The board of Dubai retailer Marka will put its proposal to liquidate the company – agreed at a general assembly meeting last week – to the markets regulator before seeking shareholder approval at an undetermined later date.
Until the Securities and Commodities Authority ratifies the liquidation proposal, the company will continue to operate as normal, Marka said in a filing yesterday to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.
The retail franchiser, which counts fashion, sports and food retailers – including Lebanese restaurant Reem Al Bawadi and Italian ice cream shop Morelli’s Gelato among its brands – has not earned a profit since listing on the DFM in 2014.
It began a restructuring process in 2017 including selling stores and cutting operational costs. However, its first-quarter losses for 2019 widened further, standing at Dh295.8 million for the first three months compared to Dh242.7m a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing in May.
Investors approved a motion to initiate proceedings to wind up the company during its annual general meeting on May 15, Marka's chairman Khalid bin Kalban told The National. The bourse filing said that last week's agreement to liquidate the company "does not constitute the approval of the shareholders to dissolve and liquidate the company".
Instead, the proposal must first obtain approval from the regulator, which would then invite Marka’s board to hold a special general assembly to consider the proposal and hold a formal shareholder vote on whether to officially pursue the liquidation.
“The liquidation of the company shall be considered after the shareholders have been informed of the required procedures in this regard in accordance with the provisions of the law,” the filing added.
In April, Marka said a share capital reduction of Dh450 million – approved by shareholders in March – would go ahead as planned to help extinguish accumulated losses, and invited creditors to deliver documents detailing debts owed to them within the ensuing 30 days.
The introduction of VAT in January 2018, lower oil prices and the rapid growth of e-commerce has affected consumer spending in the UAE and affected many retailers across the region.
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
