Aramex Announces $326 Million in Revenues for Q1 2020
Aramex has announced its first quarter results with Q1 2020 Revenues falling 3% to $326 million, compared to $336 million in Q1 2019.
Net Profit for the period decreased 38% to $18.35 million compared to $29.4 million in Q1 2019.
Aramex has also taken several health and safety measures since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in China in January to protect the health and safety of its people, customers, operations, and other stakeholder groups.
Bashar Obeid, Chief Executive Officer of Aramex, said: “From a business perspective, it is too soon to say with certainty how severe and lasting the impact of the pandemic will be on our business.
"However, in Q1 our revenue mix has shifted on the back of considerable changes in consumer shopping behaviour and e-commerce trends, and we saw an increase in the cost of doing business.
“Over the period, International Express and Freight Forwarding were negatively impacted. The general softening in demand for goods, and more complicated and costly shipment routes have impacted our volumes and profit margins in those service lines.
"In stark comparison, Domestic Express and Logistics and Supply Chain Management have witnessed significant increases in activity levels. At the same time, major e-commerce players have also increased their demand on our services to support their last mile delivery requirements."
Iyad Kamal, Chief Operating Officer, Aramex, said: "International Express and Freight Forwarding witnessed significant changes in line haul operations as a result of the interruptions in air travel and the changes in land border regulatory requirements, yet we managed to stay operationally nimble, swiftly adapting to those changes.
"Domestic Express saw a spike in volumes which strained our last mile capacity in some key markets, however we were able, to a good extent and in a short period of time, to scale our last mile operations to cater to the increased demand in those markets.
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"Logistics and Supply Chain Management continued to perform exceptionally despite the challenges to staff scheduling and restrictive mobility."
Commenting on Aramex’s outlook for the remainder of 2020, Bashar Obeid said: “The road to recovery is not yet clear. There is still a lot of uncertainty around how long lockdown measures and other movement restrictions will remain in place in countries where we have significant operations.
"There is also ambiguity around shifts in consumer demand trends in a post-COVID-19 world. This is why, over the coming period we are focused on remaining flexible when addressing clients’ needs, while adapting to fast changing operating environment and remaining financially robust to weather a global economic downturn.”
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