economy going at the same pace.”

Running a company that transports goods around the world puts Skou in a unique position to observe how a wave of protectionism is reshaping the global trade map. And as the Trump administration blames globalization for pum-meling the middle classes, the Maersk CEO says it’s clear other regions are emerging as economic powerhouses.

“My personal belief is that

Europe has more potential,” Skou said. “There are parts of Europe with a lot of potential if they make reforms that strengthen their labor markets and seize the opportunities that arise from digitization,” he said. “If the political situation can be kept under control, I think Europe has some good years ahead.”

Maersk transported 10.7 million 40-foot containers last year, an increase of 3 percent from 2016. The company’s fleet of almost 800 vessels controls about a fifth of the world’s

seaborne trade, according to industry consultant Alphaliner.

When it comes to the longer term, Skou said Maersk is “pos-itive” on Africa and Latin America.

“And that’s why we’ve invested a lot in those two regions.”

“Global trade is not at risk of stopping, but we also have to acknowledge that we prob-ably won’t get to see new, large free-trade agreements,” Skou said. “So we won’t get a boost or an acceleration from that, and that’s a shame because we think that free trade makes the world richer.”

22 MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018BUSINESS

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

Local institutions lift QSEREUTERS

DUBAI: Major Middle Eastern stock markets were mostly lower yesterday with petro-chemical shares dragging down Saudi Arabia, but Qatar’s bourse climbed on the back of deter-mined buying by local institutional investors.

Qatar outperformed the rest of the region by a large margin, rising 1.7 percent in active trade. Exchange data showed that while foreign investors were net sellers of stocks, Qatari institu-tions were net buyers by a ratio of more than two to one in value terms.

Barwa Real Estate climbed 3.8 percent. It reported a rise in annual net profit to QR1.71bn ($470 million) from QR1.61bn and kept its dividend unchanged, despite a slump in Qatar’s real estate market. The Saudi index fell 1.0 percent as 12 of 14 petro-chemical producers slid, after Brent oil, which two weeks ago was trading around $70 a barrel, fell more than 3 percent on Fri-day to $62.79, its lowest since late December.

Al Tayyar Travel closed 1.7 percent lower after tumbling 8 percent at one stage. It reported annual net profit shrank to 497 million riyals ($132.5 million) from 814 million riyals; fourth-quarter

profit was 17 million riyals, far below NCB Capital’s prediction of 113 million riyals for the quarter.

Al Rajhi Bank edged up 0.2 percent, however, after Saudi Ara-bia’s second-largest lender by assets reported a 19.8 percent rise in its fourth-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts.

Other Gulf bourses reacted less strongly to the turmoil in glo-bal equity and oil markets at the

end of last week, and Dubai’s index closed only 0.2 percent lower.

Emaar Properties fell 1.2 per-cent after the company said it made a net profit of $1.55bn in 2017; last week, Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar said it made $1.8bn, but the company clari-fied that his figure was before depreciation. Emaar is expected to formally release annual earn-ings in coming days.

Qatar Stock Exchange building is seen in the file picture.

Dubai Investments plans IPO of Emicool unit in fourth quarterBLOOMBERG

DUBAI: Dubai Investments PJSC plans to sell shares in its cooling unit Emicool in the fourth quarter and aims to start a 3-billion-dirham ($817m) real estate investment trust as it seeks to boost profit.

Chief Executive Officer Khalid Bin Kalban told Bloomb-erg Television that Al Mal Capital PSC, majority-owned by DIC, is advising the company on the planned initial public offering and that more banks will be hired. The process will hopefully value Emicool, for-mally called Emirates District Cooling LLC, at between 1.3 bil-lion to 1.5 billion dirhams, he said.

Dubai Investment’s busi-nesses range from real estate to glass production. The com-pany last month bought Union Properties PJSC’s entire stake in Emicool for 500 million dirhams, making it its sole owner. Dubai Investments may sell 30 percent of its stake in the IPO of Emicool, which provides cooling services to hundreds of homes and offices in areas such as Dubai Investments Park and

Motor City, Bin Kalban had said in 2016.

“Emicool will go through a transition and we’ll make one acquisition in the second quar-ter, perhaps two depending on circumstances,” he said on Sun-day. “We’re hoping to go for a private placement in the third quarter and then an IPO.” Dubai Investments on Sunday reported an 18 percent decline in full-year profit to 1 billion dirhams, as some transactions scheduled for 2017 were delayed to this year, Bin Kalban said. The first quarter of 2018 will be much stronger than the last three months of last year, with earnings expected to grow as much as 25 percent, he said.

The decline in profit in 2017, though, would probably mean that dividends for the year will remain the same as in the preceding year, he said. DIC paid a dividend of 11 fils a share in 2017 as well as a 5 percent bonus.

Bin Kalban said Dubai Investments also plans to list its real estate investment trust either on Nasdaq Dubai or Dubai Financial Market, possi-bly this year.

IndiGo made 69 engine replacements in 18 months

NEW DELHI: IndiGo, the world’s biggest buyer of the Airbus SE A320neo, was forced to replace faulty Pratt & Whitney engines that power the jetliners in 69 cases over the last 18 months.

India’s largest airline, run by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., said there have been three incidents when engines shut-down during flight, and three other cases when a flight was scrubbed after engine issues were identified. The problems were dealt with in a “timely and safe manner” based on instructions from the manu-facturer, IndiGo spokesman Ajay Jasra said via text message.

“With safety as our top pri-ority, IndiGo has been making required engine replace-ments,” Jasra said. IndiGo said on Saturday that it had with-drawn three affected planes from service and canceled some flights after the European Aviation Safety Agency warned of a new issue with the Pratt engines that may be connected to several in-flight shut downs.

QE Index 9,044.82 1.70 %

QE Total Return Index 15,167.63 1.70 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic

Index - Price 2,338.69 1.42 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,611.51 1.42 %

QE All Share Index 2,508.19 1.65 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 2,825.22 2.21 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,746.88 1.46 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,920.32 0.31 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,795.76 1.26 %

QE All Share Insurance 3,240.31 3.65 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,040.65 1.41 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 5,357.68 1.03 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

11-02-2018Index 9,044.82

Change 151.55

% 1.70

YTD% 6.12

Volume 7,994,703

Value (QAR) 208,943,856.39

Trades 3,232

Up 29 | Down 11 | Unchanged 008-02-2018Index 8,893.27

Change 5.53

% 0.06

YTD% 4.34

Volume 10,285,413

Value (QAR) 216,208,634.50

Trades 3,725

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR157.6331 per grammeSILVER QR1.9782 per gramme

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

All Ordinaries 5930.2 -198.2 -3.23 6256.5 6103.9

Cac 40 Index/D 5181.82 -104.01 -1.97 5567.03 5258.66

Dj Indu Average 24345.75 -1175.21 -4.6 26616.71 20002.81

Hang Seng Inde/D 30595.42 -1649.8 -5.12 33484.08 30028.29

Iseq Overall/D 6639.37 -115.37 -1.71 7257.41 6720.4

Kse 100 Inx/D 43885.51 -415.69 -0.94 45494.52 40169.62

S&P 500 Index/D 2648.94 -113.19 -4.097924 2872.87 2682.36

Currency Buying SellingUS$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 5.9959 QR 5.12730

Euro QR 4.41510 QR 4.5447

CA$ QR 2.8680 QR 2.9624

Swiss Fr QR 3.8347 QR 3.9512

Yen QR 0.03311 QR 0.03375

Aus$ QR 2.8124 QR 2.9123

Ind Re QR 0.0560 QR 0.0573

Pak Re QR 0.0334 QR 0.0333

Peso QR 0.0698 QR 0.0721

SL Re QR 0.0233 QR 0.0238

Taka QR 0.0443 QR 0.0442

Nep Re QR 0.0351 QR 0.0358

SA Rand QR 0.2980 QR 0.3152

Often lost in the discussion about Amazon’s search for a second headquarters is the war for talent likely to occur when the company begins hiring 50,000 employees

for its new home. Many of those jobs will be filled by newly minted college graduates or highly mobile workers with college degrees willing and able to move for new jobs.

“Not only will the region need a sizable existing labor pool, it will also need a steady flow of new blood,” said Scott Andes, a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Two studies in just the past few weeks show that hiring that much talent in today’s job market might not be as easy as Amazon and local officials perhaps believe, and certainly not in every city Amazon is considering.

One study from Gallup and Strada Education Network found that only one-third of college students feel they have the skills and knowledge to find a job or succeed in the workplace. The study was based on

a survey of more than 32,000 students from 43 randomly selected four-year colleges.

One of the most notable findings in the survey was that as students got closer to graduation, they became less confident about landing a job. The biggest confidence booster for students, according to the survey, was if students talked to a faculty member or academic adviser about their careers. Previous research has found, however, that only about half of college seniors report discussing life after graduation with their professors.

“What’s surprising about these results is that it’s students themselves saying

they are not prepared for the job market while they are still in college,” said Brandon Busteed, executive director of Gallup’s higher education division.

The findings mirror what employers have been telling colleges for years about their graduates but that higher-education leaders have largely ignored. A previous survey by Gallup, for instance, found that while 96 percent of college and university provosts said students were prepared for the job market, only 11 percent of business leaders agreed.

No wonder employers complain of a growing skills gap in the job market. The US Labor Department says there are 6 million unfilled jobs because workers don’t have the skills employers need, the widest the gap has been since the federal government started keeping track last decade.

So wherever Amazon decides to settle for its second headquarters that gap is likely to grow, unless workers move from elsewhere for the job opportunities Amazon presents. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also owner of The Washington Post.) The problem is that the United States as a whole is settling down, with families unwilling to move even for better jobs. Fewer Americans are changing residences than atany other time in the past 60 years. If Amazon were to look at where people are migrating for work when they actually do move, the company would probably settle on finalists in just two regions: the South and West.

Which city has the edge for Amazon’s second headquarters?

If Brexit means Brexit, little-known court offers non-ECJ option

JEFFREY J SELINGO THE WASHINGTON POST

EVEN as UK Prime Minister Theresa May goes full steam away from the European Union’s single market, a

senior judge is touting a compromise to give Britain some of the EU’s benefits without losing national sovereignty.

Carl Baudenbacher, the departing president of the European Free Trade Association’s (EFTA) court, said the UK could do this by “docking” at his own institution after turning its back on the

EU’s Court of Justice. In essence, this would mean using the EFTA tribunal as an arbiter for disputes under whatever trade pact the UK and EU agree upon.

Baudenbacher said it would allow the UK to free itself from the powers of the EU’s top court and instead send a

judge to the smaller Luxembourg-based EFTA tribunal, used by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, which operate their own trade bloc with access to the EU market. How it would work in reality would need to be hashed out in the Brexit negotiations, he said.

While the UK has rejected being part of EFTA as a way to maintain

access to the single market and prefers to negotiate a bespoke deal, the country would need a place to thrash out legal issues. The idea of docking would mean Britain would join EFTA’s court and its supervisory authority, which could have the power to rule on any trade disputes between the UK and the EU after Brexit.

“I was always convinced there was room for two structures in Europe,” Baudenbacher, 70, said at an event organized by University College London in Britain’s capital on Wednesday. There are “those who want to go for political integration and those who want to stick to economic integration and leave the rest to international treaties.”

“Most of the models being discussed in the UK now have been tested by the Swiss” and choosing EFTA’s institutions “would in my view be an option,” said Baudenbacher, a Swiss national. Docking is a real possibility for the UK and one that the Brussels-based European Commission is aware of too, he said.

As Brexit talks resumed last week in Brussels, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, raised the prospect of the UK crashing out of the bloc next year without the transition period that is the top priority for business. The pound fell.

“Being out of the EU but remaining a member of the single market would mean accepting a role for European courts and still not having control over immigration,” the UK’s Brexit department said in an emailed statement.

“We will not be pursuing an off-the-shelf arrangement and will instead be seeking a bespoke arrangement that works for both the United Kingdom and the EU.”

The commission, the EU’s

executive arm, declined to comment.The EFTA court was created in

1994 and its role in many ways mirrors that of the EU’s Court of Justice even though both are independent. Baudenbacher, who will leave at the end of March, strongly rejects any suggestion that the institution he headed since 2003 is some kind of vassal of the ECJ.

“After 24 years, it’s safe to say this is not the case,” said Baudenbacher, whose Icelandic replacement Pall Hreinsson formally took over last month. “There has been a certain development over time” and the EFTA court is now seen as “quite a mature court” which doesn’t always follow the ECJ.

The EU’s Court of Justice has the final say over disputes concerning the 28 member nations, while the EFTA court has the last word on any challenges concerning Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. This includes referrals from national courts in those member countries, or direct actions against those governments accused of violating European rules. Switzerland is a member of EFTA but isn’t subject to the rulings of the EFTA court.

Rulings from the ECJ are binding, while national courts in the EFTA states aren’t formally bound by the EFTA court’s rulings although often accept them. The EFTA court has three judges and, unlike the ECJ, its working language is English.

For Baudenbacher, his court remains the best option for the UK also because EFTA rulings better reflect British legal traditions than French ones.

“ECJ rulings are written in the French style,” he said. “We are giving real reasons” in our judgments. “We disclose what’s going on in our brains.”

THE tea party movement that shook up the Republican Party eight years ago flickered to

life this week when Congress muscled through a major budget deal that prompted howls of consternation from conservatives who objected to its spending and deficit increases.

But the protests were extinguished quickly by the realities of a Republican government led by President Donald Trump. Although a number of right-leaning groups that ascended in the 2010 midterms, including the powerful political network of the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, were among the loudest opponents, there

appeared to be little appetite among those groups to exact punishment on Trump or the GOP-controlled Congress.

When the plan was released Wednesday, it came under immediate attack from five Koch-backed groups. They penned a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., decrying the “irresponsible spending levels” and debt limit suspension in the agreement.

On Capitol Hill, a vocal coterie of hard-right lawmakers, including class of 2010 standout Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also protested the bill. Paul took advantage of Senate rules to delay a vote on the budget bill until early Friday morning, after the midnight shutdown deadline.

The brief and at times halfhearted outcry underscored

the new political dynamic in Washington: A Republican president and congressional leaders unbeholden to an ideology on spending and deficits - and a party unwilling or unable to wage a large-scale political war against them.

“The president will have more sway with many of our members than these outside groups will,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, Pa., a centrist Republican who voted for the budget. “And they are going to learn that lesson, I suspect, on this vote.”

There’s also the reality that these groups are quite happy with the tax cuts that Congress passed in December - and aren’t interested in risking the GOP majority by targeting lawmakers who helped make that happen.

The deal, which would add more than half a trillion dollars in federal spending and pile on

the federal deficit, passed in the early hours of Friday with the support of a majority of Republicans in both the Senate and the House.

On Friday morning, Trump touted his signing of the bill. “Our Military will now be stronger than ever before,” he wrote on Twitter. “We love and need our Military and gave them everything - and more. First time this has happened in a long time. Also means JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”

There are no signs of further repercussions from the Koch network, which had previously announced plans to spend close to $400m this election cycle on politics and policy - a whopping figure.

“We try to refrain from red lines and threats and any of that. But it’s certainly disappointing,” said Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips of the

budget. His group chose not to “key vote” the budget, meaning it does not factor into their scoring system for members of Congress.

Retail magnate Art Pope, a conservative power broker in North Carolina and a donor to the Koch network, said he is disappointed to see large spending increases in the budget plan, but he understands the political realities of getting a two-year deal with Democrats’ support.

“The Republicans who voted in order to keep the government open and the necessary increases in national defense did what was necessary. No, they shouldn’t be punished or have it held against them,” Pope said. The Club for Growth, a separate organization, released a carefully worded statement this week taking aim at McConnell rather than Trump.

US budget deal clips wings of GOP’s fiscal hawksSEAN SULLIVAN, MICHELLE YE HEE THE WASHINGTON POST

Two studies in just the past few weeks show that hiring that much talent in today’s job market might not be as easy as Amazon and local officials perhaps believe, and certainly not in every city Amazon is considering.

The UK has rejected being part of EFTA as a way to maintain access to the single market and prefers to negotiate a bespoke deal, the country would need a place to thrash out legal issues.

A number of right-leaning groups that ascended in the 2010 midterms, including the powerful political network of the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, were among the loudest opponents.

23MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018 BUSINESS

A man walks past Britain’s Houses of Parliament in this file picture.

STEPHANIE BODONI BLOOMBERG

BEIJING/TAIPEI: Hon Hai Preci-sion Industry Co. Chairman Terry Gou, best known for assembling Apple Inc.’s iPhones, plans to

increase its focus on artificial intelligence and big data over the next few years as he seeks to transform the contract manufac-turer into a more influential force in the global technology industry.

Gou, at an annual gathering in Taipei for employees and family members, said the company has a great deal of work to do through 2020 to adapt to the sector’s new realities. He will expand investments in AI, automation and the Internet of Things to position his companies even more centrally in the tech supply chain.

The comments came a day after a Hon Hai unit, Foxconn Industrial Internet Co., said it expects to spend 27.3 billion yuan ($4.3bn) on next generation projects and hold an initial public offering in China. Those efforts will include cloud comput-ing, IoT solutions, AI manufacturing and fifth-generation wireless technologies, the firm said in an application prospectus on the China Securities Regulatory Commis-sion website. Hon Hai is moving into sectors beyond pure electronics assembly as growth in the global smartphone indus-try sputters.

“There will be a big amount of work to do in the next three years because as the world runs faster thanks to the internet economy, the old successful rules can be

overturned,” Gou said before an audience of more than 10,000 at a Taiwan exhibi-tion center often used for concerts and other entertainment. “If we don’t keep moving forward, we will be eliminated.” Gou and his Taiwanese company must strike a delicate balance between China and the U.S. Most of Hon Hai’s facilities are in mainland China where the company depends on solid relationships with gov-ernment officials. Foxconn Industrial Internet is the first Hon Hai unit to list on a domestic exchange.

At the same time, Gou has met with US President Donald Trump and agreed to build a $10 billion display factory in Wis-consin. In July, the state’s governor and Gou signed a memorandum of under-standing that calls for up to $3 billion in government assistance and the sale of at least 1,000 acres of land.

Hon Hai’s annual gathering is a chance for Gou to speak about his priorities to employees and the media. This year, he put an emphasis on how their company will manage technology trends touching

virtually all corners of the industry.“In the last year, we made prepara-

tions for the next transformation of the company,” he said. “In the next three years, from 2018 to 2020, we will solidify our plans as the company moves toward the industrial internet, big data, artificial intelligence and platform economy.” Hon Hai and its affiliates took control of cash-strapped Japanese display maker Sharp Corp. in 2016 and pledged to revive the hundred year old brand. The company has reported five straight quarters of net income and is expanding into new tech-nologies such as high-resolution televisions known as 8K, which the com-pany says display images 16 times the resolution of HD TVs.

Sharp President Tai Jeng-Wu said Japan is entering the 8K era and demand will rise with more content.

Gou spoke emotionally about the earthquake that hit Hualien in Taiwan this month. He talked about giving money to the recovery effort, but also that he wants to help develop technologies that will do even more.

“On the night when the Hualien earth-quake hit, I thought of donating money,” he said. “I donated a good size of money in recent years, but can the donation help to reduce earthquakes? Can it predict earth-quakes? Big data and AI not only can be used in manufacturing, it can also help us in areas like earthquake prevention. Tech-nologies can help solve problems our society is facing.”

24 MONDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2018

INsightback to BUSINESS

CAPITALCOMMENT

NAME IN THE MARKET: SOUTH ASIA 2018 GROWTH

Move beyond iPhone assembly to AI, IoTBEIJING/ TAIPEI - BLOOMBERG

Airbus to pay €81m to end corruption probeAFP

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Euro-pean aircraft manufacturer Airbus on Friday said it had agreed to pay a fine of €81.25m ($99m) to end a German corruption probe into the 2003 sale of Eurofighter jets to Austria.

Prosecutors in Munich said in a statement that their inves-tigation did not find evidence of bribery to secure the lucra-tive contract.

But they said Airbus man-agement had failed in its supervisory duty by allowing employees to make multi-mil-lion-euro payments linked to the deal for “unclear purposes”.

The firm said in its own statement it had accepted the

fine, meaning that the probe first opened in 2012 “has been terminated”.

But its legal woes are far from over.

Authorities in Austria are still investigating whether bribes were paid to land the two-billion-euro sale of 18 Eurofighter jets to Vienna.

And the Austrian govern-ment last year launched a lawsuit against the company, seeking up to 1.1 billion euros in damages over the Eurofighter purchases.

It accuses Airbus, previ-ously called EADS, of deliberately hoodwinking Vienna over the order, over-charging it to make up for kickbacks and other shady expenses linked to winning the contract.

Oil majors strike it rich on rising crude prices

AFP

PARIS: The world’s leading oil companies published a bumper crop in profits last year as rising crude prices helped turn their fortunes around, but they remain cautious and are unlikely to rush out on a new spend-ing spree just yet.

In a flourish of earnings reports over the past week, the picture painted by majors ranging from ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total has been a very rosy one.

French giant Total saw its bottom line jump by more than a third, Shell’s net profit tripled, ExxonMo-bil’s fourth-quarter earnings rose nearly five-fold, Norway’s Statoil swung back into the black and BP’s profits soared.

In fact, “2017 was one of the strongest years in BP’s recent history,” the British group’s chief executive Bob Dudley told his annual earnings news conference.

Key to this success was the steady rise in crude prices in recent months, driven by a landmark deal between oil-producing coun-tries both inside and outside the OPEC cartel to reduce the worldwide glut in supply by throttling output.

Correspondingly, after falling from $115 per barrel in 2014 to under $35 at the start of 2016, oil prices have been rising, from an average $44 in 2016 to $54 in 2017 to nearly $70 this month.

Flush with their new-found profits, the oil majors have raised dividends and announced share buy-back programmes, eager to make it up to their shareholders who have become restive after having to do with meagre

payouts for years.But it’s still a far shot from the heady days of old.Companies have learned to live with low oil prices,

slashing costs and investment to become leaner and fitter, and said they have little intention of abandoning that regime any time soon.

Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden said he now always works on the assumption that oil prices would remain “lower forever”.

“We’re sticking to the cost-cutting programmes, despite the rise in crude prices,” said Total chief execu-tive Patrick Pouyanne.

Such prudence is evident in the only modest uptick in investment in upstream exploration and production activities. Globally, these investments rose by four per-cent to $389bn last year and should increase by a modest two-to-six percent again this year, according to estimates published by IFP Energies Nouvelles this week. By comparison, the amount totalled $683bn in 2014.

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF

We need to anticipate where the next crisis

will be. Will it be shadow banking? Will

it be cryptocurrencies? .

In a flourish of earnings reports over the past week, the picture painted by majors ranging from ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total has been a very rosy one.

Gou, at an annual gathering in Taipei for employees and family members, said the company has a great deal of work to do through 2020 to adapt to the sector’s new realities.