Industry Update

Bugatti debuted its most powerful supercar at Pebble Beach on Friday: a $10 million,1,600 horsepower throwback to the ’90s that sprints from 0 to 62 mph in 2.4 seconds. The French carmaker is making a splash at Monterey’s annual auto week. The Centodieci is the company’s latest coach built super car commemorating Bugatti’s 110th anniversary. Unlike Bugatti’s $18.7 million La Voiture Noire, which was built for grand touring, the Centodieci was built for speed. The company is making just 10 of the Centodiecis, which feature Bugatti’s 8.0-liter W16 engine. The company added an extra air inlet to help cool the engine. Source:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/16/bugatti-reveals-its-most-powerful-supercar-yet-the-10-million-centodieci.html

Softbank-backed AI and robotics firm Automation Anywhere is in talks with a number of UAE-based airlines and telecom operators to provide software it says can boost productivity by undertaking mundane day-to-day tasks, according to Milan Sheth, the company’s executive vice president for India, the Middle East and Africa. The company which also has Goldman Sachs as an investor produces software powered ‘digital workers’ that it says are three times as productive as human employees, helping release them to focus on high-level business value initiatives. Last week, the company announced that it had opened a regional headquarters in Dubai as it focuses on expansion in the region.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/technology/424197-softbank-backed-automation-anywhere-eyes-opportunities-in-uae-airline-sector

UK television network ITV has teamed up with the BBC on a streaming product that gives British audiences a new alternative to Netflix. BritBox will debut in the final three months of this year, the networks announced Friday. For £5.99 ($7.50) per month, users will get access to older shows and new HD programming across multiple screens. The back catalog will include popular series like Victoria and Love Island. Price could be a major selling point. BritBox will cost the same as a basic Netflix (NFLX) subscription but it's £3 ($3.75) cheaper than the American company's HD offering.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/19/media/bbc-itv-britbox-netflix/index.html

Britain's largest supermarket, Tesco, has increased the price of more than 1,000 products in the past two weeks. The firm raised prices on products including cheese, chocolate and bananas by an average of 11%, according to the Press Association. Tesco says it held off raising prices for as long as it could, and insists it is still competitive when compared to Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. It comes as rivals Aldi and Lidl put pressure on the big four supermarkets. All shops are having to deal with increases in the cost of the goods they sell. The prices of milk powder, potatoes and pork have all risen much faster than the official inflation figure of 2%.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49048822

Mumbai-based L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Limited (LTHE), a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has won a $1.01 billion contract from Saudi Aramco for its key oil field development project in Marjan. The project scope for oil facilities for the Marjan Incremental Development Project consists of four tie-in platforms, one tie platform module, nine production deck modules (wellhead decks), 217 kilometers of subsea pipelines across 25 segments, and 145 kilometers of subsea cables across 16 segments. It also includes the replacement of existing control gears at eight SA offshore platforms and tie-in to existing systems.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/energy/424210-lt-consortium-signs-1bn-saudi-aramco-contract

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

Footfall will continue to be a challenge for retail malls in Dubai and the greater UAE in the face of coming oversupply and the rapidly increasing adoption of e-commerce, according to real estate consultancy JLL. According to a recent JLL report on the real estate sector in Q2, market rents in Dubai primary malls have declined by approximately 14 percent, compared to 24 percent for secondary malls when compared to the same time period last year. Additionally, market rise vacancies are estimated to have risen from 14 percent in Q2 2018 to 18 percent in Q2 2019. Total mall-based reply supply stood at around 3.8 million sq.  at the end of the quarter, with the expansion of Dragon Mall being the only project completed during the quarter.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/retail/424185-dubai-malls-turn-to-tech-in-face-of-retail-sector-oversupply

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

Central Bank of the UAE says reserves have increased by $1.36bn in first five months. Total banking reserves at the Central Bank of the UAE totalled AED298 billion ($81.1 billion) by the end of May, a growth of AED5 billion during the past five months. The rise, according to CBUAE's Banking Indicators Report cited by state news agency WAM, was driven by an increase in the bank's reserve requirements which rose to AED126.3 billion in May, with the current accounts up to AED24.5 billion and certificates of deposits to AED147.1 billion. In terms of credit, loans provided to the government rose by 1.6 percent to AED204.8 billion in May, with business and industrial sector credit hitting AED807 billion.

Source: https://www.arabianbusiness.com/banking-finance/423495-total-uae-banking-reserves-rise-to-over-81bn

Troubled travel company Thomas Cook is in £750m rescue talks with banks and its largest shareholder, Fosun. The measures, which have not been finalized, would see the Chinese investor buy the firm's tour business. Thomas Cook's chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, said the proposal was "not the outcome any of us wanted" but insisted it was "pragmatic". He told the BBC that customers did not need to worry because their holiday bookings were "secure".

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48960685