Barclays Wealth names Saudi head

Barclays Wealth, the UK lender's private bank, said on Sunday it has named Faisal Shaker head of its business in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy. Shaker will report to Rory Gilbert who is managing director, head of Middle East and North Africa. Gilbert said the appointment reflects the "mounting focus" on Saudi Arabia, which is one of the region's most appealing private banking hotspots. Prior to joining Barclays, Shaker was head of wealth management for Audi Capital Saudi Arabia. Albaraka Banking Albaraka Banking Group and its Turkish unit Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi may offer Islamic bonds, chief executive officer Adnan Yousuf said in Muscat yesterday. Albaraka Turk may sell the sukuk after earnings results are released and depending on market conditions, he said. The group may issue Islamic bonds at a later date, Yousuf said, without being more specific. The Manama, Bahrain-based company will have a presence in Oman by the end of 2014, he said. Al Hilal Bank The UAE's Al Hilal Bank plans to sell $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) in Islamic bonds or sukuk this year, chief executive officer Mohammad Berro said. The bank is studying expansion in the Arab world, Berro said in an interview in Muscat yesterday. Al Hilal expects to make a profit of more than Dh200 million in 2012, he said. Mohammad Al Mojil Mohammad Al Mojil Group Co., a Saudi Arab-ian construction services provider, had its biggest two-day drop since 2008 on investor speculation the company's fourth-quarter loss may widen. Al Mojil said on Wednesday it expected "substantial losses" that exceed 10 per cent of its total assets. The shares fell 6.5 per cent to 20.1 riyals (Dh19.67) at the 3.30pm close in Riyadh yesterday, bringing its drop since Saturday to 16 per cent, the biggest two-day decline since Nov-ember 2008. If the company projection materialises, "we expect the full-year loss to be higher than that of 2010 at 261 million riyals," said Hettish Karmani, a Kuwait-based analyst at Global Investment House. Al Mojil posted a 179 million-riyal loss in 2010 after a profit of 40 million riyals the year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 2011 loss is "due to additional costs of materials, equipment and manpower of some of the ongoing projects in excess of the approved budgets." Credit Agricole Credit Agricole has two mandates to manage Islamic bond sales in Saudi Arabia, said Simon Eedle, the bank's global head of Islamic banking. "They'll come to market in the first half of 2012," he said in Muscat yesterday, adding that one of the issues will be denominated in US dollars. Hamon & Cie Hamon & Cie. rose as much as 11 per cent in Brussels trading after the company said it won a contract to supply dry-cooling towers for a 3,500-megawatt power plant in Saudi Arabia. The shares climbed as much as €1.80 (Dh8.54) to €17.49 in morning trading. The order will boost sales in the cooling systems division by 15 per cent this year and next, Hamon said in an emailed statement on Friday. Eastern Eastern, Egypt's monopoly cigarette producer, said profit in the first half of the fiscal year rose 46 per cent. Net income rose to 371 million Egyptian pounds (Dh222 million) compared with 253.5 million pounds a year earlier, the Cairo-based company said in a filing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday. El Sewedy El Sewedy Electric, Egypt's biggest publicly traded manufacturer of electric cables, said one of its units won a $59 million (Dh216.65 million) contract to sell and install high-voltage cables in Kuwait. The Cairo-based company made the statement in a filing to the Egyptian bourse yesterday.