Aramex's revenues for the third quarter of 2011 rose to AED 651 million, up % 19 from AED 545 million in the corresponding period of 2010. In the same period, the company's net profits rose to AED 48 million, up from AED 46.7 million, representing an increase of 3 %.
'Considering the volatile political situation in a number of our markets in the Middle East, I am satisfied with the financial results, which were in line with our expectations for this difficult year' said Fadi Ghandour, Aramex founder and CEO.
The company's operations witnessed healthy levels of growth across all product lines in key markets including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Europe and Southeast Asia.
In regards to the situation in the Levant region and Egypt, Ghandour said 'Our operations are experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainties in Egypt and other markets, which has affected business and trade across the whole region.'
He added that 'a number of factors are behind the modest growth in net profits including high fuel prices resulting in regional and global inflationary pressures on operating costs, increase in overheads, and the increasing cost of doing business in the Middle East in light of the wave of political uncertainties. In addition, we have already started a number of Greenfield operations in Africa, all of which will be announced soon, which involved opening offices and building infrastructure, and thus creating an additional burden on our operating costs in this period, before we start seeing some substantial revenue generation.'
