Agility continues to report rising profitability for the first half of 2009, despite the ongoing global economic recession. For the first half of the 2009 fiscal year, Agility saw its revenues decline nine per cent to KWD 821.0 million (US$2.87 billion) compared with the same period a year earlier, but net profit rose three per cent to KWD 74.9 million.

“Despite being faced with reduced volumes in freight forwarding since the start of the economic downturn, I believe that our strong financial performance in the first half of 2009 is a testament to our “agility” and continued emphasis on driving efficiencies,” said Agility’s chairman and MD, Tarek Sultan.

“We are seeing those efforts pay off in the form of important customer wins, lower operating expenses, improved margins, and a strong balance sheet. In this current environment of economic uncertainty, however, we also continue to focus on working capital management, a favorable net debt position, and healthy cash generation from our operations.”

Agility continues to generate cash from operations, currently at KWD 130.6 million; a growth of 42 per cent over the previous period and currently has a cash position of KWD 329 million, with net debt of KWD 82 million.

“In the past we invested more than 60 per cent of our capex in our logistics business in the emerging market and we are now seeing the returns on that investment as the Middle Eastern commercial logistics market continues to grow amidst this crisis” said Sultan. “Our government business is also continuing to grow and acts as a further hedge during this downturn.”