Aramex, UAEs courier firm, expects fourth-quarter profit growth to be in line with the rest of 2010 but the company does anticipate a tough 2011 as inflation starts to bite.
"The fourth quarter of 2010 had growth quite similar to what we have seen during the year," said Fadi Ghandour, CEO of Aramex, reported Reuters.
In the first three quarters of 2010, Aramex's net profit rose by at least 10 per cent. Ghandour said that January has been a good month, but this is going to be a tough year, energy prices have gone up, costs have gone up, inflation is going up so it's not going to be an easy year," he said.
Late last year, Ghandour said the company had about US$100 million in cash to spend in the next two to three years. Aramex wants to strengthen its presence in emerging markets and last December 2010 announced a series of strategic acquisitions and partnerships in Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
This is part of Aramex's new strategy of growth and expansion into new emerging markets. Aramex was looking to make a several acquisitions in Africa and Asia by the end of March, among them one in Kenya.
"Africa and southeast Asia are our key expansion areas," Ghandour said.
