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Leila Al-Khatib

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  • 3 min read
  • Kering aims to double its 2025 operating margin of 11.1% by the midterm horizon.
  • CEO Luca de Meo unveiled the ReconKering strategy during Capital Markets Day in Florence.
  • The company will cut Gucci outlets by one-third and refurbish two-thirds of stores.
  • Leather goods, ready-to-wear, and jewelry categories receive fresh revenue targets through 2030.

Gucci eyes a revival plan as Kering pushes a bold reset to escape a long luxury slump. CEO Luca de Meo shared the strategy during Capital Markets Day in Florence on Thursday. The plan, named ReconKering, targets double operating profits and stronger returns for patient investors. Kering wants to lift its 2025 operating margin of 11.1% to over 20% return on capital. Shares dropped 4.3% by mid-morning as markets weighed execution risk against ambitious long-range goals.

Kering turnaround plan sets new financial targets

The Kering turnaround plan reshapes how the group runs stores, inventory, and pricing across its brands. Kering will refurbish or relocate two-thirds of Gucci outlets before the 2030 deadline. You will see selling space drop 20% and total store count fall by one third. The group wants to cut overall inventory by 1 billion euros over the next twelve months. De Meo stated clearly, “A model that worked for a decade is no longer effective for us.”

From my standpoint, these targets signal a sharper focus on quality revenue over flashy scale. Kering also wants to double sales density at Gucci by streamlining stores and lifting productivity everywhere. The ReconKering strategy guides every major decision inside the Florence-based luxury conglomerate today.

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Gucci eyes a revival plan through product and category resets

Gucci eyes a revival plan that places product identity and craftsmanship back at the center. Gucci leather goods will double their contribution to 20% of brand revenue by 2030. Kering targets an extra 1 billion euros from bags, 600 million from shoes, and ready-to-wear. Jewelry and watches will add another 500 million euros across the midterm horizon. De Meo said his priority is to make Gucci unmistakable, not louder or more complex.

He also noted the brand has lost some of its shine during the recent downturn. The team now builds fewer narratives, each one sharper and more coherent for loyal customers worldwide. You can see this reset already in stores through tighter collections and cleaner category pyramids.

Luca de Meo tackles the wider luxury slump

Luca de Meo took over seven months ago and moved fast on debt and structure. He closed the sale of the beauty division to L’Oreal in March for 4 billion euros. Citi analysts asked how quickly Gucci can return to healthy growth during this luxury slump. Gucci posted its 11th straight quarter of organic sales decline, according to Tuesday’s Kering report. The Middle East conflict also weighed on demand across several key retail regions this quarter.

Kering wants to reduce group dependence on Gucci by strengthening Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga. Saint Laurent will push fashion authority, menswear, and Asia with a sharper focus through 2030. Bottega Veneta becomes the emblem of deep luxury inside the wider group portfolio. Balenciaga targets younger shoppers through bold creative direction and tighter category execution. Gucci eyes a revival plan, and the wider Kering turnaround plan shapes every brand inside the group.

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  • Business, Fashion, Gucci

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Myriam Fares first concert in the Netherlands
  • Myriam Fares

Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands is scheduled for Friday, October 2, 2026, at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The Lebanese singer will share the stage with her full live band. SOUK Amsterdam Arabic Festival presents the show, and an afterparty follows the performance. This date is her Dutch debut after more than two decades on stage.

Who is Myriam Fares

Fares is known across the Arab world as The Queen of Stage. Her career began in 2003 and has spanned more than twenty years. Live shows blend Arabic musical traditions and instruments with modern pop, choreography and dance. She works as a singer, performer and songwriter, drawing on influences from several parts of the Arab world. Beyond music, she has also worked as an actress, producer and entrepreneur.

The venue sits at the center of the plan. Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam ranks among the city’s best-known concert halls, and it has hosted the SOUK festival in past years. This edition places Fares in the Main Hall with her own band. The concert brings the performer to Dutch audiences for the first time. Arabic pop, dance and live music fill the evening inside the historic building. Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands caps a run of high-profile appearances abroad.

Recent releases and tour dates

Fares performed during the Qatar Formula 1 Grand Prix. She reached a wider global audience with Tukoh Taka, the official FIFA Fan Festival anthem for the 2022 World Cup, recorded with Nicki Minaj and Maluma. Her track Goumi became a global dance hit, with millions of people joining its challenge on TikTok. A Netflix documentary, Myriam Fares: The Journey, gave viewers a closer look at her personal life and creative work. Recent Myriam Fares tour dates and stage shows have carried her across the region and further afield. In 2025, she released La Habibi. Her latest single, Ma Btaarefne, arrived in June 2026 through her own label, Myriam Music.

How to attend the concert in the Netherlands

Planning for the first concert in the Netherlands starts with the ticket date. Myriam Fares concert tickets go on sale on Friday, August 7, 2026. SOUK Amsterdam Arabic Festival organizes the event, so ticket details run through the festival and the venue. The Main Hall seating and the planned afterparty give attendees a full evening rather than a short set. For fans across Europe, Myriam Fares’ first concert in the Netherlands offers a rare chance to see the performer live in the region. The date falls on a Friday, which suits travel plans for visitors from nearby countries.

  • 3 min read
Al Balad Development Company
  • Saudi Arabia

The Al Balad Development Company’s partnership with Al Ittihad Club has moved to platinum sponsorship, a step that links a football club to the long effort to rebuild one of Saudi Arabia’s oldest urban districts. This Al Ittihad Club platinum sponsorship replaces the silver tier the two sides agreed in 2023. It shifts the relationship from media and marketing visibility toward a season-long program of activities connected to Historic Jeddah.

Al Balad Development Company, known as BDC, is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund. It serves as the master developer of the Jeddah Historical District, the walled old town listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Al Ittihad Club, founded in Jeddah in 1927, is the oldest sports club in the country and carries a large regional following. Placing the two side by side puts heritage development next to one of the city’s most visible cultural assets.

What the agreement covers

Under the agreement, presented on their official website, both sides will draw on a range of media and marketing assets alongside community initiatives and events across the season. The activities will promote the cultural offerings of Historic Jeddah and BDC’s own projects. Shared content, supporter experiences, and district events form the core of the plan. The intent is to pull fans closer to the old town and to raise engagement with the district among younger residents.

Jamil Hassan Ghaznawi, CEO of Al Balad Development Company, said the partnership would help promote the company’s projects, attract visitors and investors, and support economic activity in the area. He noted the collaboration builds on the club’s long connection with Jeddah and its supporter base. The focus, he said, would fall on experiences that join sport, culture, and the historic district.

“We believe that reviving Historic Jeddah extends beyond urban regeneration to fostering sustainable connections between people and their environment. Partnering with Al Ittihad Club, backed by its massive fanbase is a pivotal step forward. It allows us to showcase our projects, attract visitors and investors, and drive regional economic activity.”, Jamil Hassan Ghaznawi said.

The Al Balad Development Company partnership and Vision 2030

The Al Balad Development Company partnership sits inside a wider structural shift. BDC works under the Public Investment Fund’s strategy and under Saudi Vision 2030, the plan to move the economy away from oil. Tourism, hospitality, and cultural sectors carry a defined role in that plan. A sponsorship that fills stadiums and feeds social channels becomes a route to an audience for a development brand that needs one.

Domingos Soares, CEO of Al Ittihad Club, said the club’s long relationship with Jeddah and its community gave the expanded partnership a firm base. He added the sponsorship would support work designed to bring supporters closer to the cultural and social life of the old district while adding value for fans and the city.

A club as a development tool

The reasoning is direct. BDC is developing roughly 2.5 million square meters of the historic core, with plans for homes, hotels, and commercial space, while keeping the district’s architectural character. A project on that scale needs footfall and attention. Al Ittihad supplies both.

The Al Balad Development Company partnership also shows how PIF-owned entities now work in concert. PIF holds a majority stake in Al Ittihad and full ownership of BDC. Sponsorship between the two keeps investment and messaging inside one portfolio. For the district, the return will show less in logo placement and more in whether the club’s supporters follow their team into Historic Jeddah’s streets, hotels, and cultural venues over the season ahead.

Photo Credit: The Al Balad Development Company

  • 3 min read
World Bank grants $100 million to Syria
  • Investments

The World Bank grants $100 million to Syria to rebuild the foundations of a financial system worn down by more than a decade of conflict. Delivered as a grant from the International Development Association, the Bank’s arm for its poorest borrowers, the money will fund the Syria Financial Sector Modernization Project. That program is built to make payments safer and to widen access to banking. Behind the headline figure sits a harder question about governance, one about who will oversee the funds and to what standard.

A sector rebuilt from cash upward

After 14 years of war, Syria’s banking system remains small and leans heavily on cash. Financial intermediation is thin, digital payment infrastructure is dated, and supervision has weakened. These gaps raise the cost of every transaction and keep the country cut off from the international channels that trade and investment depend on. The project aims to operationalize core financial systems and to enable at least 15 million electronic retail payments a year. It also aims to bring 500,000 people and businesses into digital payments, among them 150,000 women. Expanding Syria’s digital payments sits at the center of the plan, which the World Bank frames as a route toward wider financial inclusion.

Why the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria now

Timing reflects a shift in how Damascus and the Bank work together. In May 2025, Saudi Arabia and Qatar cleared Syria’s arrears to the International Development Association, which restored the country’s eligibility for financing after a 14-year suspension. A month later, the Bank approved a $146 million grant for emergency electricity, its first Syrian project in nearly four decades. Finance Minister Mohamed Yisr Barnieh has said the Bank endorsed Syria’s economic reform plans for 2026. The latest decision, in which the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria, carries that reengagement into the heart of the financial system.

Oversight, integrity, and accountability

Much of the grant targets control rather than cash. The plan funds independent asset quality reviews across public and private banks, a step meant to show regulators the true health of the system. It strengthens risk-based supervision and rebuilds the Central Bank of Syria’s core systems, from its banking platform to its cybersecurity. Investment will also flow to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing tools, and to the Financial Intelligence Unit that runs them. Dalia Khalifa, the World Bank’s director for the Middle East, tied the project to Syria’s economic recovery, calling a modern financial system essential to the country’s future.

A test of standards

Governor Mohamed Safwat Raslan called the approval a milestone for the country’s banking infrastructure and a step toward standards used across global finance. He told the Syrian Arab News Agency the Central Bank would keep working to restore confidence and to return Syria to the international financial system. The International Development Association grant carries no repayment obligation, which lowers the fiscal risk for a state whose revenues have fallen sharply since 2011. Whether the reforms hold will depend on the strength of the new oversight. When the World Bank grants $100 million to Syria, the harder task is not the transfer but the accountability that comes after.

  • 3 min read
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