Aramex board recommends 16.5% dividend

The company will hold its annual general assembly meeting on April 7

The board of Aramex recommended distributing a cash dividend of 16.5 per cent of the company’s paid-up capital for 2019. Silvia Razgova / The National

The board of Aramex, the largest courier company across the Middle East, recommended distributing a 16.5 per cent cash dividend of the company’s paid-up capital for the year ending December 31, 2019.

The dividend distribution is pending shareholders' approval at the company’s general assembly meeting, which is scheduled for April 7, Aramex said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares trade.

Last month, Aramex reported a 1 per cent increase in its full-year net profit, which climbed to Dh497.4 million on the back of a 3 per cent rise in revenue.

The company's international express business grew 3 per cent to Dh2.3 billion, on higher volumes from the US, UK, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.  The courier firm's domestic express business, on the other hand, climbed 5 per cent to Dh1.1bn, driven by a rise in domestic e-commerce business across the GCC and Australia.

At the end of 2019, Aramex’s total cash stood at Dh1bn and free cash flow at Dh294m, it said in February.

Aramex, which saw certain headwinds hitting its business last year, anticipated a healthy growth in shipment volumes in 2020.

“While we anticipate shipment volumes to continue to demonstrate healthy growth in the coming year, notably from our core markets, pricing pressure on e-commerce business is expected to continue over the coming period,” Bashar Obeid, chief executive of Aramex, said last month. The company is currently investing heavily in its last mile operations, one of the most critical and competitive stages of the delivery journey.

In 2020, Aramex will also focus on “accelerating its business transformation roadmap across different areas in the company to realise synergies and lower cost of doing business on the ground.”

“We will also continue our aggressive roll-out of the commercial restructuring process prioritising the B2B segment, to ensure we have a well-diversified revenue mix,” added Mr Obeid.

Established in 1982 as an express courier services, Aramex has grown its operations in a number of countries around the world. It was listed on the Dubai Financial Market in 2005.