Agility reports 30% net profit growth in Q1 2018
Global logistics provider, Agility, reported a net profit of KWD18.9mn, an increase of 29.8% over Q1 2017.
Revenue for the quarter reached KWD371.8mn and EBITDA was KWD37.7mn.
Tarek Sultan, Agility CEO and vice chairman, said: Agility continues to deliver results. Our double-digit EBITDA growth affirms the companys momentum over the past three years. GIL continues to drive profitability gains through strong performance in Ocean and Air Freight, in addition to improving its efficiency. Companies in the Infrastructure group posted healthy gains and are delivering consistent with their roadmap.
In Q1 2018, Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) gross revenue grew 15.7% to KWD278.1mn. Air freight revenue increased 22.1%, driven by strong volume growth (4.8% increase in air tonnage) and ocean freight revenue grew 14% as a result of an 11.5% increase in TEUs. Contract logistics revenue increased 15.1% and road freight showed 8.4% revenue improvement in Q1 2018.
GILs Q1 net revenue (NR) rose 7.9% from the same period in 2017, primarily due to growth in freight forwarding and contract logistics. Air NR grew by 18.7% due to improving yields, and Ocean NR increased 7.1%. Contract Logistics NR increased by 5.8%. However, GILs NR margin was 23.3%, down from 24.9% during the same period a year earlier due to yield pressure in road freight and project logistics.
Regionally, air freight and ocean freight performed well in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. Contract Logistics continued its solid growth, primarily in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, as a result of effective utilisation of facilities.
Commenting on that, Sultan said: We recently launched Shipa Freight, an online freight service aimed at a market with massive potential: the small and medium-size companies that account for most of the worlds businesses. Shipa Freight lets them get rate quotes and book, pay and track, ocean and air shipments around the world, all online in a matter of seconds.
First quarter revenue for the infrastructure group grew 20.7%, and EBITDA increased 24.6% to KWD34.1mn as margins expanded from 33.5% to 34.6%. Agility continues to invest in those companies to drive its future growth.
Agility Industrial Real Estate (RED) continues to improve the efficiency of its Kuwaiti assets by offering a range of warehousing services to its customers. RED will soon deliver the first 80k sqm warehouses in Riyadh. In Africa, Agility is growing its existing operations and identifying new locations to develop new logistics parks.
Tristar, a fully integrated liquid logistics company, won new turnkey contracts in Q1. Tristar continues to invest and diversify its operations by expanding in shipping and broadening its geographic reach.
National Aviation Services (NAS) operations posted good growth in the first quarter. Contributing to its growth were the successful launch of operations in Uganda and significant improvement in Cote dIvoire and Afghanistan. NAS was also able to improve its business performance in Morocco and Tanzania, with the latter expecting a very good year and turnaround in 2018.
UPAC, a real estate and facilities management company in the Middle East, continues to improve the operational efficiencies of key operations in Kuwait. UPAC is developing the 450-store Reem Mall in Abu Dhabi in partnership with National Real Estate Company (NREC).
GCS, a company specialised in customs modernisation, showed improved performance in the first quarter. GCS manages all customs activities at ports of Kuwait and aims to enhance customs modernization through its services.
Agility is accelerating a fast-moving transformation to establish itself as a digital leader in the logistics industry, Sultan said. We are rapidly introducing new digital products, aggressively piloting and pioneering new logistics models and technologies, and re-engineering our systems for speed and competitive advantage. We want to identify technology that makes logistics more efficient and lowers costs for customers.
