Agility, one of the biggest logistics companies in the Arabian Gulf, posted a 7.3 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for the first three months of 2019, due to growth in its core logistics business.
Net income for the quarter stood at 20.3 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh244.5m) and operating income stood at 378.8m dinars, up 1.8 per cent from the year-earlier period, the Dubai and Kuwait-listed company said in a statement on Sunday. It had yet to publish its full financial statement on either country’s stock exchange at the time of writing.
“Again a good start for Agility this year, though we are witnessing an environment where growth is slowing,” said the company’s vice chairman and chief executive, Tarek Sultan.
“We have seen good improvement across the board, and are accelerating our efforts to achieve our targets.”
The core logistics business Agility Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) posted first-quarter revenue of 275m dinars, down 1.1 per cent due to the impact of currency fluctuations, its parent company said. On a "constant currency" basis, revenue increased by 3.4 per cent year-on-year.
However, Agility GIL net revenue rose 1.2 per cent to 65.4m dinars during the period, driven by growth in the ocean freight and contract logistics, which offset decreases in project logistics and road freight, according to the statement.
Excluding the impact of new IFRS16 accounting rules, Agility GIL's pre-tax profit was 6.8m dinars, a 9 per cent decrease year-on-year, attributed to costs associated with the division's digital transformation and commercial investments, Agility said.
Agility GIL continues to make "significant investments in digital transformation to position it for long-term success and differentiation in the market", Mr Sultan said.
The parent company is also continuing to invest in its infrastructure companies, he added. Agility’s Infrastructure group reported a 7.4 per cent annual increase in pre-tax profit to 32.5m dinars and a 10.7 per cent revenue rise to 103.8m dinars.
Meanwhile, Agility grew its total air freight tonnage by 5.2 per cent in the first quarter, with strong performance from customers across multiple trade lanes and sales channels, it said. Ocean freight performance was “stable” with 2.3 per cent growth in twenty-foot equivalent units in the period.
There was annual revenue growth of 3.6 per cent for contract logistics division, with the Middle East region – principally Kuwait, Dubai and Egypt – the main driver of growth.
