Kuwait's Agility posts 114% rise

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 Saturday. Net profit in the three months to December 31 came in at KD3.5m ($12.60m) compared with a loss of KD23.7m in Q4 2010. Fourth-quarter revenues were 5 percent lower at KD368.6m due to the loss of government contracting business, Agility said. For the full year ended December 31, net profit was up 8 percent at KD27m. "Profits grew by 8 percent in 2011 even though revenues fell as Agility discontinued defense 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.