Kuwait's Agility, the logistics firm facing US fraud charges, posted a 114-percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit compared with the same period in 2010, the firm said in a statement on March 31. Net profit in the three months to December 31 came in at 3.5 million Kuwaiti dinars ($12.60 million) compared with a loss of 23.7 million dinars in Q4 2010.
Fourth-quarter revenues were 5 percent lower at 368.6 million dinars due to the loss of government contracting business, Agility said. For the full year ended December 31, net profit was up 8 percent at 27 million dinars.
"Profits grew by 8 percent in 2011 even though revenues fell as Agility discontinued defence and government business," said Tarek Sultan, Agility's Chairman and Managing Director, adding he expected "solid gains" in 2012.
Agility, which was the largest supplier to the US Army in the Middle East during the war in Iraq, pleaded not guilty in August to charges it defrauded the US government over multi-billion-dollar supply contracts. The board proposed a dividend of 30 fils per share.