News

Two of Sharjah’s leading banks, Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) and United Arab Bank (UAB), have announced increased profits for the first half of 2014 this week underscoring the strength of the emirate’s banking sector. Sharjah-headquartered UAB announced a 26% increase in net profit in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period last year, reaching AED 328 million ...

UAE-based Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) is the latest hotel management group to announce a major investment in Sharjah, unveiling a US$4 million (AED 15m) project to refurbish Sharjah’s popular Coral Beach Resort. A number of hotel projects have already been announced this year, including new properties from Accor, Hues and Starwoods, plus several planned hotels as part of tourism development projects ...

Sharjah’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA Sharjah) has announced a number of new projects to improve road traffic flow, ease congestion and increase road safety. The Authority appointed consulting services company W.S. Atkins earlier this year to conduct a comprehensive 6 month study on Sharjah’s road traffic to include traffic congestion, pollution and road safety RTA Sharjah has announced the first ...

The emirate of Sharjah is planning to issue its first sovereign sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of a sovereign bond, and has approached three banks to manage the issue, according to global news agencies. The value of Sharjah’s sovereign sukuk is yet unknown, but banking sources say that they expect the launch of the new bond to take place as early ...

The American University of Sharjah (AUS) MBA programme has been ranked the best in the Middle East region by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in its 2014 Global Business Schools Report. The report ranked programmes in the region based on the demands of international employers for MBA graduates. QS is a British company specialising in education and study abroad. The QS Global ...

Sharjah Airport International Freezone (SAIF Zone) has registered 800 new companies during the first six months of 2014 and expects similar growth during the second half of the year, according to an interview given to the Gulf News by the Director of SAIF Zone Saud Salim Al Mazrouei. SAIF Zone now has 6,700 companies located in the 13 million square ...

Global business aviation services company Gama Aviation has opened its own private aviation terminal at Sharjah International Airport, providing a full service private aviation hub for its customers serving Sharjah, Dubai and the Northern Emirates. “We have long seen the strategic potential of Sharjah as a private aviation hub,” said Gama Aviation CEO Marwan Khalek. “Our new lounge facility complements ...

Construction has begun on the reconstruction of the Souk Al Shanasiyah, one of Sharjah’s traditional market areas that was virtually lost to modernisation and is now being rebuilt on a 5,872 square metre plot in the Heart of Sharjah, one of the largest heritage developments in the Middle East. The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), the investor/developer, aims to ...

Port Canaveral this week signed a 35-year agreement with GT USA, the US business of Sharjah-headquartered port operator Gulftainer, to manage the port’s new container and multipurpose sea cargo terminal. Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States, south of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center. The Port Canaveral ...

The World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment will hold its 12th annual event in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates next year, hosted by Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq). The forum is hosted by a different global trade hub each year and 2015* will mark the first year that the FDI event is held in the Middle East region. The World ...