Saudi Cement rises

Saudi Cement Company rose to the highest in more than three years after the producer of the building material said cement companies are in talks to sell as much as 600,000 tonnes of extra clinker supplies. The shares advanced 1.8 per cent to 84 riyals (Dh82.23) at 3.30pm in Riyadh, the highest close since June 2008. Southern Province Cement Company, which last month posted a 52 per cent gain in quarterly profit, rose 0.9 per cent. The benchmark Tadawul All Share Index increased 0.4 per cent to 6,758.87, the highest close in more than a year. The cement index climbed 1.3 per cent, bringing this year's advance to 7.7 per cent. Saudi Arabia's cement makers are benefiting from increased government spending, including a $384 billion (Dh1.4 trillion) plan for infrastructure in the largest Arab economy. Cement production climbed 13 per cent to 48.4 million tonnes last year, according to data on the website of Yamamah Saudi Cement Company. The kingdom will require cement producers to operate at full capacity to help end a supply shortage, Al-Eqtisadiah reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person at the Ministry of Commerce. Jordan Telecom Jordan Telecom Corporation said profit dropped by 5.6 per cent to 89.8 million dinars (Dh463.8 million) in 2011 from a year earlier. The drop is due to a decrease in operating income and lower interest rates on bank deposits, Amman-based Jordan Telecom said in an emailed statement yesterday. The company's subscriber base rose by 17.7 per cent from a year earlier to 3.55 million, it said. France Telecom owns a 51 per cent share in the group. GDF bid A GDF Suez-led group made the best bid to build Kuwait's planned Al Zour North power plant, according to a company making a competing offer. The GDF-led bid beat offers from Marubeni Corporation and Malakoff International of Malaysia, Winston Shim, the Kuwait representative for SK Engineering & Construction Company, which took part in the Malakoff proposal, said yesterday. Kuwait's Partnerships Technical Bureau confirmed it has three valid bids and will choose a winner within two weeks, the agency's President Adel Al Roumi said. Commercial Bank of Kuwait Commercial Bank of Kuwait posted a full-year profit of 810,000 dinars (Dh10.7 million) compared with 40.45 million dinars a year ago, according to a statement to the Kuwait bourse yesterday. The lender said its board recommended withholding the dividend. IFC The International Finance Corporation said it agreed to buy a 15 per cent stake in Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Company for $124 million (Dh455.4 million). Medgulf, as the Riyadh-based insurer is known, will use the funds to expand into Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the investment arm of the World Bank said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Sony brand ambassador Sony yesterday announced the appointment of Lebanese music sensation Maya Diab as brand ambassador for Sony's Alpha NEX compact interchangeable lens cameras. Diab was recently voted the ‘Most Attractive Artist for 2011' by the Gulf magazine Zahrat Al Khaleej. A former member of ‘4 Cats', an all-Arab girl band, she is currently a fashion and media icon in Lebanon. RAK Cement Ras Al Khaimah Cement, a maker of building supplies, said its full-year loss widened to Dh20 million from Dh3.9 million in the year-earlier period. The company's board recommended not paying a dividend for 2011. Eros Group Eros Group, distributor of consumer electronics, telecom, IT and allied multi-products in the Middle East, has entered into an alliance with Revo, the manufacturer of digital radio products for the DAB, DAB+, HD and Internet Radio platforms. Eros Group will distribute the Revo's Digital Radio products incorporating FM, internet and DAB technologies through key retail channel partners in the UAE and other Gulf countries and service the needs of consumers in the region.