Alibaba profit nearly doubles

SHANGHAI: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said on Thursday its net profit almost doubled in the latest quarter on the back of solid revenue growth in its core shopping business and in cloud computing.

Alibaba, which has made billionaire founder Jack Ma one of China’s richest men and a global e-commerce icon, has seen its New York-listed shares soar 80 per cent since last December on perennially robust earnings.

Alibaba said net income in the quarter which ended June 30 was 14.7 billion yuan ($2.2bn), a year-on-year increase of 94pc.—AFP

Mexico sees $200m investment in oil projects

MEXICO CITY: Mexican oilfield services provider Cotemar plans to invest at least $200 million in two oil projects by the end of 2018 as it starts to operate fields on its own, a move made possible by sweeping energy reforms, the firm’s top executive said in an interview.

Cotemar CEO Alejandro Villarreal told Reuters the company expects to grow output to 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) by next year from two onshore blocks discovered by national oil company Pemex but won by Cotemar’s upstart oil unit at auction in 2015.—Reuters

Hyundai unveils new fuel cell SUV

SEOUL: Hyundai Motor said Thursday it plans to launch early next year a second-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that will travel more than 580 kilometers (360 miles) between fill-ups under Korean standards.

If delivered as promised, the new fuel cell vehicle will travel 40pc farther than its first generation fuel cell SUV, the Tucson ix FCEV, launched in 2013. Under European standards, Hyundai said the new vehicle can drive 800 kilometers (498 miles).

Fuel cell cars, emission-free like pure electric cars, can be refueled in two to three minutes unlike electric vehicles that can take several hours to fully recharge. But the dearth of hydrogen fueling stations is an obstacle for mass adoption.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017