Business

AMMAN — Regulating directives for trading in unlisted securities as well as those on listing securities for 2016 will come into force as of Thursday, Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) CEO Nader Azar said.

In a statement carried by the ASE website, he said the Over-The-Counter (OTC) Market will be introduced at the ASE accordingly. 

Azar noted that the step comes as a part of efforts to develop a mechanism for trading in unlisted securities through their market, per se. It also provides shareholders of the listed and suspended companies with the opportunity to sell their shares according to supply and demand.

Moreover, it enables investors interested in buying the shares of those companies to do so, he said.

Azar said the ASE had created a special menu on its website, containing all related information about this market.

A brochure was prepared specifically for this purpose. Recent directives, the list of the companies whose shares are allowed to be traded through this market and all information that may be needed by those who are interested in such securities are also available. The OTC Market statistics will also be published after the end of trading hours via this menu, according to the ASE. 

TRIPOLI — Libya's state oil company on Sunday welcomed the "unconditional" reopening of blockaded oil ports, following a controversial deal between the UN-backed government and a force that controls key eastern terminals.

The agreement, signed on Thursday, could be a major step in reviving Libya's crippled oil output.

But it had been questioned by National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman Mustafa Sanalla, who had warned against rewarding groups that shut down production and complained that the NOC lacked funds for its own operating budget.

In a statement sent to journalists on Sunday, the NOC said the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) had released money that would allow it to increase production by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) within two weeks. The NOC said it aims to gradually increase output to 900,000 bpd by the end of the year.

Political disputes, conflict and security threats have slashed Libya's oil production to less than a quarter of the 1.6 million barrels per day the OPEC member was producing in 2011, before the uprising that toppled Muammar Qadhafi and sent the country into political turmoil.

Details of the deal between the GNA and the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) to reopen the ports of Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina, have not been made public, but the GNA said they included an unspecified amount for PFG salaries.

Sunday's statement from the NOC said Mousa Al Kouni, a member of the GNA's leadership or presidential council, had assured Sanalla by telephone that the ports would be reopened "without conditions".

"I am pleased the presidential council agrees that we cannot reward individuals who hold Libya's oil hostage," Sanalla said.

"There can be no backroom deals if we are to build trust. Any past salary payments to the Petroleum Facilities Guards need to be transparent, properly authorised and documented."

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's UN-brokered presidency council has announced the reopening of the country's vital oil terminals after 18 months of closure despite threats by a rival military commander that his forces could target tankers entering Libya's territorial waters.

The announcement came after the UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, struck a deal more than a week ago with the terminals' militia commander, Ibrahim Jedran, who was behind the December 2014 closure that caused a sharp decline in state revenue.

Libya's crude, known as light, sweet crude, is rare and especially valuable because it is easier for refineries to convert into diesel and gasoline. Revenues have been dealt a major blow and Libyans lost over $100 billion in potential profits over the past three years, according to oil officials. Libya exported a total of 146 million barrels of oil in 2015, compared to 531 million barrels in 2012.

Details of the deal with Jedran, who commands the force known as Petroleum Facilities Guards, were not disclosed, but critics speculated that it involved billions of dollars, sparking accusations that Kobler and the UN are empowering the warlord viewed by many as having held Libya's oil hostage for the past two years.

Moussa Al Kouni, deputy head of Libya's UN-brokered presidency council, announced the terminals reopening late on Thursday at the Ras Lanuf terminal, expressing "hope and optimism" that the step marks the "beginning for our country's recovery". As he spoke, Jedran stood next to him.

Since the ouster of Libya' longtime leader Moammar Qadhafi in 2011, the oil-rich North African country has sunk into turmoil.

The three major oil terminals, Ras Lanuf, Al Sidra and Al Zueitina, operated intermittently under Jedran's control until his troops completely shut them down after an assault on Ras Lanuf by a rival, Tripoli-based militia.

But the anticipated announcement of the terminals' reopening did not pass without threats.

Libya's chief of staff Brig. Gen. Abdel-Razek Al Nadhouri, who answers to the internationally-recognised parliament based in eastern Libya, threatened on Tuesday to target foreign oil tankers if they entered Libyan territorial waters without parliament's approval.

Libya remains split between the UN-brokered presidency council and unity government that are based in the capital, Tripoli, and the parliament in the east. According to the UN deal signed last year, the parliament is supposed to vote to approve the government — something it has still failed to do.

AMMAN — The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF) said it boosted its pretax profit by12.4 per cent during the first half of this year.

According to an HBTF press statement issued Wednesday, pretax profit amounted to JD97.1 million during the first six months of 2016 compared to JD 86.4 million during the same period last year.

The press statement showed that the bank’s net after-tax profit also increased by 7.9 per cent to JD 66.4 million compared to JD 61.6 million and that gross income during the first half of this year went up by JD 21.5 million, or 12.5 per cent, reaching JD193.5 million.

HBTF General Manager Ihab Saadi attributed the results to the bank’s successful business strategy, prudent policies and its implementation of developed banking standards.

The press statement said the total assets at the end of June 2016 amounted to JD7.7 billion, and that customer deposits totalled JD5.5 billion, representing a 14.6 per cent market share. 

The portfolio of credit facilities stood at JD4 billion, representing a 13.8 per cent market share.

The capital adequacy ratio was 17.2 per cent and the liquidity ratio was 135 per cent, both higher than the rates required by the Central Bank of Jordan. The return on assets ratio was 1.7 per cent, and the return on equity was 13 per cent, according to the statement.

The Housing Bank tops Jordan’s banking sector in terms of the number of branches and the number of ATMs as it has expanded its internal network in the Kingdom from the beginning of the year to 129 operating branches, and to 216 ATMs.

 “The bank is always seeking to enlarge the customer base, and to meet the needs of individuals and corporations through enhanced relations,” Saadi said.

These results are preliminary and subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Jordan.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that the size of Egypt's financing programme will be determined by a two-week IMF mission to Cairo starting this weekend.

IMF spokesman William Murray declined to confirm the Egyptian finance ministry's estimate of a $12 billion loan programme spread over three years after it requested IMF support earlier this week.

"The scale of IMF financing will depend on the mission team's assessment during the visit of the financing needs and the strength of the authority's reform programme," Murray told a regular biweekly news briefing.

He noted that Egypt's quota, or shares in the fund, are about 2.08 billion Special Drawing Rights — the IMF's unit of account — or about $2.9 billion at current exchange rates.

Under normal access to IMF programmes, member countries can borrow up to 145 per cent of their quota for any 12-month period. That would be about $4.2 billion based on Egypt's quota level. Countries with normal access can borrow 435 per cent of their quotas over the life of the programme, which would total about $12.6 billion in Egypt's case.

Regarding Ukraine, Murray said the fund's executive board would not vote on a release of the next portion of the country's $17.5 billion until at least mid-August, after the board returns from a two-week break. The fund earlier had said that a review on unlocking the next $1.7 billion tranche was nearing completion and it could be considered in July.

Murray added that there was no change in the IMF's engagement with Zimbabwe that would allow for negotiations on a support programme to begin. Zimbabwe must first clear its arrears with the institution, Murray said, adding that he had no details of any concrete actions by Zimbabwe to do so.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was unprepared for the debt crisis that hit Europe and was slow to press for debt relief that might have eased Greece's economic pain and allowed it to pay its bills, an IMF watchdog says.

In a report released Thursday, the Independent Evaluation Office declared the IMF's response "uneven". The watchdog also suggested that the fund's decision making was vulnerable to political pressure — a charge that IMF chief Christine Lagarde rejected.

The 2008 financial crisis left European countries with enormous debts and weak banks. As part of a so-called troika with the European Commission and the European Central Bank, the IMF bailed out Greece, Ireland and Portugal in 2010-2011.

Greece has continued to struggle with high debts. To get the bailout money, Greece agreed to budget cuts and tax increases, which drove the economy into a deep recession and made it even harder to pay its debts. The IMF was overly optimistic about Greece's economic prospects, the report said.

IMF policymakers, used to assisting poor, developing world countries, "did not foresee the magnitude of the risks" in wealthy Europe. Their "'Europe is different' mindset" prevented them from realising that investors would react to the debt problems by dumping European bonds, driving up interest rates in troubled countries and making their debt problems worse, the evaluation office said.

The IMF is not supposed to lend to countries whose debts are unsustainable. Analysts at the fund were divided over whether Greece's 2010 deal — trading bailout money for painful reforms — would leave it able to pay its bills. But the IMF went along with the original bailout "even though its sovereign debt was not deemed sustainable with a high probability", the report said.

The watchdog questioned whether IMF analysts buckled to political pressure from their troika partners, who wanted to provide the bailouts without offering Greece any debt relief.

It recommended that the IMF take steps to "minimise the room for political intervention" in the future. But IMF Managing Director Lagarde rejected the idea, saying in a statement that she did "not accept the premise of the recommendation... and thus do not see the need to develop new procedures".

The IMF is now calling for Greece's creditors to restructure the country's debts and has refused so far to go along with additional bailouts unless they include debt relief.

The Independent Evaluation Office is a Washington-based independent agency set up in 2001 to investigate IMF activities.

AMMAN — The Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF) expects next year’s economic conditions to be better than this year’s, in light of the Kingdom’s stability, a recent survey revealed.   

A survey conducted by the JSF in April, found that investors’ outlook for the coming year was positive, pointing out that this year the economic conditions were not as strong as in 2015.

More than half of the respondents, a total of 52.4 per cent, believed so, citing the lack of clear economic policies, increasing taxes and regional repercussions as main reasons for the downward trend, according to a JSF statement. 

The survey covered 490 local and foreign companies, representing different economic sectors in the country, besides members of the Amman Chamber of Industry, the Amman Stock Exchange, the Jordan Businessmen Association, the Jordan Investment Commission and the JSF.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, Jordan has hosted more than 650,000 Syrian refugees, who have fled the civil war there, with about 80 per cent living in communities, rather than refugee camps, imposing a heavy burden on the Kingdom’s resources and infrastructure. 

The JSF is a non-profit organisation, which represents a group of Jordanian private sector companies.

SANAA — Traditional mud brick tower houses have always been a source of pride to Yemenis, and over a year into a devastating civil war, they are also providing some much-needed jobs in the ancient capital Sanaa.

At his traditional mud brick factory outside the city, Ali Al-Sabahi oversees the process as it has always been done, in happier days and now in dire ones.

Workers mix clay with straw, animal dung and water and leave this to dry in the sun for several days before settling it into square moulds.

After drying once more, they are loaded into the kiln to be fired. The burning period ranges between 15 and 20 days.

Yemen, a poor country awash with weapons where the rule of law is weak, is no stranger to conflict. But the war that erupted last year brought widespread destruction in Sanaa and beyond in air strikes, led by Saudi Arabia.

The traditional houses of Sanaa, a UNESCO world heritage site said to have been founded by the son of Prophet Noah two and half millennia ago, have been spared — mostly.

Coalition air strikes killed at least six people and leveled several tower houses in the Qasimi quarter, one of the city’s oldest, in June.

The war has taken livelihoods as well as lives, but brickmaking is a rare bright spot in Yemen, which has been pushed into a humanitarian disaster by the civil war.

Working in a brick kiln in Sanaa, 25-year old Ibrahim Al Omari is able to support his parents and family with his wages.

“This work doesn’t need a certificate or qualification. It needs muscles to be able to work here,” he said.

“It’s the work we’ve inherited from past generations... I’ve been working here since I was 12.”

Despite the threat of destruction, a decades-long spread of concrete construction and tight wartime budgets, the appeal of the ancient art remains strong.

“The brick’s flexibility and ease to be customised for geometric shapes makes it attractive for customers for construction and decoration,” said brickmaker Mohammed Al Amari.

Through his efforts the city’s homes might yet maintain its distinctive beauty — its ochre walls glow amber and their whitewashed shining white at sunset — for generations.

AMMAN — The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) on Tuesday said it will continue to receive the biannual financial statements of listed companies, for the period ending on June 30,  through July 31.

In a statement, the ASE said trading in the shares of companies that fail to submit their financial statements on time will be suspended for one trading session, in accordance with related-regulations.

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo sealed a deal Monday to sell its core business to telecom giant Verizon for $4.8 billion, ending a two-decade run as an independent company for the Internet pioneer.

The agreement announced by the two companies after months of negotiations comes following a years-long decline for the iconic firm that introduced many people around the world to the Internet.

Verizon chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said Yahoo would be integrated into its recently acquired AOL unit to create "a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising".

The acquisition, expected to close in early 2017, pending shareholder and regulatory approval will exclude Yahoo's cash, certain patent holdings, and its big share in China's Alibaba Group and stake in Yahoo Japan. 

The deal will, however, turn over the popular Yahoo News, Mail and other online services used by more than a billion people worldwide.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, said in a statement: "Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL."

She told a conference call that the agreement is "an exceptional outcome for Yahoo shareholders" and that Verizon was chosen because it "believed in us the most".

With the sale of its core, Yahoo will be left as a separate investment company that will change its name after the transaction.

The deal comes with Yahoo, a onetime leader in the online space, coping with years of decline and struggling to keep up with rivals like Google and Facebook.

Mayer said in a blog post that Verizon "brings clear synergies to the table" with its goal of reaching a global audience of two billion by 2020.

"Joining forces with AOL and Verizon will help us achieve tremendous scale on mobile," she said.

"It's incredibly compelling." 

Yahoo will operate independently until the acquisition and then fall under the aegis of the AOL unit chief, Tim Armstrong, a former Google colleague of Mayer.

"Yahoo has been a long-time investor in premium content and created some of the most beloved consumer brands in key categories like sports, news and finance," Armstrong said in the statement.

Mayer's future role with Yahoo was unclear. 

In an e-mail to employees, she wrote that "I'm planning to stay... It's important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter." 

But it was not clear if she would remain after the transition. According to documents filed with regulators, Mayer would get a severance package of $55 million if removed within a year of a change of control.

Mayer arrived in 2012 from Google seeking to revitalise Yahoo, which at its peak had a market value of over $100 billion.

The company was founded in 1994 by two Stanford University students, Jerry Yang and David Filo, as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web". It went public in 1996 in one of the most hotly anticipated stock offerings of the time — surging 270 per cent in the first day of trading.

Yahoo remains a major force online, but has lagged its rivals in its ability to "monetise" its audience through advertising that is linked to customers' browsing and other online activities.

The research firm eMarketer estimated that Yahoo's share of the digital advertising market would fall this year to around 1.5 per cent, with Google getting some 30 per cent and Facebook 12 per cent.

Several other bidders have been in talks, according to reports, including Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, who was being backed by billionaire Warren Buffett.

But Verizon appeared to be the leading candidate because of its ability to integrate AOL's advertising technology into Yahoo services.

Technology analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates said the deal makes sense with companies such as Verizon and AT&T seeking to move beyond their role as mere carriers.

Verizon, he said "is looking at ways to stay competitive primarily with AT&T" and that Yahoo gives it "the ability to expand into the online content arena" and a large base of users.

But Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates said Verizon should keep its goals more modest and may get a small benefit from the Yahoo brand.

"I don't think they have enough juice to take down Google and Facebook," Kay said.

With better operating efficiencies and lower costs, "they'll be lucky if they get their money back" from the deal, he said.

Shebly Seyrafi at FBN Securities said Verizon could be looking at a broader internet strategy and may become "a serial acquirer which could then spur bidding wars for other Internet properties".

This could mean Verizon may "eventually bid for Twitter" or private companies such as Snapchat or Pinterest, Seyrafi said in a note to clients.