Frasers Hospitality
Frasers Hospitality will double its Middle East footprint to 13 properties over the next few years as it seeks to capitalise on the growing number of business tourists to the region.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are expected to be the top three business travel markets in the Middle East, Frasers said.
Bahrain has also seen a large influx of business tourists due to hosting large events like the World Islamic Banking Conference.
Frasers announced that in addition to opening Fraser Suites Riyadh and Fraser Suites Muscat in Oman, it is also planning to open three more properties in Dubai, one in Jeddah, one in Al Khobar and another in Kuwait.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has entered into a non-binding deal with ground handler Sats and duty-free retailer DFASS (Singapore) to work on a joint venture project in travel retail.
The trio will be offering inflight and ground-based duty-free and duty-paid goods, as well as mail order and pre-order services.
The collaboration will be carried out through a joint venture company, DFASS Sats, which is now owned equally by DFASS and Sats wholly-owned subsidiary, Sats Asia-Pacific Star (APS).
Under the terms of agreement, SIA will purchase 70 per cent of the issued share capital of DFASS Sats from DFASS and APS, SIA said. Upon completion of the stake, both DFASS and APS will hold 15 per cent each of DFASS Sats.
Mandarin Oriental
British hotel management group Mandarin Oriental's profit dipped by 1 per cent to US$54.9 million (S$72.3 million) on the back of renovations of both Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, as well as the Hotel Ritz, Madrid.
The mainboard-listed group's chairman, Ben Keswick, however, said the group will benefit from the renovations in the long term.
Overall, revenue for the year ended Dec 31 rose to US$610.8 million from US$597.4 million in 2016.
Mandarin Oriental revealed it currently has 15 hotels and nine residences under development, all scheduled to become operational within five years.
In addition, the group's maiden entry into Australia will be marked by a new 197-room hotel and 146 branded residences located in Melbourne, due to open in 2022.
A final dividend of 1.5 US cents per share was proposed.
