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.

Agility Public Warehousing Company K.S.C.P.
Public
Traded asDFM: AGLTY
ISINKW0EQ0601041 
IndustryLogistics
Facility Management
Government contractor
Freight Forwarding
Supply Chain Management
Founded1979
HeadquartersSulaibiya, 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 US$ 4.64 billion (2017)
US$ 225.87 million (2017)
Number of employees
26,000+ (2018)
Websitehttp://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).

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 Al Essa at the 2009 World Economic Forum

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
  • 1,400 employees and 104 offices/locations in 24 countries and territories.
  • In 2009, Agility broadened its Latin American presence by acquiring new businesses in Brazil and Mexico to complement its existing presence in Chile. In 2016, it began operating as Agility in Colombia

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
  • 3,000 employees and 145 offices/locations across 31 countries.
  • Agility Europe has broadened its coverage in Eastern Europe by opening a new subsidiary in Romania, following earlier expansion in Central Europe in Poland, Austria, and Hungary in 2008.

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.

Social responsibility

Agility’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts focus on providing logistics support during and after natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. Agility has provided pro bono support to its humanitarian partners in Haiti, Chile, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.[4] Additionally, under the auspices of the World Economic Forum, Agility partners with other companies to assist humanitarian agencies through deployment of rapid response teams (Logistics Emergency Teams).[5] LETs have been deployed in Indonesia, Philippines, Haiti, Pakistan, Japan, Myanmar, among other countries.

In addition to company-wide and employee-led projects to improve sustainability and support local neighborhoods and communities, Agility participated in development of the World Economic Forum report “Supply Chain Decarbonization: The role of Logistics and Transport in Reducing Supply Chain Carbon Emissions”.[6] The report highlights and prioritizes the leading opportunities for the logistics and transport sector to lower CO2 emissions

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.[7]

References
  1. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4449599
  2. https://www.agility.com/insights/emerging-markets-logistics-index/overview/
  3. https://www.agility.com/insights/emerging-markets-logistics-index/overview/
  4. INSEAD Case Study, Agility: A Global Logistics Company and Local Humanitarian Partner, March 2009 Archived August 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. http://www.logcluster.org/logistics-emergency-teams
  6. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_LT_SupplyChainDecarbonization_Report_2009.pdf
  7. https://www.agility.com/en/legal-update/
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