A1SaudiArabia.com

JEDDAH – Aggregate earnings of GCC companies showed a second consecutive year of decline, Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz) said early this week.

With 67 percent of companies declaring results so far, aggregate results show a decline of 5 percent for GCC as a whole for 2009 versus an 18 percent expansion in MSCI EM EPS, and a 9 percent contraction in S&P 500 EPS for the year.

The visibility remains poor for Kuwait with only 20 percent of companies reporting their full year earnings so far.

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DUBAI – Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) rose on Thursday after its quarterly profit met expectations, lifting Egypts broader index, while other Middle East markets were mixed in subdued trade.

Dubai resumed its rally ahead of an imminent Dubai World debt offer. Qatar was flat at 7,315 points after Wednesdays surge while Abu Dhabi and Kuwait fell in the absence of any new catalysts. Kuwait measure fell 0.03 percent to 7,414 points.

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JEDDAH – Saudi real estate yields 8 percent yearly since 2007, Dubai-based Cityscape Intelligence (CI) – the leading global emerging country real estate information service, said on Wednesday.

In its newly launched new market data launched, CI did not only compare real estate sales and leasing prices in eighteen areas across Jeddah and Riyadh, but also compares office and residential asset classes, tracking prices back to 2007.

Moira Robertson, project director of Cityscape Intelligence, said “no real estate price index like this existed in Saudi Arabia until we commissioned our own research. It was therefore surprising to find that the market has yielded on average 8 percent per annum clearly avoiding the boom bust that some other Gulf markets have suffered.”

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JEDDAH – Shuaa Capitals Saudi Arabian unit is beginning its acquisition march, even as most of the world continues to struggle with a deflated economy.

Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia said its hospitality fund has bought land in Jeddah for a hotel development worth more than $130 million, the first ever land acquisition by a hospitality fund in the Kingdom, according to Reuters.

The fund is tapping growing demand for hotels in the worlds largest oil exporter and will build a luxury project in the Red Sea city worth SR500 million ($133.3 million), Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia said.

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JEDDAH – Abu Dhabi and Dubais futures have been more intertwined as of late; this has had a price-stabilizing effect in Dubai and has reduced average rent prices in Abu Dhabi. The rent differential between the two has resulted in a significant proportion of cross-emirate migration. If this trend continues then it will exert further downward pressure on prices and rents in Abu Dhabi, at least narrowing the difference between the two in the medium term.

The key drivers for apartment, office and retail prices in the UAE for the future will be location, quality of construction, community facilities, completed infrastructure, and availability of competitive financing solutions, Tasweek Real Estate Marketing & Development, a property adviser and solutions provider in the Middle East said recently.

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Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, middle, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, with some of the participants in Women in the Arab World symposium on Monday organized by Barnard College, a premier liberal arts college for women in the US.

DUBAI – Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, said significant achievements of Arab women today are influencing future generations to aspire to and reach greater heights.

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Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, middle, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, with some of the participants in Women in the Arab World symposium on Monday organized by Barnard College, a premier liberal arts college for women in the US.

DUBAI – Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, said significant achievements of Arab women today are influencing future generations to aspire to and reach greater heights.

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RIYADH – Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), chaired by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, announced Monday its intention to buy all shares of Kingdom Hotel Investments that it doesnt already own.

In an e-mailed statement, Kingdom Holding Co. said its Kingdom K-5-KR211 unit will offer $5 per share and per GDS representing premiums of 39.7% and 37.2% to the average trading price for the past three months of the shares and the GDSs, respectively.

The offer values KHI at approximately $843 million.

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DUBAI – Insurance premiums in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) reached an overall volume of $10.6 billion last year, showing a massive 28 percent year-on-year growth rate, according to a research conducted by Value Partners, a leading global management consulting firm.

This compares to a worldwide growth of 3.4 percent in nominal dollar terms, implying stagnation in real terms.

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DAMMAM – Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, is introducing new daily flights from Dammam to Thiruvananthapuram in the southern Indian state of Kerala, effective from March 28.
Afzal Azam Baig, General Manager Jet Airways Saudi Arabia, told Saudi Gazette that the introduction of the new daily service from Dammam will further strengthen the airlines’ presence in the Gulf sector, where it has emerged as one of the leading carriers in a relatively short period of time. “We will deploy a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft on this route,” he said. 
Dammam will be the tenth destination in Jet Airways’ Gulf network and its third in Saudi Arabia, and the new services from the city will complement the airline’s existing daily Gulf operations from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat and Sharjah, as well as Jeddah and Riyadh to several cities in India.
From March 28 onwards, Jet Airways Flight No. 9W 565 will depart Dammam at 2350 hrs, arriving in Thiruvananthapuram at 0715 hrs, the following day. Flight No. 9W 566 will depart Thiruvananthapuram at 2030 hrs arriving in Dammam at 2250 hrs.
According to Fareed Al-Alawi, Vice President-Gulf and Middle East, Jet Airways, “Saudi Arabia is a very important market for Jet Airways on account of the large volume of traffic that it has to and from India. With the launch of our third daily service to Saudi Arabia, we are confident of further reinforcing our position among the leading carriers in the Indo-Gulf sector”.
 The airline currently flies daily to Mumbai from Riyadh and Jeddah. – SG