Agility, one of the largest logistics firms in the Middle East and North Africa, reported a 29 per drop in third-quarter profit as net revenue and interest income fell amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Net profit attributable to its owners declined to 15.3 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh50.1m), the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares trade. Net revenue fell 10 per cent year-on-year to 120.3m dinars, while restructuring expenses jumped to 4m dinars, from 99,000 dinars during the same period last year.
Interest income plunged 80 per cent to 478,000 dinars.
Agility has operations in 100 countries and is listed in Dubai and Kuwait.
“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,” Tarek Sultan, Agility vice chairman and chief executive, said. “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’s Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) division's revenue rose 5.1 per cent to 71.4m dinars during the quarter with air freight net revenue increasing 39.1 per cent, driven by “continued demand for exceptional shipments related to life sciences” supplies.
Ocean freight net revenue, however, declined 14.5 per cent, as volume and yields fell.
The company’s infrastructure group revenue fell 24.4 per cent during the period, while Agility Logistics Park sales grew 5.6 per cent on the back of “increased demand for warehousing spaces from customers that are mainly suppliers of necessity goods”.
The pandemic also affected performance at United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC), a division that provides facilities management services, “due to the cessation of operations at the Kuwait International Airport during the lockdown period and subsequent resumption of traffic at a lower capacity”.
The coronavirus pandemic brought the global trade, travel and tourism industries to a halt and has tipped the global economy into a recession, expected to be the deepest since the Great Depression, according to the International Monetary Fund. The multilateral lender forecast global gross domestic product would shrink by 4.4 per cent this year. Agility’s nine month profit dropped 50 per cent to 31.5m dinars as net revenue fell 6 per cent to 364m dinars and interest income plunged 73 per cent to 1.56m dinars.
Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
The specs
Engine: 1.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 3,00rpm
Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
Price: From Dh139,995
On sale: now
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Suarez 27', Vidal 32', Dembele 35', Messi 78')
Sevilla 0
Red cards: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press
