TDAP to hold dates show in Gwadar KARACHl: The Trade Development Authority ofPakistan (TDAP) is organising a show and seminar on `Value-addition in dates` on Thursday in Gwadar, said a press release.

The event aims to underscore the important features of dates from Balochsitan and will be the first comprehensive promotional programme on the produce.Swatch first-half earnings jump ZURICH: Swiss watchmaker Swatch said onFriday that its profits rose in the first six months, butits performance was dampened by the strength of the Swiss franc.

`The overvalued Swiss franc dampened growth in the first half of the year,` Swatch said in its first half report.

`However, the Swatch Group, with its 20 strong brands and its own retail network, is very well represented worldwide, and was therefore able to generate net sales of 3.7 billion Swiss francs (3.3bn euros, $3.9bn).` That represented a fractional decline of 0.3 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier.-AFPGE profit slumps; shares in `limbo` NEW YORK: General Electric Co`s profit fellnearly 60 percent in the second quarter and it put off an expected `reset` of 2018 earnings targets until November, sending shares down sharply.

The maker of power plants, jet engines, medical scanners and other industrial equipment said its profit and sales declines largely reflected sale of its appliances business, and it affirmed its full-year forecast for cash flow, profit, revenue and operating margin. GE said it would update its 2018 earnings target of $2 a share in November, later than analysts had expected. Analyst consensus 2018 estimate is $1.73.-Reuters