Company News: Agility profit flat

Agility

Kuwaiti logistics company Agility posted flat second-quarter net profit on Tuesday and confirmed it did not take any provisions against its suspension from dealing with the United States army. The logistics firm facing US fraud charges made a profit of 7.82 million dinars ($27.71 million, Dh94 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement on Tuesday, against 7.83 million dinars in the year-ago period. Earnings per share for the second quarter were 7.85 fils compared to 7.79 fils a year earlier, it said. Agility, which was the largest supplier to the US Army in the Middle East during the war in Iraq, pleaded not guilty in August last year to charges it defrauded the US government over multi-billion-dollar supply contracts. The company is barred from bidding for new US government contracts pending the outcome of the cases. Agility filed for $225 million in claims against the US Defence Logistics Agency in April, saying the agency had breached the terms of a contract to distributed food to combat units. This comprises the amount owed in performance-based distribution fees plus interest. Last month, the firm won a two-year contract worth $238 million to supply logistics support to the Gorgon natural gas project in Australia. It also got two-year extension of existing contract with Gorgon worth $262 million.

NIG

Kuwait’s National Industries Group Holding (NIG) will repay its $475 million Islamic bond, or sukuk, when it matures on August 16, it said on Tuesday, dropping plans to get a four-year extension from creditors. NIG, an investment firm controlled by one of the country’s biggest merchant families, asked creditors in July to extend 70 percent of the sukuk maturity to 2016 in exchange for a much higher interest rate. The request has been cancelled because NIG has raised enough finance to fully repay the sukuk, the firm said in a statement to the Dubai bourse, The Kharafi family, which owns NIG, controls one of the biggest family conglomerates in Kuwait with interests in real estate, retail and financial services. It is thought to control, through various entities, around a quarter of telecom operator Zain.

National Shipping Unit

National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia, which is in the process of merging its fleet with the country’s state-owned oil company, said its unit will sign time-charter agreements for three chemical tankers.

The National Chemical Carriers Co. will sign agreements with International Shipping & Transportation Co., a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp, for five years with an option to extend it by five years, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock market today. The value of the deal is about 480 million riyals (Dh465 million).

Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC), the largest-listed utility in the Gulf, has signed contracts worth 700 million Saudi riyals ($186.7 million) to strengthen its distribution network in Riyadh and Jeddah, the state-run Saudi Press Agency, or SPA, reported Monday. The three contracts valued individually at 416 million riyals, 81 million riyals and 200 million riyals respectively will be to construct two power stations-one each in Riyadh and Jeddah-and extend the cable network linking power stations within the capital. The contracts are aimed at enhancing the electricity system and “to meet the growing demand for electricity in all parts of the Kingdom and avoid power outages,” said SEC president and CEO, Ali Al Barrak in a press conference Monday. Last month SEC said that its second quarter net profit rose 2 per cent to 1.36 billion riyals, from 1.34 billion riyals a year ago, due to increased electricity demand.