But Kuwaiti-owned forwarding, logistics and warehousing group is seeing recovery across most of its business lines, albeit each at a different pace, says CEO.
Forwarding, logistics, and warehousing group Agility has reported a third quarter net profit of KD 15.3 million (around US$50 million), a decrease of 29.4% compared with the same period a year ago. Revenue was flat at KD 403 million.
Net profit for the first nine months of 2020 stood at KD 31.5 million, down 50.4% year-over-year while revenue declined 0.7% to KD 1,168 million.
Tarek Sultan, Agility vice chairman and CEO, said: “While we – like many businesses – are still feeling the impact of COVID-19 we are also seeing recovery across most of our business lines, albeit with each business recovering at a different pace.
“Agility benefited from early and decisive measures taken to contain costs and preserve cash, and is well poised to navigate what is likely to continue to be a volatile market for some time. Agility remains committed to investing in technology that will transform our industry, expanding our digital logistics offerings, and bringing world-class warehousing infrastructure to fast-growing emerging markets.”
Agility’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) business posted a Q3 net revenue of KD 71.4 million, ups 5.1% on the same period in 2019. There were increases in turnover for Air Freight and Contract Logistics, in contrast to declines in Ocean Freight, Fairs & Events and Project Logistics.
Net revenue from Air Freight was up 39.1%, driven by continued demand for exceptional shipments related to the Life Sciences vertical,” the company said.
Net revenue from Ocean Freight was down 14.5% when compared with Q3 2019, as a result of volume and yield compression.
Air Freight and Ocean Freight volumes decreased in Q3 compared to the same period in 2019, as a result of customers’ demand and production disruption arising from COVID-19 as well as capacity constraints.
Net revenue in Contract Logistics increased 12.7%, with growth focused mainly on the Middle East and Africa region and in particular, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, where there was strong performance at new facilities, along with increased efficiencies, the company noted. The Fairs & Events (F&E) vertical has been hit hard by Coronavirus-related event postponements and cancellations.
“Starting in Q1, GIL introduced a range of cost reduction measures intended to ensure continued strength of EBITDA performance in anticipation of falling global trade volumes. This positions GIL well for operating in the current environment. GIL continues to focus on operational productivity as well as customer solutions to respond to the changing market environment,” Agility explained.
Source: Lloyd´s
