Agility net profit surged 46% in Q1

Beirut: Kuwait-based Agility said its first-quarter net profit surged 46 per cent on the year on the back of growth in both its core commercial business and infrastructure operations.

The Gulf region’s largest Arab logistics provider said in a statement that its net profit jumped to 10.1 million Kuwaiti dinars ($35.49 million) in the first quarter of 2013 from 6.9 million dinar a year earlier.

“We are continuing on a healthy growth trajectory; 2013 has started off on the right track and we are making progress against our goals in both the core commercial business and our infrastructure group of companies,” Tarek Sultan, the company’s chairman and managing director, said in the statement.

Total revenue grew 10% to 352.6 million Kuwaiti dinar from 321.8 million dinar in the first quarter of 2012, according to the statement that was posted on the company’s website on Monday.

The company said that the revenue of its core commercial business- Agility Global Integrated Logistics, or Agility GIL — rose 7 per cent on the year to 297 million dinar. It added that “despite the ongoing weakness of the global economy, Agility GIL has expanded its customer base and reach over this last quarter.”

The infrastructure group contributed 57 million dinar to total revenue in the first quarter of 2013 which represents a 20 per cent increase over the same period last year. Agility said that its “infrastructure companies occupy profitable niches in the marketplace and, as a group, serve as a healthy hedge against volatility in the global economy.”