< Previous20 Vol. 21/06, March 2020 burst,” she said. “We’re actually quite positive and optimistic. It shows the market is more mature and more sustainable. We’re calling it a period of normalisation.” Slower rate In the near-term, Salbak said that sale and rental prices are likely to remain near the bottom of the market. “We think the market will hold for some time, and potentially see further declines for some time, but nothing drastic that should scare anyone,” she said. “I think [rent and sales prices] will continue to fall, but at a much slower rate. “The market will remain tenant friendly, and tenants should definitely push for lease negotiations,” she added. During the podcast, Salbak also explained government efforts to control oversupply in the market, the impact of Expo 2020 Dubai, the long-term forecast for the emirate, and how Dubai fares compares to other cities around the region and globe. Check out all our podcasts at https:// anchor.fm/arabianbusiness/ DUBAI’S REAL ESTATE MARKET is expected to go through a period of “stabilisation” over the coming years, even as it continues to hover near the bottom of the market in 2020, Dana Salbak, the head of MENA research at real estate investment and advisory firm JLL, said in the second episode of the newly launched Arabian Business podcast. In the episode, Salbak said that the rate of decline in the real estate market slowed in 2019, with sales prices falling by 1 percent for apartments and 3 percent for villas in Q4 compared to Q3 2019. Higher declines were recorded on an annual level, with apartment rents and sales prices declining by 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Similarly, villa rent and sales prices declined by around 8 percent and 10 percent respectively when compared to the same time period in 2018. Additionally, the JLL statistics shows that “primary” areas of decline continued to perform above average. Secondary locations – such as Motor City, JVT and JVC – saw steeper declines. Despite the continued declines in 2019 and previous years, Salbak said that the market is “not quite” where it was in the difficult period of 2008 and 2009. “The market is really adjusting, more so than being a ‘crash’ or a bubble As part of our new podcast series, the head of research at real estate investment and advisory firm JLL explained government efforts to control oversupply in the market, the impact of Expo 2020 Dubai and the long-term forecast for the emirate ARABIAN BUSINESS PODCAST: The ups and downs of Dubai real estate By Bernd Deubsmann Jr PODCAS T SERIE S / REAL E STAT EBOOK YOUR TABLE TODAY WEDNESDAY 22nd April 2020 F O R MO RE INF O RMATIO N C O NTA C T O N E O F O U R TE AM T O D AY ROUND SPONSOR #C IDQ UIZ For sponsorship & Table Sales enquiries: Laura Collinder Sales Manager Tel: +971 4 444 3576 / Mobile: 971 55 401 1628 Email: laura.collinder@itp.com For event enquiries Teri Dunstan Events Manager Tel: +971 4 444 3227 E-mail: teri.dunstan@itp.com TROPHY SPONSORTHE BIG PICTURE An Iraqi civil defence worker disinfects a billiards hall in the Ashar District of the southern city of Basra on March 7, 2020, as part of efforts against COVID-19 coronavirus. As of Thursday, March 12, there has been 116,736 confirmed cases worldwide, with 4,095 deaths. PHOTO BY HUSSEIN FALEH / AFPPANDEMIC PROFITS / C O R ONAVIR U S EFFECT ON B U SINE S S E arabianbusiness.com 25 TOCK MARKETS ARE PLUMMET- ing, oil prices are plunging, travel is being restricted, events are being scrapped, millions are placed under quarantine – it’s hard not to be concerned over the impact of the chilling coronavirus epidemic. Just don’t tell that to Gail Clough, co-founder of the Laughter Factory, the Middle East’s longest-running comedy night. “We’re so up! Like 30 percent,” she tells Arabian Business. “We were sold out…I probably turned away more people than I let in.” The long-standing and undisputed matriarch of the Dubai comedy scene is among those who have managed to find a silver lining amid the doom and gloom of the coronavirus epidemic. From comedy clubs, streaming plat- forms and home delivery services, to cyber security firms, video-telecommu- nications specialists and e-commerce retailers, some companies have managed to emerge from the chaos of the outbreak with swelling customer bases, growing brand recognition and – perhaps – promising financials down the line. In Clough’s case, the coronavirus- related spike in attendance stands to reason: in tough times, many Dubai resi- dents are simply “in need of a laugh”. Despite the cancellation of one of her shows in Abu Dhabi, Clough says crowds at Laughter Factory events in Dubai have remained packed, with no decline from the evening’s average nightly crowd of 175 people. Growing in attendance “We’re smashing the numbers with this,” she says. “Dubai’s going strong. Takes more than a bit of snot to come between us and a night out.” Growing attendance figures are a standard fixture of Dubai’s comedy goers as many hope to escape the flood of alarming news in bad times. Clough can attest to that, having made so much money in the 2008 crash that she was able to purchase the car of her dreams. “[In such times] people just need cheering up. It’s a certain type of person that comes to live stand-up,” she explains. “They tend to be quite free-spirited and these sorts of things S Global markets have taken a chilling hit amid the coronavirus epidemic, but some sectors are bringing in the dough BY BERND DEBUSMANN JR COVER STORY26 Vol. 21/06, March 2020 FEATURE / C O R ONAVIR U S $6.7bn The size of the global video conferencing market by 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research link, or opening a file,” remarks Kasper- sky’s META head of presales, Emad Haffar. While an uptick in cyberattacks is expected during major news events or even holiday periods, the coronavirus epidemic presents a unique challenge for businesses, according to Haffar. “It’s a global event. Every single person on planet earth is interested in at least reading about the coronavirus, how to protect themselves, the latest news and so forth. Half of the social engineering effort [cybercriminals] need to put in is already done,” he says. Although Haffar believes it’s too early to predict the financial impact bring them out of the woodwork. The most money that we ever made was in the 2008 crash. I bought a Jaguar then!” Cybersecurity fi rms to the rescue But the coronavirus is no laughing matter for businesses being targeted by a rash of cyberattacks using the outbreak as convenient “bait,” according to cyber- security firm Kaspersky, which has had to come to the aid of companies. Researchers say they have already detected thousands of fraud attempts, including fake emails purportedly sent from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to redirect unwitting users to sites which prompt them for personal information that winds up in the hands of criminals. “Threat actors take advantage of these kinds of events to try embed their malicious content, [such as] phishing campaigns or even spam emails. They can lure unaware users into clicking a u Events at Laughter Factory in Dubai have remained packed, according to co-founder Gail Clough “We’re so up! Like 30 percent. We were sold out… I probably turned away more people than I let in”arabianbusiness.com 27 / C O R ONAVIR U S EFFECT ON B U SINE S S E S the coronavirus will have on Kasper- sky’s bottom line in the region, he says the company has already seen a significant increase in demand for its security products and advisory services, particularly from firms that have asked employees to work from home or are planning to do so in the event the situ- ation deteriorates. “We’ve received a spike in requests, not necessarily just to counter the coro- navirus related scam emails, but mostly to provide advisory services and help them cope with that demand,” he says. “Judging from what we’ve seen, prob- ably this will [in the mid- to long-term] increase demand for cyber security and the appetite of organisations to invest in it.” Out of offi ce? Some of the same concerns that are helping boost interest in cyber security are also driving demand for companies that specialise in teleconferencing or web-based collaboration and produc- tivity tools that allow employees to work together, even when out of office. Among them is Chennai-based Zoho, which provides cloud-based business solutions and announced recently that it will offer a remote work toolkit – known u Avaya International is seeing a signifi cant advancement in remote working u Zoho will offer its remote work toolkit for clients as Zoho Remotely – free for all its exist- ing customers through – at least – in July 1. The package includes 10 Zoho appli- cations that can be used for virtual meet- ings and conferences, as well as shared access to files and documents. “Not everyone wants, or can, afford to pay in this situation. It’s probably not the best time to pay for software,” explains Ali Shabdar, Zoho’s Middle East and Africa regional director. “At what- ever point we stop the free service, we will invite them [customers] to use the paid plan.” Going forward, Shabdar says a by-product of the virus outbreak is that many organisations in the region and the world are “reconsidering” their traditional ways of doing business. “We became too comfortable with the way we do business,” he explains. “The tools have been there for more than a decade, but not everyone utilised them to the fullest. It’s time for every- body to regroup and quickly start learning how to use it…..now it’s not a luxury, it’s a need.” Shabdar’s thoughts are echoed by Savio Tovar Dias, senior director for sales engineering for American multi- national tech firm Avaya Interna- tional, who says the coronavirus has led customers to explore new ways of implementing technologies they may “We’ve received a spike in requests, not just to counter the coronavirus- related scam emails, but to provide advisory services and help them cope with that demand” $2.89bn The revenue posted by Avaya Holdings Corp for fi nancial year 201928 Vol. 21/06, March 2020 C OVER S T O RY / C O R ONAVIR U S EFFECT ON B U SINE S S E S have been previously hesitant to use. “Customers have always thought about it, but adoption rates have been low. We’re going to see adoption and usage increase. We’re seeing a signifi- cant advancement in remote working and the value of doing that,” he explains. “We’re seeing a large uptick.” Ihsan Anabtawi, chief operating and marketing officer at Microsoft UAE, which is providing its Microsoft Teams platform free for customers who don’t have commercial licenses and is work- ing with the UAE Ministry of Education to help establish remote learning class- rooms – says demand for remote work- ing platforms is likely to remain long after the end of the epidemic. “People will end up realising that having remote work enabled in place is useful in any scenario. If something like this happens, you’ll be ready. It allows flexibility,” he says. “Once things normalise, you’ll see people continue with a hybrid set-up. They can work from the office, but if the need arises, without necessarily an emergency or a medical situation, then Netfl ix and chill? While Netflix has declined to answer queries from Arabian Business on the impact of coronavirus on its business, some analysts around the world are predicting that the company will see a significant boost as a result. Analyst Michael Olson of Piper Sandler, for example, analysed search trends for Netflix on Google and believes that the company’s subscribers from the US and Canada alone could grow by as much as 3.8 percent year-on- year – more than twice that previously forecast. The data also suggests that international subscribers may grow 30.9 percent compared to the same quarter last year, above expectations for growth of 29.9 percent. “With corona- virus fears pushing consumers away from travel and out-of-home entertainment, Netflix could be a near-term benefi- ciary of this temporarily altered behaviour.” they’ll have the tools they need to work remotely and remain connected.” Medical sector The same video-conferencing technol- ogy that is making it easier to work from home is now increasingly becoming a key part of the health sector currently being tested by the coronavirus epidemic. “Primary care, when delivered over telehealth channels, offers the oppor- tunity to navigate patients to the correct care need, thereby reducing unneces- sary visits, tests, medications and the associated costs,” says David Healy, EMEA CEO for US insurance giant Aetna International. “This is particularly rele- vant in the current climate where Covid- 19 concerns can put a lot of people off visiting hospital waiting rooms. These telehealth services are a safe and secure way to talk to an experienced doctor, without the risk of catching or spread- ing infection.” Aetna agrees it is too early to judge the eventual financial impact of the virus, although it has seen a spike in corona- virus-related inquiries from members. “I believe everybody’s attention now is on protecting their employees and members,” Healy adds. “While it may be too soon to assess any business impact or forecast, we are monitoring the current international and domestic environment for Covid-19 related risks and are preparing accordingly.” Other companies have taken the opportunity presented by the epidemic to diversify their portfolio – even if they don’t necessarily intend to make a profit. Regal Global Trading, for example, has announced plans to set up a factory in Dubai to manufacture affordable face masks and medical kits to be shipped to virus-stricken countries all over the world, particularly China. “Everyone in China needs masks. They did not go and try to set up surgical mask factories [prior to the outbreak], because there is very little income in that. They went for more value-added products. They don’t have the capacity, even if they’re the largest producer of non-woven cloth,” explains Khurram Shroff, chairman of IBC Group, which backs Regal. u Netfl ix is expected to generate around $6m with its UAE streaming service in 2020arabianbusiness.com 29 / C O R ONAVIR U S EFFECT ON B U SINE S S E S $2.97bn The projected subscription video on demand revenue in the MENA region by 2025, according to Digital TV Research “The world has changed, and now everyone will talk about wearing masks in public areas for protection” “The world has changed, and now everyone will talk about wearing masks in public areas for protection. We feel that the demand will stay there,” Shroff says of the facility’s future. “But, for now, every- one else [producing masks], is making money. We just want to figure out how to effect a big change.” Given the uncertainty that swirls around the coronavirus epidemic – and the frightening financial hit to global economies – the size and extent of the outbreak’s impact remains largely unclear. But for some companies, it seems that every cloud has a silver lining. u US-based insurance fi rm Aetna International believes it is too early to judge the eventual fi nancial impact of the coronavirus u (From left) Ali Shabdar, Zoho’s regional director; Khurram Shroff, chairman of IBC Group; Savio Tovar Dias, director at Avaya; Emad Haffar of Kaspersky META “It’s a fiasco everywhere in the world, and people are starting to gouge prices.” Shroff is quick to point out that he’s unlikely to make a profit from the project. Because of price increases caused by staggeringly high demand amid the outbreak, the necessary equip- ment – which would usually be avail- able for $80,000 – now costs $500,000. The entire facility, he adds, would have cost about $150,000 to set up in normal times. In the coming weeks it is being set up for approximately $1m and will even- tually ramp production up to 600,000 masks each day. Next >