Aramex to make Africa acquisitions by year-end

Aramex PJSC, the Middle East’s biggest courier company, will carry out a number of acquisitions by the end of this year as part of its expansion plans, Chief Executive Officer Fadi Ghandour said.

“We are continuing in our acquisition strategy in Africa and Asia,” Ghandour said in an interview today by phone from India. “We will before the end of the year announce a couple of acquisitions in Africa. They will be our entry into key markets over there.”

The courier, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, has a presence in Europe, India, Singapore and Hong Kong, and competes with international logistics and courier companies such as Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc and Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp. The company’s stock price is up 49.3 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Aramex’s overall profit for the year will be “double digits and we will continue in line with our results of the first three quarters of the year,” Ghandour said.

The company’s third-quarter profit increased 12 per cent to Dh46.7 million ($12.7 million) from Dh41.7m in the year-earlier period.

Aramex, founded by Ghandour in 1982, became the first Arab- based company to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 1997. It was later taken private by Abraaj Capital Ltd, and then went public again in 2005, with its shares trading on the Dubai Financial Market.