Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts opened its first resort hotel in Saudi Arabia and its ninth property in the Kingdom last month, creating a new leisure destination and meetings venue on the Gulf coast.

Saudi Oger, one of the region's leading construction companies, has decided to implement a pioneering e-procurement solution provided by Aregon, a global B2B digital marketplace and e-business solution provider and PwC Consulting, a business of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Al Shahin Company for Metal Industries (SHMICO), a fabricator of structural steel in Saudi Arabia, has recently completed a major expansion programme aimed at cementing its leading position in the market. The programme involved the addition of two new production lines covering an area of 52,000 sq m with capacities of 32,000 and 27,000 tonnes.

The Dhahran Alarabi Aluminium Factory Company has been awarded the International Gold Star for Quality in Geneva, Switzerland.

A new Zamil venture in Dammam has launched production of open-web steel joists last month. The company, called Canam Asia, is a venture between Zamil Industrial Investment Company (ZIIC) of Saudi Arabia and Steel Plus Limited (SPL) - an affiliate of the Canadian Canam Manac Group (CMG).