Shipping & Logistics

Company targets emerging markets

Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility is gearing up for expansion in emerging markets, much of it in countries that experienced Arab Spring political upheavals as new governments there spend more on their oil industries and infrastructure.

The group was the largest supplier to the US Army in the Middle East during the war in Iraq, but is changing tack and putting less emphasis on defence services, chairman and managing director Tarek Sultan told Reuters in an interview.

He said the company was in talks with the new governments in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya on increasing its presence and investments.

“You think of Libya, you think of oil and gas and infrastructure, including roads, ports, warehouses,” Sultan said. “In Egypt there is a consumer market, there are some oil and gas activities, normal freight forwarding, warehousing and there is a lot in real estate.”

Agility’s strategy shift is not just down to confidence in these growth markets. The group is barred from bidding for new US government business, pending the outcome of a legal dispute with the US.

The group in July won a two-year contract worth $238 million to supply logistics support to the Gorgon natural gas project in Australia. It also obtained a two-year extension of an existing contract with Gorgon worth $262 million.

Agility posted a profit of KD7.82 million ($27.7 million) for the three months to June 30, against KD7.83 million in the year-ago period.