Aramex is poised to take over operators in Asia and Africa in a move to expand its presence in these areas. Fadi Ghandour, chief executive officer and founder of the Middle Eastern logistics company, declared that management expects to make acquisitions within the next six months.He identified Central and Southeast Asia as well as Africa as the regions where Aramex wants to grow through takeovers.
"You will hear us doing more deals in the coming six months in these three areas," he said.
In addition, the company intends to build up a foothold in China, which Ghandour described as complementary to its expansion in Africa, pointing to the growing trade links between China and the African continent.
He made these comments at the ground-breaking ceremony for the logistics comapny's US$32.6 million warehousing and distribution facility at Dubai Logistics City, which is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2011. The facility will have a footprint of 43,000 sq ft with a capacity of more than 40,000 pallet positions.
"This facility is a significant milestone that demonstrates our long-term strategy and continuous commitment to strengthen and expand our logistics infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa to cater to the increasing demand for outsourcing logistics services across our core markets in the region," Ghandour said.
The Jordan-based logistics provider, which grew out of express wholesale activities catering to international express firms, has momentum for further expansion. Compared to most of its rivals, it weathered the economic downturn of this year rather well. For the third quarter of the year it tabled a 23 percent increase in net profit to $11.35 million, which brought its net income for the first nine months of 2009 to $36.7 million, 24 percent higher than the result for the same period a year ago. Revenues in the third quarter dropped 11 percent to $132.7 million.
Besides the relative strength of the company's core market in the Middle East, where Ghandour sees ongoing growth, he attributed the results to Aramex's asset-light business model. He said that Aramex did not lay off any staff this year in response to the global downturn. |
