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InterContinental group to develop new hotel in Kuwait

DUBAI — InterContinental Hotels Group and Bukhamseen Holding Group have signed an exclusive agreement to develop InterContinental Kuwait Downtown. Set to open in early 2010, the property will cater for the high-end intra-regional and international business travel sector and completes a multi-tier product portfolio in Kuwait in partnership with Bukhamseen Group.

"The new InterContinental Kuwait will be the fifth Kuwait property to be backed by the Bukhamseen Group. We are extremely proud of this partnership and hope to collaborate on more developments in the future," commented John Bamsey, Chief Operating Officer IHG Middle East & Africa.

Shuaa sees margin pressure at NBAD

DUBAI — Shuaa Capital said the National Bank of Abu Dhabi's continued reliance on wholesale funds could put pressure on its margins and maintained its 2008 net profit estimates of 3.3 billion dirhams.

Shuaa said the bank's customer deposits slipped in the first quarter, mainly due to the reclassification of IPO-related deposits to 'other liabilities'.

The investment bank expects NBAD's deposits growth to resume in the coming quarters and maintained its fiscal year deposit estimate of 100 billion dirhams.

Shuaa said the bank, also known as NBAD, Abu Dhabi's biggest bank by market value, delivered "strong balance sheet growth and profitability" in the first half of 2008, which confirmed the investment bank's positive growth expectations.

However, Shuaa questioned the recurrence of investment and currency trading gains posted by NBAD during the quarter.

For the second quarter, NBAD had topped analysts' expectations with a net profit of 1 billion dirham, driven by higher loan and fee income during an economic boom.