Aramex to sell 60% stake in JV for $20m

Dubai: Aramex, the Dubai-listed logistics company, said on Tuesday it will sell its 60 per cent stake in its joint venture with Australia Post for $20 million (Dh73.4 million).

The stake in Aramex Global Solutions will be sold back to Australia Post, and comes after approval from Aramex’s board of directors.

The company said the decision to sell the stake came as a “mutually agreed transaction” that will allow both Aramex and Australia Post to “independently execute their strategic growth in the booming global e-commerce industry.”

When the sale is completed, it will not have “any impact” on Aramex’s revenues, the company said in a statement, since the joint venture was only on equity basis. Aramex will, however, incur a one-off write-off of $13 million, which will be reflected in the company’s financial results for the fourth quarter of 2018.

“The divestment will not affect our e-commerce growth strategy. The global e-commerce market continues to grow at a strong rate, transforming our industry and presenting huge opportunities for us to expand our business in our target markets,” said Bashar Obeid, chief executive officer of Aramex.

He added that Aramex plans to enhance its delivery solutions and improve service levels through investments in technology and digitisation.

In 2016, Aramex and Australia Post partnered to create Aramex Global Solutions to serve as an e-commerce delivery platform, with a focus on connecting the Australian market with sellers in Asia. Aramex currently owns the majority of that joint venture, with a 60 per cent stake, with the remaining 40 per cent being held by Australia Post.

Aramex recorded Dh113 million in net profit in the third quarter of 2018, a 38 per cent jump year-on-year as revenues rose amid growth in the e-commerce sector. The earnings brought net profit for the first nine months of 2018 to Dh339 million, an increase of 25 per cent over the same period in 2017.