KUWAIT CITY, Oct 11, (RTRS): Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility on Tuesday denied reports that it had won a military contract worth up to $700 million that had sparked a four-day rally in the group’s stock, before trading was suspended. “The firm wants to clarify that it is normal for it to compete on tenders and contracts within the context of its operations, and it always announces its deals according to the disclosures law,” Agility said in a statement on the Kuwaiti bourse website. Kuwaiti daily newspaper al-Rai said in an unsourced report on Monday that information had been circulating that Agility won a military contract worth between $600 million and $700 million.

The firm said that it did not win a contract with such specifications, without elaborating further.
Agility’s shares have been soaring on market rumours that it won contracts with the Canadian Forces (CF). Its shares hit a four-month high on Sunday, a day before they were suspended. On Tuesday, trading resumed and shares traded 2.6 percent lower at 0900 GMT. Some Kuwaiti companies won contracts from Canadian Forces after they set up a staging terminal in the Gulf Arab state in September, Lieutenant-Commander John Nethercott, public affairs officer at the Canadian Operational Support Command, said in an emailed response to Reuters’ questions.

“(The contracts) were let through a competitive contracting process. They are characterized as low dollar value,” he said, declining to name the companies. Nethercott said that other contracts were being considered. Agility, which was the largest supplier to the US Army in the Middle East during the war in Iraq, pleaded not guilty in August to charges it defrauded the US government over multibillion-dollar supply contracts.