In line with its expansive diversified investment strategy, "Al-Sorayai Trading Industrial Group", a Tadawul-listed public joint stock company, on Saturday inaugurated the SR25 million hypermarket - The Home Styles, which is the premier comprehensive home furniture and appliances hypermarket in the Kingdom, occupying a 7.000 sq m space at the Aya Mall in Jeddah. "We celebrate the inauguration of the first of our retail investments as we are well aware of the increasing demand on home furniture and appliances in the Saudi market. We have faith in our local economy and offer it our full support. This project is a first step toward opening other branches across the Kingdom. The Home Styles showcases the group's line of carpets, rugs, and all kinds of furniture; bedroom, dining room, and living room, and has dedicated sections for home furniture, textiles and accessories. In addition, The Home Styles includes a blanket section showcasing the world-known Spanish MORA brand products, as Al-Sorayai will be its exclusive distribution partner and the Company's first branch of this kind in the western region," said Saleh Naser Al-Sorayai, MD, Al-Sorayai Trading Industrial Group. "By establishing The Home Styles, we are focusing on providing a unique shopping experience. We are also keen on strengthening the training and employment initiatives for talented Saudi youth, with the Saudization percentage in our galleries reaching 70 percent", added Al-Sorayai.General Motors (GM) has awarded a production contract to A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced nanophosphate lithium ion batteries and systems, for complete battery packs to be used in future GM electric vehicles to be sold in select global markets. The contract includes advanced nanophosphate cells and fully integrated electronic components. The specific vehicles and brands will be announced at a later date. GM battery engineering teams have tested and validated the A123 battery chemistry at the automaker's Global Battery Systems lab in Warren, Mich. Teams from both companies will now work on developing calibrations and software controls for the battery system in preparation for production. "GM is committed to offering a full line of electrified vehicles, each of which calls for different battery specifications," said Micky Bly, GM's executive director for Global Electrical Systems, Infotainment and Electrification. "We work with a variety of battery developers and A123's advanced nanophosphate lithium ion technology offers ideal performance capabilities for a future electrified vehicle application." This agreement builds on existing development contracts between GM and A123 focused on next-generation lithium ion battery technology at both the cell and system level. "The announcement is the latest milestone in the partnership between GM and A123," said Jason Forcier, VP, the Automotive Solutions Group at A123 Systems.The UAE-based retail major EMKE Group is embarking on a massive expansion drive with its flagship Lulu hypermarkets chain. The group recently opened five new stores in the GCC to take its total store tally to 93. This year itself five more hypermarkets and shopping malls are slated to be operational across the Gulf. The recently opened Mushrif Mall is a unique mall, which features one of its kind market for fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood. M.A. Yusuffali, MD of the group, said: "This is part of our 'Achieve 100' plan whereby we intend to open our 100th store by 2012. This will further consolidate our numero uno position in the Gulf retail sector and help us spread our wings to other nearby countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. More than AED1.5 billion are being invested this year into these new projects and we hope to set the new benchmarks in both everyday-grocery segments as well as in the luxury and leisure segments," added Yusuffali. "Very soon we will be opening our first Lulu Shopping Mall, India's largest, in Kochi, marking our entry into the world's most emerging retail market. This new mall with all the world-class features will be spread on a 16 acre prime land with more than 2.2 million sq. ft. retail space" said Yusuffali. "We intend to focus in Tier2 cities in the Kingdom where there is a need of quality retailing, and to take the world-class shopping nearer to people. We will soon be launching in Buraidah, Hail, Jubail and Hofuf," he added.Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) has achieved outstanding success for its Al Jawal networks in the central areas of Makkah and Madinah during the first week of the fasting month of Ramadan, thus ensuring the large number of Umrah performers and visitors smoothness in facilitating their domestic and international calls, SMS, MMS and mobile internet services. The 3G high-speed services reported a wide extensive usage this year, which is 90 percent higher than last year in the central area of Makkah, while the usage increased 35 percent in the central area of the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah from last year. This increase is attributed to the customers' usage of smart devices that support Internet applications and facilitate high-speed browsing through STC's Al Jawal network. The results also showed a 22 percent increase in using 2G network from last year in Makkah and 50 percent in Madinah. STC annually raises its alert level due to the intensive traffic in the two holy cities during Ramadan, and strives to support its network and conduct maintenance work for all fixed and mobile towers, thus ensuring its readiness to competently transfer information and communications' traffic. STC networks are subject to continuous monitoring and a precise follow-up from the National Network Control Centers in Riyadh and Jeddah under the management and supervision of skillful national talents who are well trained to deal with the utmost peak of communications' traffic.Emaar, The Economic City (EEC), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), has announced the start of construction of a new manufacturing facility for clay pipes at the Industrial Valley (IV) in King Abdullah Economic City by Advanced Industrial Company. The Advanced Industrial Company for Clay Pipes (AIC) to be built on an 80,000 square meter land at a cost of SR140 million is scheduled to be operational by 2011. The new facility enjoys a team of experienced professionals, engineers and product specialists, and expected to create more than 144 new jobs and train new skills among Saudis. Clay pipes are key component used in sewage and drainage systems meeting a critical need of high performance and high strength pipes in demand for world-class infra projects. Ali Al-Zahrani, project manager at AIC, said: "We are very impressed by how EEC is oiling the wheels of business at KAEC. We extend our sincere appreciation to EEC and the Economic Cities Authority (ECA) for providing us with facilities that played a vital role in obtaining all permits needed to construct the factory." Al-Zahrani indicated that the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources had also been requested to provide all necessary licenses for excavating raw materials for manufacturing clay pipes. "Our ultimate objective is to secure the basic market demands and ensure continuity of its operations by reaching an initial production capacity of 60,000 tons per annum," added Al-Zahrani.Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, has won four 2011-12 European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Awards - European Mobile Phone, European Best Buy TV, European Social Media Camera and European Compact System Lens. The European EISA Awards, voted for by editors from 50 consumer electronics magazines across 19 European countries, have recognized Samsung as the best in class across a spectrum of technology categories. This year's winners are the Samsung GALAXY S II Smartphone, the Samsung UE40D6500 LED TV, the Samsung SH100 Compact Camera and the Samsung NX 20-50mm F3.5-5.6 ED i-Function Lens; all of which impressed the judging panel with their design and features. "Samsung is delighted to have won the European Mobile Phone of the Year, as well as being recognized for our innovation and excellence in Television and Digital Imaging," said Sang Sok Roh, president of Samsung Electronics Levant. "Our passion for technology, for excellence in design and for putting the customer first, is at the heart of our company - these awards are recognition that the constant drive to improve our products is providing real customer benefits." According to EISA, with the Samsung GALAXY S II, "in your hands, you feel like you can do whatever you want whether this is browsing the Internet, shooting full HD video, playing back all kinds of media, gaming or taking pictures."Zamil Industrial Investment Company (Zamil Industrial) pays great attention to serving the community in various ways, including the provision of specialized training opportunities for a large number of university, college and school students on annual basis. Its Training Center Manager Mohamed Abdullah Sharif announced that the training programs for this year have been organized into two main categories - those that are designed for the secondary schools students and others that are suitable for the college and university students from various regions of the Kingdom. Sharif stated that this year the company had provided on-the-job training opportunities for 62 students from different colleges of technologies and universities. Training will be conducted at various departments of the company in Dammam, such as production, engineering, sales and marketing, IT and finance at Zamil Steel and Zamil Air Conditioners, both Zamil Industrial companies. He stated that opportunities were given to students from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Saud University, King Faisal University, Price Mohamed bin Fahd University in Alkhobar, Jazan University, Al-Baha University, Al-Qassim University, Dammam College of Technology and Technical Trainers College in Riyadh. Most of the training programs started on June 25, and the duration of the sessions varies from two months for the summer training students to seven months for the cooperative university students.Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, was recently awarded Best Endorser 2011 of the Code of Conduct1 at the Data Centers Europe 2011 conference in Nice, France. Presented by Paolo Bertoldi, president of Code of Conduct, the award recognizes the company's commitment to optimizing the energy performance of data centers. Schneider Electric won the title from among 120 European companies for its unparalleled support and commitment to the data center industry as well as its energy saving solutions. Schneider Electric signed the Code of Conduct in April to join a consortium of major energy efficiency solutions suppliers, which promotes data center best practices to minimize carbon footprints within client companies and mandates the adoption of a strategic policy to improve energy efficiency within data centers. Paul-François Cattier, global VP, Data Center Solutions, Schneider Electric, said: "We are delighted that our commitment to promote an eco-friendly approach at data centers has been acknowledged. For over 10 years, Schneider Electric has been developing energy efficient solutions that use green energy to ensure the sustainable development and protection of the environment." The Best Endorser award acknowledges Schneider Electric's novel policy, which was developed and implemented several years ago by the company's Chief Marketing Officer Aaron Davis to highlight the company's excellence in energy efficiency.Chefs of Park Hyatt Jeddah-Marina, Club and Spa were awarded for the talent they exhibited in the art of cooking at the Top Chef Arabia 2011 that took place in Jeddah during the recent Food & Hotel Arabia show. Chefs were judged for their best performance in 21 different live cooking categories. Nevertheless, the achievements continued in Riyadh where the chefs were honored through the Saudi Horeca Salon Culinaire 2011, the annual event for the hospitality and foodservice industry held recently at Riyadh, where more than 200 chefs competed to show their culinary skills in live cooking and food displays. At the Top Chef Arabia 2011 in Jeddah, Soumeih Mohamed Bronze, Mahmoud Sultan, Mohamed Ezzeldin and Mohammad moutaz were awarded bronze medals. At the Saudi Horeca Salon Culinaire in Riyadh, Soumeih Aledrissi and Mahmoud Sultan were awarded gold medals, Naima Ennouni and Mohamed Aboubakr silver medals, and Mohammad Mahmassa a merit certificate. Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family in 45 countries strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The company's subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites(tm) brand names.
