Excluding the impact of disruption in the Middle East, organic growth would have reached 5.2%. Organic sales increased by 2.9% in Q2, or 4.6% when excluding the impact of the Middle East conflict. Avolta said profitability was temporarily affected by disruption in the Middle East and the early-stage ramp-up of its new JFK and Pudong operations. The group said underlying performance continued to improve despite geopolitical headwinds, with organic growth reaching 4.1% in July, or 4.8% excluding the Middle East. It added that the Middle East disruption and operational ramp-up effects were temporary and did not affect its longer-term expectations.