Business

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s energy company Aramco said on Sunday its second quarter profits for 2021 had nearly quadrupled compared to the same period last year on the back of higher oil prices.

Aramco said its net profit rose to $25.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, compared to $6.6 billion in the same quarter of 2020, owing to a stronger oil market and higher refining and chemicals margins, and with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

"Our second quarter results reflect a strong rebound in worldwide energy demand and we are heading into the second half of 2021 more resilient and more flexible, as the global recovery gains momentum," Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in a statement.

The announcement comes approximately two months after the company said it raised $6 billion from its first dollar-denominated Islamic bond sale, posting earlier this year a 30 per cent jump in first quarter profits.

Aramco — the kingdom's cash cow — posted a 44.4 per cent slump in 2020 net profit, piling pressure on government finances as Riyadh pursues its multibillion dollar projects to diversify the economy. 

The company's debt has climbed as Saudi Arabia was hammered last year by the double whammy of low prices and sharp cuts in production triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The world's leading oil producers agreed last month to continue to modestly boost output from August reaching a compromise after the United Arab Emirates blocked a deal. 

An OPEC+ meeting decided to raise output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month from August to help fuel a global economic recovery as the pandemic eases.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Thursday joined the ranks of tech companies requiring returning workers to be vaccinated, as Amazon delayed its plan to reopen offices until next year.

The earliest date for fully reopening Microsoft's US facilities will be October 4, according to the computing giant based near Amazon in the state of Washington.

"Starting in September, we'll also require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors and any guests entering Microsoft buildings in the United States," Microsoft said in response to an inquiry.

Microsoft and other tech firms said they are closely tracking the pandemic and adapting plans as the situation evolves, keeping employee health as a top priority.

E-commerce colossus Amazon confirmed that it is delaying return of employees to its corporate offices until January of next year instead of having them come back in September as originally hoped.

"We require employees to wear masks in our offices, with the exception of those who have verified full vaccination," Amazon said.

Google and Facebook last week said workers returning to offices will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, in the latest move by firms and US government agencies.

Spikes in infections due to a Delta variant of the virus have ramped up concerns in the United States, where more than 600,000 people have died in the pandemic.

Google last week made campuses off-limits to unvaccinated employees and extend its global work-from-home option through October 18.

"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

Google and Facebook were among companies worldwide that abandoned campuses early last year, letting people work remotely rather than risk exposure to COVID-19 in offices.

"We will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated," Facebook vice president of people Lori Goler said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves."

Many unions and critics of mandates have spoken out against required vaccinations, citing personal freedom arguments.

Microsoft said that employees who are not vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons will be accommodated.

Rising pandemic concerns are also slowing the return to offices in the financial sector, with investment management giant Black Rock telling US workers it extended its "reacclimating period" a month to the start of October.

Wells Fargo and US Bank have also delayed having employees return to offices, according to a CNN report.

DOHA — Qatar Airways said on Thursday that it had been ordered by regulators in the Gulf state to ground 13 of its Airbus A350 aircraft over the rapid degradation of fuselage surfaces.

The airline, one of the Gulf "big three" carriers, previously stopped accepting delivery of the aircraft over the issue, according to media reports in June.

Qatar Airways said in a statement that it had been forced to press out-of-service Airbus A330 aircraft back into operation to fill the gap left by the grounding of the 13 aircraft.

Qatar Airways has 34 A350-900 types and 19 A350-1000s in its fleet, according to an Airbus document.

"The airline is working with its regulator to ensure the continued safety of all passengers... and following the explicit written instruction of [the airline's] regulator, thirteen aircraft have now been grounded," the airline said.

Qatar Airways is regulated by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority.

The airline's chief executive Akbar Al Baker said he expects "Airbus treats this matter with the proper attention that it requires". 

"Qatar Airways will not accept anything other than aircraft that continue to offer its customers the highest possible standard of safety and the best travel experience that they deserve," he said in the statement. 

"Qatar Airways expects Airbus to have established the root cause and permanently corrected the underlying condition to the satisfaction of Qatar Airways and our regulator before we take delivery of any further A350 aircraft."

The statement said the airline was "cooperating with all the leasing companies affected by this A350 grounding who have started to inspect their impacted aircraft", without giving details of other affected parties.

Through the coronavirus pandemic, Qatar Airways positioned itself as the leading airline for repatriating stranded travellers, winning plaudits from Britain and France among other countries whose flag carriers were virtually mothballed.

More than half of the airline's fleet is made up of the mid-sized but long-range US-made Boeing 787 and French-built Airbus A350.

"We do not comment on our customers operations. As a leading aircraft manufacturer, we are always in talks with our customers. Those talks we keep confidential," Airbus said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber on Wednesday reported a profit in second quarter on one-time gains and said its pandemic-stalled ride-hailing business was showing signs of recovering.

The San Francisco-based company reported a profit of $1.1 billion. Revenue rose to $3.9 billion in the recently ended quarter, more than double what it took in during the same period last year.
The net income for the quarter included gains of $1.4 billion from the revaluation of its investment in Chinese ride-share firm Didi and another $272 million from its stake in the autonomous technology firm Aurora, according to Uber.

Uber made "strong progress" in luring drivers and couriers back to its smartphone-summoned ride and delivery businesses, chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings release.

But its delivery operations including Uber Eats generated the largest amount of revenue, with the unit continuing to benefit from trends that began during pandemic lockdowns last year.

"Our platform is getting stronger each quarter, with consumers who engage with both Mobility and Delivery now generating nearly half of our total company gross bookings," Khosrowshahi said.

Revenue from Uber's rides and delivery units essentially doubled, while money taken in by a freight division that connects truckers with shippers jumped 65 per cent, according to Uber.

"Uber's ride sharing business is on a clear path to recovery, however, expect some hiccups along the way as the delta variant, particularly as many drivers still feel uncomfortable with customers in their cars," said eMarketer analyst Eric Haggstrom.

"On the delivery side, new verticals such as grocery and alcohol have shown incredible early traction."

Uber shares were down more than 7 per cent in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

Uber in July announced a $2.25 billion deal to beef up its freight unit with the acquisition of Transplace, a firm specializing in logistics management software.

TOKYO — Sony upgraded its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday on the back of a strong quarterly performance, although the pandemic boom enjoyed by the gaming sector is slowing.

The Japanese conglomerate said solid earnings in its music and consumer electronics businesses offset a first-quarter operating profit decline in the gaming sector.

A box-office triumph for the anime epic "Demon Slayer", distributed by Sony's animation unit Aniplex, also boosted its better-than-expected quarterly results.

Sony Group now predicts a net profit of 700 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the fiscal year to March 2022, up from its earlier estimate of 660 billion yen.

For the three months to June, net profit rose 9.4 per cent to 211.8 billion yen, Sony said. Its annual sales forecast was unchanged at 9.7 trillion yen after first-quarter sales gained 15 per cent to 2.26 trillion yen.

The figures showed Sony "displaying its underlying strength", said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.

"This result showed the advantage of a conglomerate — strong sectors can offset weakening ones," he said.

While the upward annual forecast revision came as a surprise, "sales of digital cameras were much better than expected. And music-streaming businesses were also stronger than we thought," Yasuda added.

Although COVID-19 hit many industries hard, the gaming sector was one of the few to benefit, with demand soaring as people sought distractions during long periods stuck at home.

In the previous fiscal year, Sony reported its biggest-ever annual net profit, which more than doubled to 1.17 trillion yen on record sales of 8.99 trillion yen. The group's latest annual net profit forecast remained lower than the bumper result last year, in which lockdown demand had boosted software sales.

"Demand is sharply weakening this year" for gaming products, as vaccines help life move closer to normality despite the spread of the Delta variant, Yasuda had warned before the earnings release.

Sony launched its PlayStation 5 last year but the console remains in short supply, leaving many would-be customers empty-handed.

A global microchip shortage has also hobbled production of a wide range of goods, from cars to computers.

"Sony risks losing would-be users if the current supply shortage continues," said Yasuo Imanaka, chief analyst at Rakuten Securities.

In December, the animated film "Demon Slayer", in which a teenager hunts down and beheads demons, became Japan's top-grossing film of all time.

The title also had the best opening ever recorded in North America for a foreign-language film.

'Demon Slayer' contributed a lot in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, but the contribution is weakening," Yasuda said.

Sony, which started as a tiny radio maker in the years after World War II, is now enjoying steady growth in its entertainment businesses as a vital source of revenue.

The manufacturer of the Walkman has performed strongly in recent years after recovering from massive losses in the early 2010s, when it struggled to overcome deep financial trouble by cutting jobs and selling divisions.

"But Sony's performance could level off this year," Yasuda said.

SAN FRANCISCO — A US labour official has recommended the results be nullified in a failed vote to unionise Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse, the union in the effort said on Monday, opening a possible path to a new election.

The recommendation by a hearing officer is a key step in potentially overturning the April ballot, which aimed to create the first union at US-based Amazon facility but which the union alleges was tainted by the company's interference.

US labour watchdog, National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), would need to give its approval for the proposal to take effect. 

The results, showed a wide majority of workers rejecting the move, capped a bruising months-long battle that sparked intense debate over workplace conditions at Amazon, which has more than 800,000 US employees.

"We support the hearing officer's recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election," Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum said in a release.

"Amazon's behavior throughout the election process was despicable."

Amazon has held firm that it did not interfere with the voting, and said it will appeal the hearing officer's recommendation.

"Our employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing into the national debate, and at the end of the day, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company," Amazon said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Their voice should be heard above all else, and we plan to appeal to ensure that happens."

Amazon has argued that most of its workers don't want or need a union and that it already provides more than most other employers, with a minimum $15 hourly wage and other benefits.

The labour group said workers were bombarded with anti-union messages, and claimed the company's use of a drop-box outside the warehouse could have intimidated employees.

The Amazon drive was seen as a watershed for a diminished US labour movement, with activists aiming to use the Alabama warehouse as a catalyst for other organising efforts.

SAN FRANCISCO — Zoom, the videoconferencing firm, has agreed to settle a class-action US privacy lawsuit for $85 million, it said on Sunday.

The suit charged that Zoom's sharing of users' personal data with Facebook, Google and LinkedIn was a breach of privacy for millions.

While Zoom denied wrongdoing, it did agree to improve its security practices.

The settlement needs to be approved by US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.

A Zoom spokesman told AFP: "The privacy and security of our users are top priorities for Zoom, and we take seriously the trust our users place in us.

"We are proud of the advancements we have made to our platform, and look forward to continuing to innovate with privacy and security at the forefront."

The settlement will set up a "non-reversionary cash fund of $85 million to pay valid claims, notice and administration costs, Service Payments to Class Representatives, and any attorneys' fees and costs awarded by the court", according to the preliminary settlement.

All class members are eligible for payment, it said.

Those who paid for an account can receive 15 per cent of the money they paid to Zoom for their core subscription during that time or $25, whichever is greater; while those who did not pay for a subscription can make a claim for $15. 

As the coronavirus pandemic closed offices due to health risks and companies shifted to working online, use of video and collaboration platforms hosted by companies including Zoom, Slack, Microsoft, and Google rocketed.

But Zoom's rapid growth came with pressure to deal with security and privacy as the platform faced scrutiny from rising usage.

AMMAN — Arab Bank Group net income after tax totalled $182.4 million at the end of the first half of 2021 compared to $152.1 million for the same period last year, recording a growth of 20 per cent, according to a bank statement received by The Jordan Times on Sunday. 

During the first quarter of 2021, Arab Bank consolidated the financial statements of Oman Arab Bank under its Group accounts increasing total assets by $8.2 billion to reach $63 billion compared to $51.6 billion for the same period last year. Oman Arab Bank has also recently finalised the acquisition of Al Izz Islamic Bank, a full-fledged Islamic bank, strengthening its presence in the Sultanate of Oman.

Customer deposits grew by 28 per cent to reach $46 billion, while loans grew by 27 per cent, to reach $33.8 billion. The consolidation of Oman Arab Bank has materially increased customer deposits and loans by $7 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively.

 In the statement, Sabih Masri, chairman of the Board of Directors said the results demonstrate the strength of the Bank’s diversified business model and the Bank’s resilient performance in this challenging economic environment.

Nemeh Sabbagh, chief executive officer (CEO), said despite the negative economic consequences of the pandemic, the Bank's robust performance confirms its effectiveness in operating in a challenging economic environment as net operating income increased by 6 per cent to reach $579.8 million. He added that the Group enjoys high liquidity and a strong capital base with a loan to deposit ratio of 73.5 per cent. 

Moreover, Sabbagh said the Group continues to hold credit provisions against non-performing loans in excess of 100 per cent.

Arab Bank has recently issued its eleventh annual sustainability report, which provides a summary of the Bank's performance and achievements in the social, environmental and economic fields for the year 2020.

During the board meeting which took place on Thursday, the board approved the appointment of Mahmoud Malhas as board member and he was elected as Deputy Chairman of the Board.

Sabbagh, who has had a 47 year career in banking and finance and has been the CEO of Arab Bank for the past 12 years, informed the board of his desire to retire at the end of the year. 

He recommended the appointment of Randa Sadik as his successor. Sadik has been deputy CEO since 2010.