It is only April, but already 2012 looks like being Aramex's year.
Shares in the global logistics company closed up 1.11 per cent at Dh1.83 on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index on the news it had posted a Dh61 million first-quarter profit. That figure is a 22 per cent rise from Dh50m in the same period last year.
Revenue rose 25 per cent to Dh746m, compared with Dh595m over the same period last year.
"These results were mainly due to the robust economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries, and the significant contribution of our recent acquisitions in 2011, in particular Berco Express in South Africa," said Fadi Ghandour, the Aramex founder and chief executive.
Aramex paid US$55.5m for the South African logistics firm Berco Express in December.
For Aramex, a favourite of regional fund managers, shares performed poorly last year, dropping by 13 per cent overall. But they have turned upwards this year, gaining 2.2 per cent so far.
The Arab Spring uprisings and the global credit crisis weighed on earnings last year, causing a shares slump. Even so, Aramex, which first sold shares in an initial public offering in 2005, managed to post a 4 per cent increase in profit for the year.
Analysts responded optimistically to yesterday's figures, with Samir Murad of NBK Capital rating Aramex a "buy", with a target price of Dh2.55.
"If you look at 2011, growth was down about 3 to 4 per cent," said Mr Murad. "But we are getting good levels of growth coming through since the beginning of the year, up to 16 per cent. In the coming quarters we see this growth and revenue being matched. These results will be the story for the year."
At EFG-Hermes, Abid Riaz also rated Aramex a "buy", with a target price of Dh2.23.
The company signed a partnership agreement last month with South Korea's CJ GLS, an unlisted unit of CJ Cheiljedang, a conglomerate including food and entertainment businesses.
The deal will enable Aramex to provide express and freight services to South Korea and follows the firm's launch of a joint venture in China with Sinotrans Air Transportation in November.
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