Agility, the Kuwaiti global logistics giant, has reported second-quarter earnings of 13.8 fils per share on net profit of US$65 million, an increase of 18.7% over the same period in 2017.
Agility EBITDA grew 13.6% to KD 37.1 million, while revenue increased 12.3% to KD 384.2 million.
Tarek Sultan, Agility Vice Chairman and CEO, said: “Our second quarter results were in line with expectations and consistent with the previous growth trend the company has been seeing.
“Agility’s Infrastructure companies performed well, as did our logistics business, which witnessed another quarter of volume and revenue growth despite margin pressure.”
Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) business strategy of effective trade lanes development, productivity optimization and defined tailor-made solutions to customers continued to generate favourable results.
GIL gross revenue grew by 13.4%.
Net revenue rose 5%, primarily due to growth in freight forwarding and contract logistics.
Air freight continued its strong performance in Q2, driven by solid volume growth of 14% and stable yields compared to the same period of 2017.
Air freight net revenue grew 21.9% in Q2 and 20.3% in the first half, while ocean freight had consistent volume growth but with lower yields.
In Q2, container volume increased 8.2% vs. Q2 2017.
Ocean freight net revenue grew 7.4% in Q2 and 7.3% in the first half.
Regionally, Air freight and Ocean freight performance was strongest in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Contract logistics continued its steady growth, primarily in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, as a result of new business and effective utilization of facilities.
Contract logistics net revenue grew 3.2% in Q2 and 4.5% in the first half.
GIL’s net revenue margin was 23% in Q2, down from 24.9% a year earlier due to yield degradation in road freight and project logistics, primarily in the Middle East and Europe.
Recap of Agility Q2 Financial Performance
- Agility’s net profit increased 18.7% to KD 20 million in Q2 2018. EPS was 13.8 fils vs.11.6 fils a year earlier.
- Agility’s Q2 EBITDA increased 13.6% to KD 37.1 million.
- Agility’s Q2 revenue rose 12.3%, to KD 384.2 million and net revenue increased by 5.5%.
- GIL Q2 revenue grew by 13.4% to KD 289.3 million.
- Infrastructure’s Q2 revenue grew 9.5% to KD 97.5 million.
- Agility enjoys a healthy balance sheet with KD 1.7 billion in assets. Net debt position was KD 130.7 million as of June 30, 2018. Operating cash flow was KD 29.2 million for the first half of 2018.
