JEDDAH: Abdullah Marei Bin Mahfouz, deputy chairman of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI), met with a Japanese team headed by Yasuyuki Murahashi, director general of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Riyadh branch, on Monday. They discussed the means of enhancing economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Kuwait, Qatar connect grids

ALKHOBAR: Kuwait and Qatar have synchronized their power networks as they move toward the launch of a four-nation Gulf grid, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia successfully conducted trial power transfers with Qatar and Kuwait, SPA reported citing Mohamed Al-Shaikh, a maintenance manager at the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority.

Vivendi calls off Zain talks

PARIS: French media and telecom giant Vivendi said on Monday it had called off talks to buy a majority stake in Zain Group’s African telecom operations while a Kuwaiti paper said Zain had rejected the bid. Shares in Vivendi, which has vowed to keep its BBB credit rating intact and maintain its dividend at current levels, rose by more than 4 percent on Monday after it said the talks were “interrupted”, while shares in Kuwaiti mobile operator Zain slipped 1.7 percent.

KFH net profit down 61% in Q2

KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the country’s biggest Islamic lender, reported on Monday a 61-percent decline in second-quarter net profit on provisions against bad loans. Net income in the first half of the year was 72 million dinars ($250.4 million), KFH said in a statement. In the second quarter last year, the lender had net profit of 83.9 million dinars.

Aldar inks deal with contractors

ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties has signed contracts with three regional contractors to build 5,000 villas in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, it said on Monday. The emirate’s largest real estate developer signed contracts with Abu Dhabi’s Al-Jaber Building, Saudi Arabia’s El Seif Engineering Contracting and Malaysia’s Pembinaan, to build the homes at Al-Falah, it said, without giving a value for the deal.

GFH gets new chief executive

MANAMA: Gulf Finance House (GFH), the leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank, has appointed Ahmed Fahour as its new chief executive officer based in Bahrain. Fahour is the former executive director and CEO for the Australian operations at National Australia Bank. Fahour joined NAB in 2004 to run its Australian and Asian business and was instrumental in leading a large-scale turnaround and growth of the iconic financial institution.