Kuwait’s Agility, the largest Gulf Arab logistics group, reported an 11 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Thursday as cost savings helped to offset lower revenues.
Agility made a profit of KD11.24 million ($40.04 million) in the first three months of 2014 compared with KD10.13 million in the same period a year ago, it said in a statement.
SICO Bahrain forecast Agility would make a quarterly profit of KD12.80 million.
Agility has kept costs down and seeks to be “lean and agile”, chief executive Tarek Sultan said in the statement.
He said Agility’s main logistics division continued to change its underlying operating business, sales and commercial strategy.
“On the other hand, top line growth is challenged by market conditions that are affecting the industry overall,” he said, without giving details.
Group revenues fell 11 percent to KD314.28 million in the first quarter, while costs dropped 8 percent in the same period.
Revenues at Agility’s infrastructure business rose 9 percent, contributing to around a fifth of the group’s overall income. But revenues at the logistics division fell 15 percent in a difficult market, the company added.
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