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ADNEC announces launch date of Abu Dhabi International Boat Show as 2021

ADNEC announces launch date of Abu Dhabi International Boat Show as 2021

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ADNEC announces launch date of Abu Dhabi International Boat Show as 2021

The Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) announced that the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show (ADIBS), the leading marine leisure and water sports show, will be held between 13 – 16 October 2021 at ADNEC’s purpose-built marina.

Following a comprehensive assessment of the current market conditions, with a range of requests from international exhibitors expressing their concerns on safety, and their inability to travel from their home countries, the decision to postpone the show was made. ADNEC worked in close co-operation with key exhibitors and participants of ADIBS in reaching this decision.

Speaking on the decision to postpone ADIBS, Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and Group CEO at ADNEC Group, said: “The Abu Dhabi International Boat Show is one of the most prominent specialised events which are held annually at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. Such events reinforce ADNEC’s position as a leader in the business tourism sector, establishing Abu Dhabi’s leading position in hosting a wide range of events”.

Al Dhaheri added: “The safety of our partners and visitors is our top priority. In light of the current global circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and based on our commitment to our partners and stakeholders, we decided to postpone the exhibition. This came after continuous communication with our partners to understand their needs and the challenges they face. ADNEC is committed to supporting them, and enabling their business continuity”.

Saeed Al Mansoori, Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show, commented: “The decision to postpone this event was the right choice to make, following our continued dialogue with exhibitors, participants, and stakeholders. We look forward to welcoming participants from across the world to the exhibition in 2021.”

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Austrian furniture brand— Wittmann announces new managing director

Austrian furniture brand— Wittmann announces new managing director

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Austrian furniture brand— Wittmann announces new managing director

The past few years at the fifth-generation family-owned company— Wittmann have been shaped by a lot of exciting new developments and highly productive collaborations with international design icons such as Jaime Hayon, Sebastian Herkner, Monica Förster and Luca Nichetto. Under outgoing CEO Hartmut Roehrig, the company raised the profile of the Wittmann brand on international markets and built on its already considerable hospitality industry expertise. The company will continue to pursue its chosen path with fresh impetus. Austrian-born Alexander Sova will meet these challenges with a high degree of professionalism that comes courtesy of his long-standing experience in areas including strategic development and implementation, distribution and the digital transformation.

Wittmann, a family-run Austrian company, produces the highest quality handmade upholstered furnishings. For more than 120 years, Wittmann brand has been synonymous with precision, individuality and unparalleled handcraftsmanship. The company works with internationally acclaimed designers to create perfectly made furniture that adorns private residences and out-of-the-ordinary contract settings worldwide.

Wittmann has always been strongly committed to handcraftsmanship and high-quality manufacturing at its facility in Etsdorf in Lower Austria. Alexander Sova shares: “Where multiple perspectives converge, the opportunity arises to build on existing strengths and create something new. I like working at these interfaces – with an experienced team and the power of new ideas.”

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Dar Group announces new appointment of Chief Growth Officer

Dar Group announces new appointment of Chief Growth Officer

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Dar Group announces new appointment of Chief Growth Officer

Dar Group, a leading, privately-owned professional services consultancy, announces the appointment of Catherine Tobiasinsky as its chief growth officer. Based in Chicago, Tobiasinsky will oversee Dar Group’s continued growth across its global network of 311 offices in 60 countries, which together generate annual revenues in excess of $2bn.

Tobiasinsky brings to Dar Group over 15 years’ of senior executive experience having worked closely with the Boards of global professional services firms to define and execute business transformation and aligned growth strategies.
Prior to joining Dar Group, Catherine was the Chief Client Services Officer at GHD Group, a global professional services firm, where she was responsible for global marketing, communications, key client management and the overall go-to-market strategy for the business

Prior to GHD Group, Catherine held a variety of senior management roles at Arcadis, the global design and consultancy firm, where she worked for over 13 years. During this period, Tobiasinsky led the three-year strategic reorganisation and transformation for the North American business segment, which employed over 6000 people. During this time, she worked with over 600 client leaders to optimise the performance of the business. Part of this role was to lead a Board-level special initiative focused on accelerating organic growth for Arcadis’ largest Private Sector clients, such as ExxonMobil, GE, BP, and GSK.

Commenting on the appointment, Dar Group chairman and CEO, Talal Shair said: “I am delighted to welcome Catherine to the Dar Group. She brings a wealth of sector knowledge and leadership skills to our team, and will play a key role in driving future growth across our global business, building upon collaboration actions across the group operating companies. We look forward to working closely with Catherine as we plan for the next five years as part our Dar 2025 growth strategy. This rolling strategy will continue to drive operational efficiencies across our business as we continue to evolve our business and identify new revenue opportunities through collaboration across our four key business lines of Infrastructure, Architecture, Project Management and Energy. We are uniquely well positioned for sustained long term growth and I look forward to providing updates on further business progress in due course.”

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Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour announces new format for Focus/20— a hybrid of physical and virtual offerings

Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour announces new format for Focus/20— a hybrid of physical and virtual offerings

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Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour announces new format for Focus/20— a hybrid of physical and virtual offerings

Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour in London the world’s premier design destination, will present Focus/20 in an exciting new format.

In this most unprecedented of years, the annual autumn design event will be recalibrated to provide a unique platform for 120 showrooms and 600 international brands to present their new collections. A collaboration of ingenuity, creativity and positivity, the pioneering hybrid show will strengthen the Design Centre’s mantra to ‘connect, converse and create’ at a physical event in London, as well as reach out to a wider global audience, remotely.

The safety and well-being of its community and visitors is a priority, and every aspect of Focus/20 will be highly considered. Operating within government guidelines, tailored visits will bring people to the Design Centre, while a virtual programme will share online the same culture of generosity and celebration that permeates all editions of the show.

In the last months, decor has never come under greater scrutiny. People cooped up at home are craving change and professional designers have taken on new work and are completing existing projects. Visitors to Focus/20 will be able to see in person those elements that are vital to their schemes: those first looks of the latest colours, patterns and materials, alongside key details like scale, craftsmanship and artisan finishes. Adding another layer, a curated selection of house guests in the Design Avenue will bring fresh perspectives.

The online programme aims to spark everyone’s imagination and curiosity. An exceptional line-up of live stream webinars and talks will see international designers, experts and thought leaders share their work and specialist knowledge, alongside discussions on what’s shaping the future of design and business-focused sessions about how to take a professional practice to the next level. There will be insider insights into the new collections and inspiring sessions that enhances discovery of the world’s most exciting design brands.

Many industry events may have been rescheduled, but Focus/20 remains a design calendar highlight. As a Design Destination at the London Design Festival, it is proud to be at the heart of the wider momentum across the capital. Post lockdown, there has been a surge of creativity and horizons have been expanded. A hybrid offering, as both a physical and online event, will encapsulate how design can continue to innovate and unite in a positive way.

The event will take place from September 13-18, 2020. 

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Honeywell announces solutions to help improve building health

Honeywell announces solutions to help improve building health

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Honeywell announces solutions to help improve building health

Honeywell announced an integrated solutions portfolio to help building owners in the Middle East improve the health of their building environments, operate more cleanly and safely, comply with social distancing policies, and help reassure occupants that it is safe to return to the workplace. By integrating air quality, safety and security technologies along with advanced analytics, Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions are designed to help building owners minimise potential risks of contamination and create business continuity by monitoring both the building environment and building occupants’ behaviours.

Honeywell’s new solutions provide building owners with more control over critical health, safety and security factors to encourage sustained compliance with changing building standards, safety guidelines, government-issued regulations and a company’s risk management policies. These innovative solutions also provide transparency into a building’s health status to its occupants.

George Bou Mitri

“We’re all facing a new normal – including how buildings are managed. We’re working with entities in the region to support well-being as building owners, operators and occupiers return to work, consider travel, visit shopping malls or healthcare facilities,” said George Bou Mitri, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Building Technologies, Middle East, Turkey and Africa. “Honeywell has developed outcome-based solutions that allow building owners in the region to transparently address how they limit exposure to and the spread of viruses while supporting their business continuity needs. We’re giving them the data they need to confidently reassure their employees to accelerate their business operations.”

Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions are part of a comprehensive effort among Honeywell’s businesses to come together to quickly develop solutions that are helping important sectors of the global economy recover. Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions provide a holistic view of a building’s health based on key factors such as indoor air quality, occupant flow, personal protection equipment (PPE) analytics, thermal screening, social distancing, anti-bacterial wiring devices and sanitation efficacy.

Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions features two packages – one focussed on indoor air quality and another on safety and security.

 

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DIDI announces the winners of Project Design Space competition

DIDI announces the winners of Project Design Space competition

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DIDI announces the winners of Project Design Space competition

Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI) has announced the 10 winners of its fourth Project Design Space.

RAKBANK, Dubai Festival City Mall, Nike, Emirates Nature-WWF and LEGO Middle East set real-world challenges for the students to solve. All of them have shown great interest in taking the solutions forward, demonstrating the strength of design education in the UAE and how it helps future-proof businesses.

The 10 winning teams comprised five each in the grade 5 to 8 category and the grade 9 to 12 category. In the first category, Applied Technology High School (TBMEC) – Al Ain, Hartland International School – Dubai, Al Tawyeen School for Girls -Fujairah, United International Private School – Dubai, and Dubai Northern Emirates Home School Association walked away with top honours for successfully achieving the design challenges set by RAKBANK, Dubai Festival City Mall, Nike, Emirates Nature-WWF and LEGO Middle East, respectively.

In the grade 9 to 12 category, Dubai Scholars Private School, North London Collegiate School – Dubai, The Indian High School Dubai, Applied Technology High School- RAK, and Dubai National School Al Barsha beat back their competitors to complete the challenges set by the business partners.

Congratulating the winners, Mohammad Abdullah, President of DIDI, said: “It is encouraging to see the high quality of student submissions year after year. In line with the UAE’s sustained efforts to build a knowledge-based economy by developing students with future-proof skills to meet the demands of rapidly changing workspaces, DIDI is pleased to host Project Design Space to advance design thinking and education. This initiative has encouraged creativity and enabled students to explore careers in design more seriously.”

In March 2020, DIDI adopted a digital bootcamp-style format for the extracurricular contest that challenged students to solve real-world problems by merging visual literacy, digital fluency, and strategic proficiency.

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Atkins announces a new business structure for the Middle East and Africa

Atkins announces a new business structure for the Middle East and Africa

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Atkins announces a new business structure for the Middle East and Africa

Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, announces a new market-focused structure for its Atkins, Faithful+Gould, and Atkins Acuity brands in the Middle East & Africa.

The new business structure, which will take effect from July 1, 2020, will be based around two core markets of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with services and propositions aligned to country priorities and respective client projects.  Providing a simpler and focussed structure will ensure Atkins is agile and responsive to customers’ needs with a services delivery model that is more efficient and responsive to evolving local market dynamics.

Cris Dedigama, CEO of Atkins, Middle East & Africa, commented: “The Middle East and Africa region continues to offer great opportunities for our business and this new structure will enable us to be laser-focused in our services and delivery to very localised and dynamic market and client needs. Our new business structure will help us achieve focused future growth, through a robust local presence in key markets. This market-facing structure is underpinned by over 50 years’ regional track record, strong client relationships, a powerful global network and innovative, technology-enabled delivery capabilities.”

Johan Hesselsøe and Ian Redmayne will lead these markets as managing director, UAE and managing director, KSA respectively. Together with a seasoned leadership team dedicated to supporting existing and prospective clients in each market, Ian and Johan will manage the Company’s business growth strategy tailored to each country’s local requirements.

Over the past 50 years, Atkins has delivered many flagship projects in the Middle East. In the UAE, Atkins is currently supporting clients such as The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), MODON, and Miral on a number of transformational projects designed to meet current and future market demands. In KSA, Atkins is currently supporting a number of mega projects from developing masterplans, providing engineering for the built environment, providing PMO and cost management services, as well as strategic privatisation advice and digital asset management to major government entities.

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RAK Ceramics announces stable Q1 2020 financial results

RAK Ceramics announces stable Q1 2020 financial results

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RAK Ceramics announces stable Q1 2020 financial results

RAK Ceramics PJSC has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2020.

Measures to manage impact of Covid-19
RAK Ceramics was proactive in implementing a raft of measures designed to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and the corresponding lockdowns across all its markets.
It was one of the first UAE companies to adopt social distancing, and apply working from home model to most of its administrative employees.
The company also completely shut down production in India and Bangladesh in line with the government’s guidelines as of the end of March 2020, and reduced production in the UAE. Alternative sales channels have been opened in markets where retail operations are closed, and the company’s website now includes a virtual reality showroom experience.

RAK Ceramics has taken measures to manage its liquidity, reducing discretionary expenses, and placing non-essential capex plans on hold.

Stable performance despite market slowdown

RAK Ceramics delivered stable revenues of AED 592.8mn that decreased marginally by 2.7% when compared to the same period in 2019, primarily due to lower sanitaryware and tableware revenue.

Total gross profit margin increased by 110 bps due to improvements and efficiencies in operations of the tiles business. This was largely driven by efficiencies in the UAE, where production lines were optimised to match demand.

Reported net profit decreased by 18.1% year on year to AED 30.2mn, with a margin of 5.1% due to decrease in revenue and investments in upgraded branding and showrooms, as well as higher freight costs.

Working capital and working capital days remained stable, reflecting the strength of the business.

Growth in Saudi Arabia

Total revenue in Saudi Arabia increased significantly when compared to the same period in 2019, driven by an 80.8% increase in tiles revenue. RAK Ceramics’ operations in Saudi Arabia followed the UAE business model, which has proved effective. The Company is optimistic for long-term growth in Saudi Arabia post-Covid-19 economic recovery.

Abdallah Massaad, Group CEO, RAK Ceramics commented: “RAK Ceramics delivered satisfactory results in Q1 2020 considering the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact our business from the end of January.

The nature of our business is closely linked to the construction and hospitality sector, which were heavily affected by the pandemic. We expect this situation to impact our performance in the next few months but we are confident given our stable results in Q1, our strong foundations and a sound business model, we will be able to face this unprecedented challenge and move forward.

To manage the impact of Covid-19, we have implemented cost efficiency measures across all our operations, while prioritising the health and safety of our workforce. We have also taken measures to ensure our liquidity is managed and to mitigate the closure of retail channels by launching alternative options, including a virtual reality showroom experience on our website www.rakceramics.com.

Contingency plans are in place and are being constantly updated to reflect the evolving situation. I believe that the strong foundation we have built up to date will help us navigate the current challenging environment and enable us to deliver value to our shareholders in the long term.”

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