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Abu Dhabi’s ambitious Mubadala Development Company has released results for 2009, which are better than those for 2008, although it appears MDC is substantially dependent on government-related operational activities, external investments and shares in foreign entities to offset losses elsewhere in its portfolio to make an overall profit. “Total comprehensive income was Dh8.6bn, largely driven by revenue from the sale of goods and services at Dh13.1bn and improvements in the fair valuation of investments at Dh6.4bn,” said MDC’s report.

In an unusual move, Sharjah-based Dana Gas has been granted injunctions by courts in the UAE, UK and British Virgin Islands (BVI) to prevent bondholders disrupting its plans to have a $700m sukuk declared unlawful and unenforceable. On 13 June the energy company received an injunction from the Sharjah Federal Court of First Instance, pending a full hearing about the sukuk which is due to take place on 25 December.

it is not immune to the impacts of the global financial crisis, but scholars and financiers argue that this is a ‘golden opportunity’ to promote the Islamic finance industry as a more responsible alternative to conventional banking.

Moody’s Investors Service announced a further sovereign rating downgrade on 16 March, pushing Oman’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings from Baa2 down to Baa3; the ratings agency also set its outlook at negative. The moves places Oman in a precarious position, just one place above non-investment grade (or junk status) under Moody’s system. Rival agency Standard & Poor’s dropped Oman into junk territory in May 2017. Fitch Ratings has the sultanate just above junk level.

Transparency International (TI) has called for the reinstatement of the board of directors of its Kuwait chapter, the Kuwait Transparency Society (KTS). As GSN reported in May, KTS was accused of unapproved links with international organisations and interference in political issues, charges it denies. In a statement on 11 June, TI said it did not recognise the government-appointed board. “The government-appointed temporary board on 22 and 23 May illegally advertised the selling of KTS’ assets.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has announced the conclusion of its investigation into a major doping scandal at Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR)’s Godolphin stables (GSN 947/6, 945/8), ruling that trainer Mahmood Al-Zarooni was the only person involved. The BHA looked at 22 horses stabled at Godolphin’s Moulton Paddocks yard in Newmarket that were given anabolic steroids while under the care of Zarooni, who was disqualified on 25 April.

With the halfway point of 2015 fast approaching, Iraq’s revenues are improving but remain well behind plan. The year began well, with the government passing a budget on 29 January, in contrast to 2014 when it failed to pass a budget at all. The 2015 budget called for roughly $102bn in spending, to be financed by $67bn in oil revenues, $13bn in customs and other tax revenues, and $22bn in debt. Federal oil revenue is the most transparent of these, and figures from the Ministry of Oil (MoO) show that revenues have been rising steadily

Judgement is expected in early 2017 in a $2bn case brought in the UK’s High Court against Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) by Plantation Holdings, a Dubai-based real estate company owned by British property developer Arthur Fitzwilliam. The hearings started in October and concluded in mid-December. If successful, the claim will embarrass DIB not just because of the heavy financial cost, but also because it would implicitly confirm damaging allegations that the bank used state power for business advantage.

Dubai suffered a fall in container traffic last year, with throughput at the emirate’s ports – the most important shipping hub in the Gulf region – dropping by 5.3% in 2016 compared to the year before, according to the 2017 Review of Maritime Transport, published in late October by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). In 2016, Dubai handled 14.8m twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), down from 15.6m in 2015.

The deal for India to invest $500m in the development of Chabahar port, signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Iran which began on 22 May, is a useful fillip to President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to show the nuclear deal, which came into effect in January, can deliver real benefits to the economy. It promotes a project in Iran’s south-east which will compete with Pakistan’s Gwadar port scheme across the border, which has attracted Saudi as well as Chinese support.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is still seeking to buy Songbird Estates, which manages London’s Canary Wharf Group, after its initial offer was rejected for being too low. The QIA and Brookfield Property Partners, through their 50:50 venture Bidco, made a final cash offer on 4 December, offering 350p per share directly to shareholders. The new bid valued the company at around £2.6bn ($4.1bn), considerably more than the previous offer of 295p a share.

Saudi development and land trading company Dar Al-Arkan, at the centre of a very public dispute between two prominent businessmen (GSN 921/12), announced on 14 July that it would repay its second sukuk (Islamic bond) of four, repaying SAR3.75bn ($1bn) to Deutsche Bank.

Qatar Airways (QA), which is 50% government owned, has long boasted of its growth and reach. In 2001, GSN wrote of chief executive Akbar Al-Baker’s ambition and competitiveness.

The most venerable of London-based pan-Arab publishing houses, Al-Arab was established in 1977 by Ahmed Al-Huni, a Libyan who moved his family out of the country during the Qadhafi era’s first decade. In 2009, the company was restructured and a new Al-Arab Publishing House was registered in London. It is 40% owned by the founder’s son, Mohammed Al-Huni, and 60% by publishing and group executive editor Haitham Al-Zobaidi, who in 2000 helped Al-Arab set up Middle East Online. According to Zobaidi, Al-Arab adopted “a new format and a new way of looking at the region” in 2012.

Incumbent Hassan Rouhani’s overwhelming victory in the presidential elections held on 19 May has reduced the risk that the January 2016 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will be allowed to collapse and that new international sanctions might be imposed – a potential bilateral withdrawal by US President Donald Trump from the Iran nuclear deal notwithstanding. The result was welcomed by the international business community as marking a clear defeat for hardline conservatives – which some analysts see as part of a longer term move towards the centre in Iranian political life – and a green light for Rouhani’s economic reforms.