Agility has reported second quarter year-on-year volume growth of 14.7% and 12.9% in air tonnage and ocean TEUs respectively. The company asserted that these rates were above market average.
Such volume growth sparked the core logistics division, Agility Global Integrated Logistics (GIL), to report revenues of KWD255.2m, up by 9.6% year-on-year. Contract logistics revenue also grew, particularly in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, with the improved performance coming from a combination of new and existing warehousing facilities.
However, net revenue in the division was flat, mainly due to “significant yield degradation in freight forwarding because of capacity constraints and higher market rates.” Net revenue margins contracted to 24.9% compared with 27.3% in Q2 2016. EBITDA decreased 5.8% to KWD 9.1m for the same reason.
On the other hand, EBITDA rose 7.4% in the Infrastructure division to KWD27.5m. Revenue grew 12.1% to KD 89.1m. Agility Real Estate, National Aviation Services (NAS) and Tristar were the main factors in the group’s growth.
Agility Real Estate increased revenue 11.6% in Q2. It is developing new warehouses across the Arabian Gulf countries and Africa. NAS grew its revenue by 17%, as it continues to expand its presence in Africa and is performing well in Cote d’Ivoire and growing in Afghanistan.
Overall, Agility as a whole reported revenues of KWD342.1m in Q2, up by 10.9%. Net revenues grew by 9.6%, while EBITDA climbed by 14% to KWD32.6m.
Tarek Sultan, Agility Vice Chairman and CEO, said: “Agility’s Infrastructure group was the primary driver of performance in Q2. Our industrial real estate business and aviation services company delivered particularly strong results. Revenue in our logistics business is growing because air and ocean volumes are increasing and contract logistics revenue is expanding, but rate pressure continues to affect profitability.”
Source: Agility
