The Financial

Lulu Retail Holdings posted its Q3 net profit at $35.1 million, up 126% year-on-year (YoY). The UAE-based hypermarket chain operator which earlier this month raised $1.72 billion in an IPO, reported a 6% YoY rise in revenue to $1.86 billion. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dti74Htn #TheFinancial #News

JEDDAH: The value of projects under Saudi Arabia’s local content initiatives has reached approximately SR800 billion ($213 billion) by the third quarter of 2024, according to the Kingdom’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Alkhorayef. Speaking at the ongoing second edition of the Local Content Forum in Riyadh, themed “Partnerships for Sustainable Growth,” Alkhorayef revealed that Saudi Arabia’s share of local content in government procurement has increased from 33 percent in 2020 to 47 percent by the third quarter of 2024. Read more: https://lnkd.in/drDuj5fd #TheFinancial #News

The Indian rupee weakened to its all-time low on Thursday, pressured by likely foreign outflows from local stocks and renewed strength in the dollar as investors tempered hopes of aggressive rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. The rupee declined to a low of 23.0047 against the UAE dirham (84.4275 against the US dollar) in early trading, eclipsing its previous all-time low of 23.0027. It was quoted at 23.0020 as of 9am UAE time, nearly flat on the day. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dXgx2ckh #TheFinancial #News

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s economy is set to grow by 1.7 percent this year, before accelerating to 4.7 percent in 2025 and 2026, driven by government-backed projects aimed at diversifying the Kingdom’s economy, according to Moody’s. The credit rating agency’s forecast exceeds previous estimates, including the Saudi government’s own 2024 gross domestic projection of just 0.8 percent. Moody’s outlook surpasses the Kingdom’s pre-budget statement, which had estimated a 4.6 percent growth in 2025. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dEak6PDh -#TheFinancial #News

RIYADH: Spending in Saudi hotels saw a week-on-week increase of 11.4 percent between Nov. 10 and 16, reaching SR399.7 million ($106.4 million), according to the Kingdom’s central bank. The weekly point-of-sale transactions bulletin from SAMA showed that restaurants and cafes recorded the second largest sectoral increase with a 4.3 percent rise to reach SR2.07 billion, which also equated to the biggest share of the overall value. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d4rae-2w #TheFinancial #News

Measures available to manage the rising global temperature are not sufficient, a leading Thai official has told the UN’s climate change conference in Baku. Speaking at COP29 in Azerbaijan, the Asian country’s Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Chalermchai Sri-on, called for decisions to be made on climate financing to help those nations most affected by rising temperatures. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dqXT5YiQ #TheFinancial #News #COP29 #Climate

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According to the General Authority for Endowments, this?growth follows the 2023 record, which surpassed the half-billion riyal mark. The increase in assets was attributed to the licensing of five new entities, bringing the total to 34 endowment investment funds, 27 of which are public and seven private. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dYJsmsau #TheFinancial #News #SaudiArabia

According to recent reports, URL detections in the UAE have risen by 36.5 per cent, increasing from an average of 17.05 per cent in 2023 to 23.34 per cent in 2024, highlighting growing online security challenges in the region. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dc_NyKc5 #TheFinancial #UAE #News #BlackFriday

The UAE is becoming one of the most important hubs for gold trade in the coming years, a recent report by the DMCC revealed. This position was significantly bolstered by the UAE leapfrogging the United Kingdom in 2023 to become the second-largest gold trade hub worldwide, with over USD 129 billion in total trade – a rise of 36 per cent on the past year. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dDp--KK4 #TheFinancial #News