Middle East-based worldwide express, forwarding and logistics service provider Aramex has reported for the year ending 31 December 2008, a net profit growth of 21 per cent over the same period a year earlier, from AED 121.5 million (US$33 million) to AED 147.3 million on a revenue growth of 17 per cent to AED 2.1 billion.
According to Aramex, net profit for the fourth quarter of 2008 rose by 21 per cent compared with the same period in 2007 to AED 38.8 million, “mainly driven by the significant improvement in margins of Aramex’s key products”.
Fadi Ghandour, founder and CEO of Aramex, said 2008 had been “a good year” for the company. “We were able to maintain our revenue growth and profit margins at a very healthy level, a result of a very serious effort to control the upward spiralling costs in the first nine months of the year.
“Our fourth quarter revenue slowed to a halt, a result of the global financial crisis, with December showing the most weakness, because of the holiday season and of the global economic slowdown.
“We have a very healthy balance sheet with little debt and we intend to keep it that way in 2009 – meaning we will only embark upon new acquisitions if the value is very attractive in key strategic markets,” he said.