H1 advertising expenditure in GCC reaches $5.05bn, a 20% increase over last year
TV ad expenditure jumps 39% to reach $3.48 billion
Bahrain records fastest growth at 40% and UAE remains on top in terms of volume despite slight decline
Housing shortage is a key issue for October elections and there are only two bidders for the pilot scheme Bahrain’s plan to address its housing shortage using the private sector offers a neat solution to two of the country’s most pressing issues: the potential of civil unrest from the majority Shia population and a constrained [...]
EXPERTS proposing a new island off the coast of Manama that harnesses renewable energy say it could also be used as an offshore business centre housing residential and commercial property. The idea was first floated at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen last December, but the details have only just come to light. It [...]
Gulf Finance House (GFH) chairman Esam Janahi has been appointed as executive chairman as part of the restructuring of GFH. The board also announced plans to raise $300 million for acquisition and expansion and asked for its shares to be re-listed on the market. The bank has also appointed Deutsche Bank AG (London branch) as [...]
Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House (GFH) plans to raise capital by $300m through equity-linked convertible murabahas or similar instruments, and has hired Deutsche Bank AG as a structuring agent. A murabaha is an Islamic money market product accounted for on banks’ balance sheets, under which a bank buys an asset from third party and sells it [...]
Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) has signed a seven-year BD90.5 million ($240m) Ijara facility for the Financial Centre Project with Al Salam Bank Bahrain. The facility has Al Salam as mandated lead arranger in a syndicate including BBK, Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain and Kuwait) and National Bank of Bahrain as co-lead arrangers and Bahrain Islamic Bank [...]
Average salary increases in Bahrain are set to hit 5.3 per cent this year, according to a report by global consulting firm Hay Group. And at a seminar in the Gulf Hotel yesterday for human resource (HR) specialists, the consultants predicted that there would be continued steady growth in salary levels next year of around [...]
International ratings agency Moody’s on Monday downgraded Bahrain’s local and foreign currency government bond ratings to A3 from A2 due to budgetary pressure, but kept a stable outlook. The ratings action was based on a “gradual but significant rise in the breakeven oil price in the Bahraini budget over recent years,” Moody’s Investors Service said [...]
A BAHRAINI woman, who owns what is believed to be the first sex shop in the region, fears she could run out of business following a new government ban on sex toys. Khadija Ahmed, who claims the products she sells are saving marriages by spicing up couples’ love lives, is now considering leaving the country. [...]
BAHRAIN’S business community has backed moves to stamp out acts of violence across the country. Repeated tyre burning and targeting of public property could threaten investment in Bahrain, according to the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). It said it welcomed public debate, but drew the line at illegal acts of sabotage. BCCI youth [...]
