Agility Logistics
Agility Public Warehousing Company K.S.C.P. is a publicly traded global logistics company headquartered in Kuwait, providing freight forwarding, transportation, warehousing and supply chain management services to businesses, governments, international institutions and relief agencies worldwide. Agility has more than 22,000 employees and 500 offices in 100 countries.
Public | |
Traded as | DFM: AGLTY |
ISIN | KW0EQ0601041 |
Industry | Logistics Facility Management Government contractor Freight Forwarding Supply Chain Management |
Founded | 1979 |
Headquarters | Sulaibiya, Kuwait |
Key people | Tarek Sultan (CEO) Chris Price (President and CEO, Agility Global Integrated Logistics) Dan Mongeon (President and CEO, Agility Defense & Government Services) |
Revenue | |
Number of employees | 26,000+ (2018) |
Website | http://www.agility.com |
Agility shares have traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE: AGLTY) since 1984 and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM: AGLTY) since 2006.
Corporate Structure
Commercial logistics
Agility’s primary business is commercial logistics. Its commercial arm, Agility Global Integrated Logistics (GIL), is headquartered in Sulaibiya, Kuwait. Agility GIL manages the shipment and delivery of finished goods, parts, raw materials and other cargo by sea, air, road or a combination. GIL provides warehousing and distribution services, along with services and technology that track and manage shipments and inventory.
GIL’s logistics specialty businesses provide logistics for the chemicals industry (Agility Chemicals), trade shows and events (Agility Fairs & Events), and customers with large, complex projects in the energy, mining and marine industries (Agility Project Logistics).
Logistics-related businesses
Agility’s other businesses include:
- Agility Logistics Parks - commercial and industrial real estate management.
- Shipa - digital logistics platform, offering solutions to business and consumers across the supply chain”)
- National Aviation Services (NAS) - ground handling and airport services.
- Tristar - fully integrated liquid logistics solutions provider catering to the needs of the petroleum and chemical industries.
- United Projects for Aviation Services Company (UPAC) – commercial real estate development and facilities management company
- Global Clearinghouse Systems (GCS) - joint venture with Kuwait General Administration for Customs to support customs operations
- GCC Services – construction and management of remote living facilities for the mining, energy and engineering industries.
- Inspection & Control Services (ICS) – technology and services used in customs clearance and processing.
- Agility Defense & Government Services (DGS) – public sector logistics and contracting.
- Metal and Recycling Company (MRC) – waste management.
Leadership
Tarek Sultan is the Chief Executive Officer of Agility. He was a past chair of the World Economic Forum Board of Governors for the Logistics and Transportation Industry.
Sultan holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of Wharton’s International Advisory Council. Before joining Agility, he was managing director of New York Associates, a regional investment banking firm, and an associate with Southport Partners, a U.S.-based corporate finance advisory firm specializing in the technology sector.
History
Agility began as a state-owned Kuwaiti company established in 1979 as Public Warehousing Co. (PWC). Tarek Sultan was named chairman and managing director when the company was privatized in 1997.
After privatization, Agility pursued a strategy of investment and expansion in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where many of its more established competitors had yet to set up. The company grew rapidly by acquiring other logistics companies and assets such as warehouses and trucks. Some of its most significant purchases included the USA-based companies Geologistics Corp., Transoceanic Shipping Co. Inc.,[1] WTS of Houston and Global Express Line. Also purchased were Singaporean company Trans-Link Group, Swiss company Cronat Transport Holding AG, Globe Marine Services of Saudi Arabia, Cosa Freight in China Kenya-based Starfreight, and Tristar transport of UAE. The company also expanded its Latin American operations with the acquisition of Trafinsa SA de CV in Mexico and Itatrans in Brazil.
By 2004, Agility, then still PWC, was the largest logistics provider in the Middle East. In 2006, the company unified its services under the new name of Agility with the brand slogan “A New Logistics Leader.”
Scale of global operations
Americas
Asia-Pacific
- 8,400 employees and 160 offices/locations in 24 countries and territories.
- Agility invested in China, acquiring a company focused on domestic distribution. Today, Agility China has 1,000 employees and 40 offices throughout China. In India, Agility has over 900 employees, and 200,000 square meters of warehousing space in 20 cities.
Europe
Middle East and Africa
- Over 9,500 employees and 80 offices/locations in 23 countries.
- Building logistics parks across Africa, with close to 1+ million sqm warehousing in Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Ghana
Investor information
Agility shares have traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE: AGLTY) since 1984 and the Dubai Financial Market (DFM: AGLTY) since 2006. Its estimated 14,000 shareholders include private and public institutions, along with individual investors. National Real Estate Co. (KSE: symbol) and Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security are two of Agility’s largest institutional investors. The company operates on a Jan. 1 – Dec. 31 fiscal year.
Emerging Markets
Agility annually publishes the Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index.[2] The Index offers a snapshot of logistics industry sentiment in a survey of supply chain executives and ranks the world’s 50 leading emerging markets based on their size, business conditions, infrastructure and other factors that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, shipping lines, air cargo carriers and distributors.
In 2020, the company developed and conducted its 11th annual survey.[3] Over 780 supply chain and logistics executives worldwide were surveyed about the 2019 global economic outlook, prospects for emerging markets, key growth drivers and trends affecting emerging markets countries.
Sustainability
Agility’s sustainability[4] efforts focus on environment, community investments, humanitarian logistics, and fair labor.
Agility is actively engaged in Business for Social Responsibility’s Clean Cargo Working Group, and the Sustainable Air Freight Alliance (SAFA) where it has represented the freight forwarding industry in each group’s steering committee. In each of these groups Agility works collaboratively with shippers, carriers and freight forwarders to advocate for more sustainability in the cargo industry, as well as to help improve how industry stakeholders measure and manage CO2 emissions.
Agility is a partner of the UN Global Logistic Cluster’s Logistics Emergency Team (LET). The LET unites the capacity and resources of the logistics industry with the expertise and experience of the humanitarian community to provide more effective and efficient disaster relief” [5]
As a global business, Agility invests in education, community health and environment projects around the world to have a positive social impact in many communities in which it operates. Many of its projects focus on creating local education and employment opportunities. Agility’s partnerships focus on youth and education that include long-term relationships with schools and local charities to provide digital literacy programs and secondary education or vocational training with an aim to have at least 50% female students in all partnerships.
Controversy
From 2003 to 2010, Agility supplied food and related products to U.S. troops and contractors in Kuwait and Iraq under a series of Prime Vendor contracts awarded by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
In May 2017, Agility and the U.S. Justice Department reached a legal settlement to resolve legal cases alleging that the company overcharged DLA on the food contracts. The company pleaded to a single-count misdemeanor involving a single invoice for $551. The misdemeanor was unrelated to the Justice Department’s original felony allegations. The company also agreed to a payment of $95 million to resolve parallel civil proceedings.[6]
References
- http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4449599
- https://www.agility.com/insights/emerging-markets-logistics-index/overview/
- https://www.agility.com/insights/emerging-markets-logistics-index/overview/
- http://sustainability.agility.com
- https://www.weforum.org/our-impact/logistics-emergency-team
- https://www.agility.com/en/legal-update/