Fadi Ghandour, Founder and CEO of Aramex International, delivers a speech during the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008, in Dubai, UAE.

Dubai-based courier Aramex reported a 5 percent fall in first-quarter net profit on Sunday due to a rise in provisions related to the company’s incentive scheme.

The company made a net profit of 91.8 million dirhams ($25.0 million)in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement. This compares with a profit of 96.9 million dirhams in the same period a year earlier. EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain forecast the firm would make a quarterly net profit of 109.1 million dirhams and 105.6 million dirhams respectively.

Not accounting for the provision, first quarter net profit would have been 105.1 million dirhams, an 8.5 percent rise from the same period of last year, it said. The firm’s revenue during the period was 1.1 million dirhams, up 7 percent from 1.0 million dirhams in the same period a year ago.

Aramex said its strong revenue performance in the first quarter was driven by growth across Asia Pacific, while revenue in other regions were hurt by currency fluctuations, particularly the Egyptian pound.

Egypt’s central bank abandoned its currency peg of 8.8 pounds to the US dollar on Nov. 3, hoping to unlock currency inflows and bring back foreign investors who were driven away after the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.