Kuwait’s Agility Q3 Net Profit Rises 8%

Kuwait’s Agility AGLT.KW, the largest Gulf Arab logistics group, posted an eight per cent increase in third-quarter net profit on Wednesday, as earnings from its infrastructure operations offset declines in its core logistics business.

The firm made a profit of KD13.04 million ($44.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from KD12.13 million in the corresponding period of last year, it said in a statement.

An analyst at SICO Bahrain forecast that the company would make a net profit in the period of KD13.7 million.

Total revenue grew three per cent year on year to KD337.1 million, boosted by a 16 per cent increase in its infrastructure division. This was helped by contract wins in the Ivory Coast and the United Kingdom.

“Agility Infrastructure companies posted strong results this quarter and are expected to continue to grow through investments in emerging markets,” chief executive Tarek Sultan said in the statement.

The performance helped offset a four per cent drop in revenue from its main logistics business to KD267.8 million dinars, which Sultan attributed to “the wind down of major project logistics contracts” without elaborating further.

Sultan told Reuters in an interview last month that Agility expected revenue to resume increasing in 2015, aided by emerging market business in places including Africa and India, and its move into new sectors.