Carlo Ancelotti happy and 'angry' after Real Madrid ease past Almeria in La Liga

Carlo Ancelotti said he was pleased with Real Madrid's attacking performance but "angry" at his side for conceding twice as the Spanish champions kept their slim title hopes alive with a 4-2 win over Almeria on Saturday.

Karim Benzema hit a first-half hat-trick to put the result beyond doubt, although Almeria reduced the deficit through Lazaro moments before the break. Rodrygo then struck two minutes after the restart to restore Madrid's three-goal advantage before Lucas Robertone scored midway through the second half.

The victory briefly cut Barcelona's lead at the top of La Liga to eight points, but the Catalans later thrashed Real Betis 4-0 to re-establish an 11-point gap.

"The team is very dangerous in attack with the quality of Vini (Vinicius Jr), Benzema and Rodrygo because we play very well when in possession. The match went very well offensively," Ancelotti said, although the Italian manager was not particularly pleased with his team for conceding twice, especially after Tuesday's shock 4-2 defeat at Girona.

"I know very well what the team is capable of defensively. What I don't understand is how we've conceded six goals in two games. What's happened? We relaxed today despite trying to focus in defence," he said.

"We did very well pressing after we lost possession and after we made it 3-0, our concentration slipped and they scored a goal, I got angry in the dressing room and we made it 4-1.

"Then we had another lapse in concentration and they scored again. It's a good wake-up call as we conceded two goals in a short slump. It won't happen in our upcoming games."

With six matches and 18 points still up for grabs, Madrid's hopes of retaining the title hang by a thread, but Ancelotti insisted: "Everything can happen in football. We have to focus on ourselves, we’ve got six games left and we have to win them.”

While winning the league title seems unlikely, Real Madrid are still fighting for two other major trophies. Madrid are firm favourites to win the Copa del Rey when they face Osasuna in next Sunday's final, while Manchester City await in the Champions League semi-finals, with the first leg taking place at the Bernabeu on May 9.

What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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