Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/717204
42 Events maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 AUGUST 2016 Emirates adds Guangzhou to its global list of A380 destinations EMIRATES, voted the World's Best Airline 2016 at the Skyt- rax World Airline Awards, an- nounced that it will operate its flagship A380 on services be- tween Dubai and Guangzhou from 1st October 2016, the 67th National Day of People's Repub- lic of China. This follows the airline's recent announcements of A380 deployment on its Mi- lan and Johannesburg routes. Guangzhou will join more than 40 destinations on Emir- ates' extensive global network served by its highly popular A380 aircraft, including Bei- jing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, Bangkok, and Seoul. Since the route's inaugura- tion in 2008, Emirates has been flying a two-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its daily flights between Guangzhou and Dubai, and the airline has seen steady growth for its service on the route. Once the A380 service commences, it will in- crease capacity by 15% to meet the growing travel and trade de- mand from Southern China to Dubai and beyond. Emirates will deploy its three- class A380 on the Guangzhou route, offering a total of 491 seats, with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 mini pods with lie-flat seats in Business Class and 401 spacious seats in Econ- omy Class. Flight EK362 will depart Dubai at 10:20am and arrive in Guangzhou at 22:05. The return flight, EK363, will depart Guangzhou at 12:15am and arrive in Dubai at 03:50*. Emirates was named the World's Best Airline 2016 and the airline with the World's Best Inflight Entertainment at the prestigious Skytrax World Air- line Awards recently. All Emir- ates customers travelling on the A380 can access more than 2,500 channels of on demand audio and visual entertainment, which includes Chinese content on its ice entertainment system, featuring the latest movies, mu- sic, TV programmes, podcasts and games, as well as free Wi-Fi to stay in touch with family and friends during flights. In addition, First Class and Business Class customers can comfortably socialise or relax in the renowned Onboard Lounge on the upper deck of the Emir- ates A380. Emirates EK362/363 offers First Class customers the exclusive service of the on-board shower spas during flights, which makes Emirates the only airline in the Guang- zhou market offering this pre- mium customer product on an A380. The double-decker A380 is the world's largest commercial aircraft in service, and it is ex- tremely popular with travellers around the globe, with its spa- cious and quiet cabins. Emir- ates is the world's largest opera- tor of A380s, with 81 currently in its fleet and a further 61 on order. Guangzhou will be the third destination in Mainland China for Emirates to deploy its flag- ship aircraft, after Beijing and Shanghai. Emirates currently operates flights to five desti- nations in Mainland China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou, connecting Chi- nese travellers to Dubai, and onwards to more than 150 des- tinations around the globe. Emirates operates daily sched- uled flights between Malta and Dubai on Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Emirates flies twice weekly to Malta, on Mondays and Wednesdays, via Larnaca in Cyprus, and on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays the airline oper- ates the Dubai - Malta route on a circular routing via Tunis in Tunisia. The return flight flies direct from Malta to Dubai. Guangzhou will be the third A380 destination in mainland China after Beijing and Shanghai FIMBank announces return to profitability THE FIMBank Group has an- nounced a return to profitability for the first time since June 2014, attributing this achievement to the continued and successful im- plementation of a consolidation strategy adopted in 2015. This emerges from the pub- lication of the Group's Interim Financial Statements for 2016, which were published recently. The Group's Consolidated Au- dited Financial Statements show that for the period ending 30 June 2016, the Group registered a profit after tax of USD1.21 million com- pared to a loss of USD8.64 million for the same six-month period in 2015. At 30 June 2016, Total Consoli- dated Assets stood at USD1.60 bil- lion, an increase of 11% over the USD1.44 billion reported at end 2015, while Total Consolidated Li- abilities stood at USD1.43 billion, up by 13% from USD1.27 billion at end 2015. During the period un- der review, operating income rose by 34%, from USD15.88 million to USD21.24 million by end-June 2016. The Group's operating results before impairments, down by USD3.01 million, were affected by lower margins attributable to various factors. Meanwhile, in another milestone achievement, particularly in the context of the recovery efforts which the cur- rent management team set out to implement during 2015, the level of net impairments contin- ued its steep descent during this period, down from USD8.56 mil- lion to USD0.19 million for the six months ended 30 June of this year. The period under review also saw a marked decrease in operat- ing expenses of USD4.50 million, mainly reflecting an improved costmanagement discipline across the Group. Commenting on the financial results, FIMBank Group CEO Murali Subramanian stated that: "The positive financial results we have announced reflect our perse- verance in implementing the turn- around strategy set out in 2015. This was founded on the need to improve our origination strategy, harmonise our product offering whilst looking at new product op- portunities, a market-appropriate risk appetite, and cost efficiencies across the whole Group. These principles provided a platform from which FIMBank has been successfully stabilising its perfor- mance, growing its loan book and reversing the negative financial trend by returning a half-yearly profit". Commenting on the immediate outlook for the FIMBank Group, Chairman Dr John C Grech stated that the Group is "very encour- aged by the profits registered dur- ing the first half of 2016, adding that "we are confident that this trend will be sustained through- out 2016". He referred to the re- turn to profitability as "an im- portant milestone and a tangible result, which we are confident can be sustained through the effective application of the sound business strategy we have embarked upon". FIMBank's Board of Directors will not be recommending an in- terim dividend for the period un- der review. NMi discusses gaming compliance testing auditing in Romania NMI'S Gaming Division – the market leading compliance test- ing and auditing laboratory in the field of gaming and IT security, announced today that they will be exhibiting for the first time at En- tertainment Arena Expo (EAE) in Romania from the 5th - 7th Sep- tember 2016. This announcement follows NMi becoming the first accredited lab in Romania when the ONJN (Oficiul National pent- ru Jocuri de Noroc) awarded Class 2 licences in April 2016, having already been active in the Roma- nian market conducting database audits for the ministry since 2014. In booth #318 at EAE, NMi's expert team will be on hand to discuss compliance testing re- quirements and the regulatory framework for operators and suppliers entering the Romanian market. NMi's Director, Andrew Rose- warne said: "NMi supports its customers where ever they want to go in the world, and we were delighted to have been the first lab into Romania. So the step we are taking this year to exhibit at the Entertainment Expo gives our customers, and those looking for support entering the Romanian market, the ideal opportunity to speak to the NMi team and es- tablish a partnership that will not only serve their needs in Romania but within Eastern Europe and across the world." NMi's Business Development Manager, Julian Borg-Barthet added: "NMi are excited to work in Romania and to exhibit at the Entertainment Expo – our cus- tomers know that we have the experience of a highly-qualified team, the f lexibility of approach that meets our customer's needs, and the capacity to meet the highly regulated requirements of the Romanian market. "Increasing our attendance at shows in Eastern Europe gives us the ideal opportunity to meet with our customers and the peo- ple that are shaping these mar- kets and discuss in person, not only how we operate in highly regulated jurisdictions, such as Romania; but our approach to customer service within online games testing, land-based games testing, lottery certification, and security audits - along with our breadth of worldwide coverage that NMi provide." Julian Borg Barthet