To Get Out and Leave Right Now!                                                  21 July 2023

The 3,030 real estate and properties transactions totalled US$ 2.70 billion, during the shortened week, ending 20 July 2023. The sum of transactions was 378 plots, sold for US$ 817 million, and 2,124 apartments and villas, selling for US$ 1.40 billion. The top three transactions were all for plots of land in Wadi Al Safa 7, sold for US$ 78 million, and for US$ 19 million and US$ 18 million, both in Al Goze Second. Al Hebiah Fifth recorded the most transactions, with 133 sales, worth US$ 1.21 billion, followed by sixty-seven sales in Al Goze Second for US$ 368 million, and forty-nine sales in Madinat Hind 4, valued at US$ 20 million. The top three transfers for apartments and villas were all for apartments – the first in Business Bay, valued at US$ 48 million, another in Al Nahda First for US$ 26 million, and a third in Al Nahda Second for US$ 24 million. The mortgaged properties for the week reached US$ 417 million, with the highest being a land in Saih Shuaib 2, mortgaged for US$ 56 million, whilst sixty-three properties were granted between first-degree relatives worth US$ 72 million.

Q2 saw the emirate’s commercial real estate market emulate the residential market by a record quarterly performance – up 22.0% on the year, with the total transacted value 101% higher, reaching US$ 5,827 billion. For office properties, there was a 49.0% hike in the number of transactions, on the year. The top five locations for office sales were Business Bay, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Jumeirah Village, Circle, Barsha Heights and Dubai Silicon Oasis. Dubai’s retail sector followed suit, with a 50% increase in transactions and an impressive 94% rise in transacted value. Although there was a 12.0% decline in demand for commercial leasing transactions, it still remains strong for commercial real estate. According to the Dubai Land Department, a total of 60,440 sales transactions were recorded, with a total value of US$ 48.31 billion in H1. With the recorded value of registered real estate mortgages reaching US$ 16.82 billion in H1, including grants worth US$ 3.71 billion, the total H1 real estate transactions in Dubai amounted to US$ 68.86 billion.

Last Saturday, and on a visit to the country, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed an agreement with the UAE that will allow it to settle trade in rupees, instead of dollars, (boosting India’s efforts to cut transaction costs by eliminating dollar conversions), and that will also establish a real-time payment link to facilitate easier cross-border money transfers. The RBI noted that the two agreements will enable “seamless cross-border transactions and payments and foster greater economic cooperation”. India currently pays for UAE oil in US$, although last year, it announced a framework for settling global trade in rupees. For the fiscal year to March 2023, bilateral trade reached US$ 84.5 billion.

H1 was a significant period for Dubai’s global meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions sector, as it registered a 44.0% expansion in business event bid wins; Dubai Business Events, the city’s official convention bureau – and its partners – won 143 conferences, congresses, meetings and incentives. These events, over the coming years, are expected to bring an additional 94k additional visitors. Eighty-four of the incentives won emanated from China and India, and association events that have been won in H1, include IATA AGM 2024, World Library and Information Congress 2024, Critical Communication World 2024, Million Dollar Round Table Global Conference 2024 and International Trademark Association’s Annual Meeting 2026. Key corporate meetings and incentives coming to Dubai are Cardano Summit 2023, Perfect China Incentive 2023, WCA World Annual Conference 2024, Brand Experience World 2024 and Nu Skin Global Team Elite Incentive 2024.

Dnata plans to hire a further 7k staff to feed their expansion plans, (driven by stronger demand for global travel demand), of which 1.5k will be recruited in Dubai, with a wide range of vacant positions, including airport customer service agents, baggage handlers, kitchen staff for in-flight meal catering, call centre operators and travel agents. It is also seeking to fill a “large number” of specialist roles – from chefs to data scientists, as well as senior management positions. Last year, dnata, which expanded its payroll by 17% to 46k, had operations for ground-handling at eighty-six international airports and cargo services at forty-eight locations.

With the aims of consolidating bi-lateral trade, and boosting collaboration in strategic sectors, the UAE and Türkiye have announced agreements and accords worth a combined US$ 50.7 billion. The accords, covering a range of sectors including energy, defence, infrastructure, technology, finance and space,were signed by HH President Sheikh Mohamed and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who both witnessed the announcements of the agreements and a joint accord on the establishment of a high-level strategic council between the two countries. The UAE-Türkiye Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was ratified in May 2023 which was expected to double bilateral non-oil trade to more than US$ 40 billion and also to create thousands of jobs in both countries. Under the deal, the UAE plans to make large-scale investments covering the full spectrum of Türkiye’s national energy transition strategy; they include projects in renewable energy, green hydrogen and ammonia, hydropower plants, transmission projects, battery storage, nuclear energy co-operation and emerging technologies, including hydrogen and carbon-capture utilisation and storage. The two countries signed thirteen agreements and protocols in various fields, at the time, including defence, health and medical sciences, sea and land transport, advanced industries and technology, climate action and culture, with the central banks of the two countries also signed a currency swap arrangement.

According to performance analysts Ookla, the UAE has ranked first globally in mobile internet speed for the month of June, with a download speed of 204.24 Mbps and an upload speed of 22.72 Mbps. The country has ranked fist every month this year, in their Speedtest Global Index, except for April when it came in second. The UAE ranked second globally and first regionally for fixed broadband speed in June, with a download speed of 239.2 Mbps, with Singapore topping the list with a speed of 247.29 Mbps.

The UN Industrial Development Organisation has ranked UAE first in the Arab region and twenty-ninth globally in its Competitive Industrial Performance Index – two places higher than last year. The CIP, which ranks 153 countries, assesses national industrial performance in the global economy, benchmarking the ability of countries to produce and export competitively. This index gauges and compares the strength of industrial competitiveness within countries. It is based on indicators including technological capabilities, innovation, productivity, and trade performance.

On 07 July, the UAE blocked Emirates Gold DMCC, one of the country’s biggest and oldest gold refineries, from delivering into Dubai’s bullion market. The company has been suspended from the UAE Good Delivery Standard list of approved refineries – this had been set up by UAE authorities in November 2021.  Membership on the list is conditional on refiners meeting anti-money laundering and responsible sourcing standards that grant them the right to deliver into the UAE gold market. Last Friday, the London Bullion Market Association, which regulates the world’s largest gold trading hub, followed suit and suspended Emirates Gold’s affiliate membership, citing “due to the outcome of the recent LBMA due diligence review”.

In its UAE Financial Stability Report 2022, the central bank posted that the country’s financial system remained resilient throughout last year despite global headwinds, with the banking sector well capitalised with adequate liquidity buffers. The report covered a variety of topics, including global and local macroeconomic conditions and domestic asset markets, along with providing a detailed assessment and evaluation of the UAE banking system. It also highlighted the fact that the UAE benefitted from favourable domestic conditions, which insulated the financial system from adverse global economic trends, and that the risks impacting the financial system remained within acceptable boundaries and were largely unchanged from 2021. It also noted that the banking system also benefitted from local macroeconomic recovery in 2022, with credit growth, particularly private sector loans, having rebounded during the year and that GDP growth accelerated during 2022 due to a robust recovery in non-oil GDP and a sizeable expansion of oil GDP.

The DFM opened on Monday, 17 July 2023, 507 points (16.1%) higher the previous seven weeks, shed 24 points (0.2%) to close the shortened week on 3,986, by 20 July 2023. Emaar Properties, US$ 0.12 higher the previous fortnight, shed US$ 0.06 to close on US$ 1.81 by the end of the week. DEWA, Emirates NBD, DIB and DFM started the previous week on US$ 0.74, US$ 4.44, US$ 1.54, and US$ 0.45 and closed on US$ 0.74, US$ 4.46, US$ 1.54 and US$ 0.44. On 20 July, trading was at 186 million shares, with a value of US$ 74 million, compared to 347 million shares, with a value of US$ 88 million, on 14 July 2023.

By Friday, 21 July 2023, Brent, US$ 5.44 higher (7.3%) the previous fortnight, gained US$ 0.74 (0.9%) to close on US$ 80.61.  Gold, US$ 28 (1.5%) higher the previous week, gained US$ 3 (0.1%) to US$ 1,962 on 21 July 2023.  

Having posted 2021 and 2022 losses of US$ 111 million and US$ 187 million, Lotus Cars is set to cut up to two hundred jobs from its workforce, indicating it would cut back its workforce to “ensure that the right organisational structure is in place”; it has not yet specified where the job cuts will take place. Last year, it sold just 576 vehicles, compared to 1,566 a year earlier – and this despite the introduction of its Emira sports car model. The car maker, owned by China’s Geely, is in the process of introducing a variety of new models, including the Eletre SUV being built in Wuhan. It posted that it would focus its efforts on the “production of the Emira sports car and Evija hyper car, with 2023 set to be a record year for vehicle production, before we turn our attention to our future EV sports cars”.

With Elon Musk commenting that the world economy is in “turbulent times”, Tesla could continue to cut prices, with the latest financials showing the EV maker’s margins continue to be squeezed to their lowest levels in four years, as global competition becomes tougher. Its Q2 gross profit margin dropped 8.0% to 18.2%, on the year. It share value dropped 4.0% on the news, in Wednesday’s trading, as there are concerns that more price cuts are on the cards; earlier in the year, Tesla’s founder commented that he believed pursuing higher sales, with lower profits, was the “right choice” for Tesla.

Yesterday, Tesla shares nosedived, losing nearly 9.0% in value, because of announced price cuts and a day earlier announcing Project Fojo – a supercomputer to enhance Tesla’s autonomous driving capabilities by processing vast amounts of data, particularly video data collected from Tesla vehicles. It would appear that it would replace the EV carmaker’s existing supercomputer which already relies on Nvidia GPUs. In yesterday’s earnings release, Tesla revealed that manufacturing of the Dojo training computer had already commenced. The latest fall in Tesla’s share value means that Elon Musk’s personal wealth lost over US$ 20 billion.

Nokia posted a 3.0% decline in Q2 revenue, to US$ 6.36 billion, with its comparable profit plunging 29.2%, to US$ 462 million, and its actual profit 37.0% lower at US$ 324 million. The company’s market value has fallen by more than 20.0%, but its share value closed 0.31% higher on Wednesday’s news to US$ 3.95.  46% of sales, (US$ 2.90 billion), were derived from its mobile networks business whilst its network infrastructure division added US$ 2.12 billion to the top line, with the company’s cloud and network services business adding US$ 828 million.

Although revenue dipped 0.4% to US$ 17.86 billion, IBM reported a 14% jump in Q2 net profit, to US$ 1.6 billion, driven by the company’s strong performance in its software and consulting divisions. Over 85% of the tech giant’s revenue emanates from three sectors – software, consulting and infrastructure – US$ 6.6 billion, US$ 5.0 billion and 3.6 billion. It ended Q2 with US$ 16.3 billion of cash and marketable securities, up 85.2%, (US$ 7.5 billion) YTD and also generated net cash from operating activities of US$2.6 billion, up $1.3 billion on an annual basis. IBM expects revenue growth of up to 5% in the fiscal 2023 year, and about US$ 10.5 billion in free cash flow, up more than $1 billion yearly, during the period. The company’s debt, including IBM financing debt of $10.6 billion, totalled $57.5 billion as of 30June. It was up by nearly US$ 6.5 billion since the end of 2022.

Q2 witnessed Goldman Sachs posting one of its weakest ever quarterly results, with earnings plunging 58%, mainly attributable to an investment-banking slump, property markdowns and a goodwill write-down in the consumer business; revenue dipped 8.0% to US$ 10.9 billion, with fixed income trade down 26% to US$ 2.71 billion, investment banking revenue at US$ 1.43 billion and although equity underwriting moved higher, advisory fees plunged. Revenue from equities trading came in at a respectable US$3.0 billion, as its asset-and wealth-management business posted a 4.0% fall in revenue to US$ 3.05 billion. Total assets under supervision nudged 0.2% higher, to a record US$ 2.71 trillion, whilst return on equity slid to 4.0% – the worst among the top US banks.

Having managed to embezzle over US$ 6.0 million (AUD 9 million), from the National Australia Bank, (one of the four big banks in the country), a former employee has been jailed for a maximum of fifteen years by a judge who described her crime as “breath-taking in its audacity”. Helen Rosamond and her co-offender and “bestie” Rosemary Rogers, (who is currently serving an eight-year sentence) dishonestly obtained millions from NAB using fraudulent invoices. The Sydney woman falsified and over-inflated invoices from her event management company, Human Group, to NAB which were approved by her co-offender Rosemary Rogers, the former chief of staff to the bank’s CEO. Last year she was found guilty of ninety charges, including dozens of counts of corruptly giving a benefit and dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and two counts of attempting to obtain a financial advantage. The money funded a life of opulence between 2013 and 2017, largely for Rogers, who had an “extraordinary” delegation of authority within NAB to approve expenditure of up to US$ 13.6 million (AUD 20 million). The court was told this allowed the fraud to go undetected for some time. The court heard the total “financial advantage” to Rosamond was US$ 3.0 million, (AUD 4.4 million), while Rogers benefited by US$ 3.7 million, (AUD 5.5 million). Money was spent on luxury holidays, business class flights, helicopter transfers and limousines for Rogers with her relatives. They included a US$ 422 million US holiday for eight, a European holiday for six costing US$ 109k, and a fiftieth birthday party in Sydney for thirteen costing US$ 48k. Rogers was also occasionally given prepaid Mastercards for her own personal use — including in 2014 when Rosamond handed over two cards worth US$ 66k.

Evergrande posted that its combined losses in 2021 and 2022 came to a mouth-watering US$ 81.1 billion – 81.8%, (or US$ 66.3 billion) in 2021 and the balance of US$ 14.8 billion last year; over the two years, its revenue more than halved. The conglomerate, which was once the country’s top-selling property developer, said the losses were due to a number of reasons, including the falling value of properties and other assets, as well as higher borrowing costs. The troubled Chinese property giant, which defaulted on its debts in 2021 after a period of aggressive expansion, has been struggling with an estimated US$ 300 billion of liabilities. In 2020, the Chinese government introduced legislation to control the amount big real estate firms could borrow and this had a negative impact on the sector, including Evergrande; the following year, it missed a crucial deadline and was unable to repay interest on US$ 1.2 billion of international loans. This had a domino effect on the industry, with other developers defaulting on their debts and leaving unfinished building projects across the country. Earlier this year, Evergrande laid out plans to restructure around US$ 20 billion in overseas debt. The Chinese real estate sector will continue to be a drag on the country’s economy for some time to come.

In a surprise move yesterday, the Turkish Monetary Policy Committee raised the benchmark interest rate by 2.5% to 17.5% – a sure sign of a shift to orthodox economic policy following May elections, as the MPC also decided to introduce “quantitative tightening and selective credit tightening to support the monetary policy stance”; it also stated that it would continue with a gradual “simplification” of existing regulatory measures. It concluded that “monetary tightening will be further strengthened as much as needed in a timely and gradual manner until a significant improvement in the inflation outlook is achieved.”  This latest move shows a marked shift away from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rather eccentric economic policies of the past, with the introduction of a tightening cycle that will also feature alternative tools. The latest hike was lower than most analysts expected so it is inevitable that a similar 2.5% hike is on the cards for next month; meanwhile the value of the lira will head south. In unwinding years of unconventional measures, Mr Erdogan’s new economic team is scaling back support for the lira, rebuilding foreign reserves and simplifying regulations that were used to stabilise the Turkish currency. A result of the central bank tightening its reserve requirements – reminiscent of a move previously employed by the central bank. That, if it happens, would cast further doubt over the rates outlook. In June, the central bank delivered its first rate increase in more than two years, opting for a 650 basis-point step that underwhelmed the market.

Good news for the Chinese economy was that its service sector registered faster expansion in H1 – increasing by 6.4% on the year – and contributed more to the broader economy. Notable increases were seen in the value-added output of the catering/accommodation sectors, up 15.5%, and that of information transmission, software/IT service sectors, jumping 12.9%. In 2022, the economic growth was mainly driven by industry, but in H1, the momentum came from both services and industrial sectors, with the service output accounting for 66.1% of the economic growth. Furthermore, in the five-month period to May, the combined business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size gained 8.5% on the year. In Q2, China’s economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace – at 6.3%, compared to 4.5% a quarter earlier. Despite this seemingly strong headline growth rate, few indicators are pointing to a Chinese economy that is struggling to return to post-Covid normality.

In June, China’s retail sales grew 3.1%, slowing from 12.7% in May, while the urban surveyed unemployment rate in thirty-one major cities stood at 5.5%, the same as a month earlier. The unemployment rate for the 16 to 24 age group was 21.3%, while that for the 25 to 59 age group was 4.1%.  June industrial output was at 4.4%, 0.95% higher on the month, whilst the Manufacturing PMI was in negative territory at 49.0 (with 50.0 being the threshold between expansion and contraction) and the Production and Operation Expectation Index was at 53.4. There is no doubt that the stop/start Chinese economy has not been helped by continued troubles in its property market, risk of disinflation, weak retail sales and falling exports – all factors in the disappointing Q2 figures. As retail sales have tanked, household deposits grew almost 18% in H1, year on year – the highest level in the past decade – with the outstanding amount equivalent to more than thirty months of retail sales.

In Australia, the Senate continued its investigation into the practices of the consulting industry, grilling four Deloitte executives and speaking to other insiders who slammed the sector and called for a deeper inquiry and reform. Chairman Tom Imbesi was asked how many Deloitte employees earned more than US$ 676k (AUD 1 million), but he could not provide the figure because of commercial sensitivities. He was then asked by Senator Pocock, “So, providing the number of people in million-dollar bands is something you’re not comfortable giving to the Australian public given that last year you took $712 million (US$ 481 million) of public money?” Eventually, CEO Adam Powick told the hearing the average base salary of a partner at Deloitte was between $500k (US$ 338k) and $600k (US$ 406k). Powick, who reportedly earns US$ 2.37 million (AUD 3.5 million), was asked “Are you really worth seven times the salary of the Australian prime minister?”  to which he replied “No”.

The firm admitted that there had been one hundred and twenty-one internal misconduct complaints this year, of which only one was referred to a regulator. Deloitte’s chief risk officer Sneza Pelusi was asked “What about the other 120?” Earlier in the day, Alan Fels, leading economist and former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, told the inquiry that governments had become too dependent on the major consulting firms, which meant they paid whatever the asking price was. He said legislation was needed to force a “break-up” between the auditing and consulting arms of the major firms so information was not compromised and added that there would be far more value in “lower-paid public servants”, noting there had been a total loss of public confidence in the Big Four. The federal government has already committed to slashing its external consultancy spend by US$ 1.35 billion, (AUD 2 billion),  by using more in-house teams.

After growing 5.1% last year, and despite an easing of supply bottlenecks, the IMF is expecting global trade growth to decline this year to 2.4%, and by 3.5% in 2024; China is forecast to grow 5.2% this year, as its economy recovers from the pandemic, well up on the 3.0% expansion last year. Although the People’s Bank of China had cut its benchmark interest rate to 2.65% in June but, left it unchanged on Monday, there is a chance that it will introduce more stimulus to boost spending to spur growth. Earlier, Goldman Sachs indicated that if the Chinese domestic demand were to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, and the economy fully reopens, then it would add a further 1.0% to global output. The IMF estimates that India and China will account for 50% global growth this year, compared with the equivalent of 10% for the US and euro area combined.

Last Sunday, the UK finally signed a trade agreement to join the now twelve-member bloc – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership; other nations include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, with China next to enter negotiations with the CPTPP, followed by Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ukraine. The UK government expects that 99% of current UK goods exports to CPTPP, including motor vehicles and whiskey, will become eligible for zero tariffs; it also notes that CPTPP-owned businesses currently employ 1% of UK workers, which is expected to show marked increases now the UK has joined. The IMF estimates that the bloc, home to five hundred million people, will account for 15% of global GDP.

A McKinsey & Co study has estimated that the office space market in major cities could lose as much as US$ 800 billion over the next seven years, as vacancies rise with a marked move to remote/flexible working schedules; it is thought that although the number of employees is returning to their traditional way of working, it is still 30% below pre-pandemic levels. The survey focused on nine “superstar” cities – Beijing, Houston, London, New York City, Paris, Munich, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo. McKinsey opines that demand for office space, in a moderate scenario, is projected to be about 13% lower by 2030 compared to 2019 levels and predicted to balloon to 38% in a severe scenario, or 43% in a worst case happening. The consultancy notes that with fewer people going to the office, the vacancy percentage in office spaces has grown sharply since 2019, and this has a negative impact on the retail sector, as more consumers have increasingly begun to do their shopping online. The study also gave the three main reasons why some prefer to work remotely – it saves them time and money, increases productivity, and allows them to spend more time with their families.

A minor surprise saw a surprise 0.8% decline in June UK inflation to 7.9% – a figure that may see interest rates rise less sharply after the BoE had lifted rates thirteen times since December 2021 in an attempt to cool soaring price rises, driving up borrowing costs for millions; it is still almost four times higher than the BoE’s 2.0% target. Although welcome, the inflation rate is well above those of the US and the eurozone – at 3.0% and 5.5%. The two main drivers behind the falling inflation level were a decline in fuel prices and food prices rising less quickly. However, it is almost certain that there will be rate hikes, with the next one – at 0.25% – in August.

As widely expected, Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata has confirmed plans to build its US$ 5.17 billion, (GBP 4.0 billion), flagship electric car battery factory in the UK; it will create more than 4k new jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain. There is no doubt that the Indian parent company will not be investing the total US$ 5.17 billion, with the Sunak government providing subsidies worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Indeed, the government confirmed that Tata had been offered a “large” incentive to site the plant in the UK, with the subsidies likely to be in the form of cash grants, discounts on the cost of energy, and training/research funding. Tata Steel is in line to receive further government support subsidies in the range of just under US$ 400 million.

Initially, battery production, expected to start by 2026, will be used in JLR’s range of Range Rover, the Defender and the Jaguar brands and later by other car manufacturers; the new gigafactory, near Bridgwater, will be one of the largest in Europe and will initially make batteries for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles like Range Rover, the Defender and the Jaguar brands, but the plan is to also supply other car manufacturers later. There is hope that this project will be a forerunner for future plants in the UK which will compete with the EU’s thirty-five plants open, under construction or planned.

On news that Russia said it would treat ships heading for Ukrainian ports as potential military targets, wheat and corn prices rose 8.2%, (to US$ 284), and 5.4% on Wednesday. Prior to this announcement, Moscow had made a UN safe passage deal for grain shipments crossing the Black Sea. Moscow warned that from Thursday any ships going there would be seen as siding with “the Kyiv regime”. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin said he would return to the international grain agreement immediately if his demands, (for lifting sanctions on sales of Russian grain and fertiliser and reconnecting Russia’s agricultural bank to a global payment system), were met. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of deliberately targeting grain export infrastructure and putting vulnerable countries at risk, with Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi noting strikes had destroyed 60k tonnes of grain and damaged considerable parts of the grain export infrastructure. The Black Sea grain deal enabled the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to ship more than 725k tonnes of wheat from Ukraine to countries facing acute hunger, including Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Under an order signed by Vladimir Putin, Russia has taken control of the subsidiaries of yoghurt maker Danone and beer company Carlsberg, with the units having been put in “temporary management” of the state. The shares of both entities are under the control of Russian property agency Rosimushchestvo. The French based company – Russia’s largest dairy company, employing over 8k – stated that it was “currently investigating the situation”, and added that it was “preparing to take all necessary measures to protect its rights as shareholder of Danone Russia, and the continuity of the operations of the business”. Moscow has appointed Yakub Zakriev, deputy prime minister and agriculture minister of Chechnya, as the new head of yoghurt maker Danone’s Russian subsidiary; he is reportedly the nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov – a key ally of Vladimir Putin The Danish brewer, (with 8.4k employees), confirmed it had completed an “extensive process” to separate the Russian unit from the rest of the company, and that last month, the company had signed an agreement to sell Baltika Breweries but had not yet completed the deal. Maybe the owners of probably the best lager in the world should not have waited so long to heed the warning To Get Out and Leave Right Now!