Industry Update

Richard Branson, the thrill-seeking British billionaire, founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 on the promise that a privately developed spacecraft would make it possible for hundreds of people to become astronauts, no NASA training required. And if a 2,500-mile-per-hour ride to the edge of space sounded off-putting, Branson also pledged to take the journey himself before letting paying customers on board. Branson is the only one among the group of the so-called space barons, the group of space-loving billionaires that includes Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who has publicly pledged to take a ride in the near future aboard a spacecraft he has bankrolled. Bezos' company, Blue Origin, is working on a competing suborbital space tourism rocket. Musk's SpaceX, however, is focused on transporting astronauts and perhaps one day tourists on days-long missions to Earth's orbit.

Source:https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/06/tech/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space-scn/index.html

Luxury carmaker Bentley has unveiled plans to go fully electric by 2030.Before then, the brand will be switching its model range to offer only plug-in hybrid or battery electric cars by 2026. Volkswagen-owned Bentley also aims to be completely carbon neutral across its manufacturing within a decade. Electric cars are growing in popularity and sales have tripled in the UK so far this year. "Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury," said Adrian Hallmark, Bentley's chief

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54835588

US retailer Gap could close all of its own UK stores, putting thousands of jobs at risk, as it mulls shifting its operations to franchise-only in Europe. Shops in the UK, France, Ireland and Italy could shut next summer, along with its UK-based European distribution centre, the retailer said. Gap would not disclose the number of UK stores it has, nor the size of its workforce. Falling sales in recent years have been exacerbated by coronavirus disruption. The retailer reported a £740m loss in the three months to May. Instead of operating its own stores, Gap said it was looking at whether to move to a franchise model. The retailer had 129 Gap-branded stores in Europe at the end of July, and about 400 franchise stores.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54635810

Coca-Cola is saying goodbye to 200 brands, or half of its portfolio. The beverage giant had already announced that it will discontinue some beloved, if outdated, drinks, like Tab, Zico and Odwalla. Thursday was the first time the company said it would get rid of 200 of them. Reducing the portfolio will allow Coca-Cola to focus on its most profitable offerings, the company explained. Those include its core products like Coca-Cola Zero Sugar as well as brands that fit into trendy new categories, like Topo Chico hard seltzer and AHA, a caffeinated seltzer the company launched last year. CEO James Quincey said during an analyst call that the company has finalized which brands will remain in the portfolio. He didn't give specific names that will get axed, but said that the "hydration" category, with Dasani, Powerade, Vitamin Water and Zico, and other brands, will likely see more cuts.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/22/business/coke-zico-tab/index.html

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the chemical maker in which Saudi Aramco holds a majority stake, returned to profit in the third quarter amid signs of a recovery in demand from impact of the coronavirus. The company, known as Sabic, said third-quarter profit was 1.09 billion riyals ($290 million) compared with 740 million riyals in the same period last year. Profit was higher mainly due to the reversal of 690 million riyals of impairments associated with Clariant AG, in which Sabic holds a 31.5% stake. Revenue in the three months to the end of September fell 11% to 29.3 billion.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-25/saudi-chemicals-maker-sabic-returns-to-profit-as-demand-recovers?srnd=premium-middle-east

The UK's data privacy watchdog has fined the Marriott Hotels chain £18.4m for a major data breach that may have affected up to 339 million guests. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said names, contact information, and passport details may all have been compromised in a cyber-attack. The breach included seven million guest records for people in the UK. The ICO said the company failed to put appropriate safeguards in place but acknowledged it had improved. The first part of the cyber-attack happened in 2014, affecting the Starwood Hotels group, which was acquired by Marriott two years later. But until 2018, when the problem was first noticed, the attacker continued to have access to all affected systems, including: names, email addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers, arrival and departure information, VIP status, loyalty programme numbers etc. On that basis, the ICO said Marriott had failed to protect personal data as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54748843

British Airways suspended all flights to Cairo for seven days to “allow for further assessment,” with the U.K. government maintaining a warning about threats to aviation in Egypt. The U.K. carrier said it reviews security arrangements at all its airports and has stopped flights to the city as a precaution. “We would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so,” the company said in a statement Saturday.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-20/british-airways-halts-cairo-flights-for-seven-days-as-precaution?srnd=premium-africa

Over 200 people have the chance to let their DNA determine the color of their car. Launched by Nissan Middle East, the activation has been running in the United Arab Emirates with Al Masaood Automobiles in Abu Dhabi, and Arabian Automobiles Company in Dubai. Customers interested in the Nissan Altima have been invited to test drive the newly launched car at the two outlets before letting science and technology take over. “When you look at the New Altima it is one of the most technologically advanced sedans in its segment. We wanted to take that even further,” said Marko Radzic, deputy general manager of advertising and media at Nissan Middle East.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/technology/424152-nissan-middle-east-to-let-buyers-dna-determine-car-colour