Dubai's Aramex Q4 profit up, warns on outlook

Dubai’s Aramex Q4 profit up, warns on outlook

No significant impact on revenues from Egypt unrest-CEO.

January 31, 2011 2:32 by Reuters

Logistics company Aramex posted a 11 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Monday but said it expected to see more challenging conditions in 2011.

The firm, which competes with global giants such as Fedex and DHL , posted a net profit of 55 million dirhams ($14.98 million), up 11 percent from 49.53 million dirhams in the fourth-quarter of 2009.

The results beat average forecasts of four analysts who expected an average net profit of 53.2 million dirhams, according to a Reuters poll.

Full-year net profit was 204 million dirhams, an increase of 11% compared to 184.3 million dirhams in 2009.

Revenues reached 2.2 billion dirhams in 2010, up 13 percent from the previous year.

Chief Executive Fadi Ghandour said he expects to see more challenging conditions in 2011, according to a statement.

“Our outlook for 2011 is cautious, although we will reserve judgement for the full year until after we have posted our results for the first two quarters,” said Ghandour.

The courier firm said its operations in Egypt have been interrupted by the unrest but its facilities were not damaged.

Ghandour said the interruptions will not have a significant impact on revenues.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Amran Abocar)