Aramex reports increased revenues and gears up for more growth
Following its recent buyout of Fastway Couriers’ operations in New Zealand and Australia, Aramex has reported a “strong” 2015 performance and confirmed its intention to continue looking for “future acquisitions in key markets”. The company announced today (3 February) that its 2015 full year revenues were AED3,837m, up by 5% compared to the AED3,643m generated in 2014.
Revenues for the fourth quarter (Q4) also increased by 5% to AED1,003m, compared to AED957m in Q4 2014.
“Exposure to major currency fluctuations, primarily the Euro, South African Rand and Australian Dollar, had a 4.4% negative impact on full year revenues, which would have resulted in an increase of 9.4% in total annual revenues and 8.5% increase in Q4 revenues,” claimed Aramex.
Profits for the full year were down by 2% to AED311m, compared to AED318m in 2014. Q4 net profits were AED57.6m, down by 36% compared to the AED89.4m reported for Q4 2014.
However, Aramex explained the context for the Q4 profit figure: “This decrease is due to a one time provision to account for an employees’ incentive scheme in order to retain and reward talented and senior executives, in-line with international best practices. This scheme has been discussed, reviewed and approved by the Remuneration Committee of the Company.
“Excluding this scheme provision, Aramex’s Q4 2015 Net profit would have been approximately AED104m, which represents 16% growth over the same quarter last year. Also, Full Year Net Profits would have been approximately AED358m for the year 2015, which represents 12% growth over year 2014.”
Focusing in more detail on Aramex’s business units, the International Express business saw its Q4 revenues growing 14% to AED382m while the Domestic Express business generated revenues of AED211m in Q4, which was 4% up on the same period last year. Aramex Logistics and Supply Chain Management decreased by 2% in Q4 with AED52m, while full year revenues growing 4% to AED206m.
Aramex Freight Q4 revenues decreased slightly by 5% to AED 298m, and full year revenues were down 3% to AED 1,203m.
Aramex’s Chief Executive Officer Hussein Hachem maintained that the “strong” 2015 performance meant that the company was well placed to achieve its ambitions for 2016.
“While we continue to closely monitor global oil prices and currencies, we feel optimistic towards the outlook of 2016,” said Hachem.
“We have already had a very exciting start by announcing the full buyout of Fastway Couriers’ operations in New Zealand and Australia.
“This was our biggest acquisition to date and will play a major role in expanding our reach and services to more customers worldwide.
“We will continue to look for future acquisitions in our key markets while exploring more ways to enhance our e-commerce platform through improved transit times due to the continued boom in cross-border e-commerce.
“We will soon be launching our new innovative app that will give the power to customers through higher visibility, payment flexibility, more locations delivery options and a rating system. We will also be unveiling soon a new Rapid Scaling Up model based on partnerships in cities around the world giving us access to delivery partners thanks to our innovation and technology.
“We are committed to becoming a technology-based enterprise and will continue to leverage innovative technologies to enhance our business model and maintain our position as a dynamic and disruptive global logistics player. ”
