Agility, a logistics major based in Kuwait, has registered a net profit of KD33.8 million ($119 million) for the first nine months, up 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Announcing the results on Monday, Agility said its net profit for the third quarter soared to KD12.1 million as the company started controlling costs and improving productivity across its business.

Its revenues for the period surged 10 per cent to hit KD326.7 million over the same period last year. Its net revenues stood at KD94.3 million registering a two per cent increase over the same period last year from the third quarter of 2012.

The earnings per share (EPS) of 11.62 fils surged 26 per cent over the same period last year, while revenues and Ebitda stood at KD326.7 million and KD23.6 million respectively.

For the nine month period ended September 30, 2013, Agility said its revenue remained flat compared to the same period last year, but Ebitda improved by 23 per cent standing at KD68.9 million.  

On the Q3 performance, CEO Tarek Sultan said, "We continue to make steady progress in improving the bottom line, by controlling costs and improving productivity across our business. That said, the slowdown in the global economy impacted our revenues however, yet we were still able to report better on the net revenues level."

Agility's infrastructure group is showing good progress and the group is excited about its most recent wins, he remarked.

On its subsidiaries' performance, Sultan said: "Agility Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) has maintained financial discipline, and continues to drive a major transformation effort to boost productivity and improve customer service."

Agility’s core commercial business, GIL provides supply chain solutions to meet traditional and complex customer needs. It offers air, ocean and road freight forwarding, warehousing, distribution, and specialized services in project logistics, fairs and events, and chemicals.

The GIL revenues fell nine per cent to KD267.1 million over last year as a result of the global environment and the challenging trade conditions compared to last year.

"However, despite this fact, we were able to maintain the same level of net revenues. GIL’s net revenue margins this quarter improved to 23 per cent up from 21 per cent in the third quarter of 2012," he stated.

Agility's Infrastructure group contributed KD61.3 million to total revenue in the third quarter of 2013. The group’s net revenues have improved by 8 per cent compared to same period last year.

The Infrastructure group of companies manages industrial real estate and offers logistics-related services, including e-government customs optimization and consulting, waste management and recycling, aviation and ground-handling services, support to governments and ministries of defense, remote infrastructure and life support.

Agility’s real estate business, the most significant financial contributor among the Infrastructure group of companies, improved its revenues by 12 per cent relative to third quarter of 2012.

Tristar, the second biggest contributor to the Infrastructure group, is also showing promising growth potential after securing new business wins. Other entities within the Infrastructure group also put up a good show.

On its future outlook, Sultan said: "The nature of our business is closely tied to world trade flows. Global economic growth continues to be sluggish. Our focus will continue to be on remaining flexible and responsive to changing market conditions, on holding costs steady and maintaining financial discipline, while continuing to transform and improve our underlying business."

"We cannot control the market, but we can control our productivity and efficiency. Our focus will continue to be on staying agile to adapt to changing market conditions, while driving steady improvement in our core business,” he added. -TradeArabia News Service