Hello everyone, and welcome to WOQOD conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to hand over to Phibion, our moderator for today. Thank you. Thank you, Ellie. A good morning to you all, and thank you for joining us for Qatar Fuel Company or WOQOD, 3 Q and 9 months, 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Phibion. I'm with QNB Financial Services. On today's call, we have three members from the WOQOD management team, who are going to first present their results and then answer your questions. We have the CFO, Mr. Pradeep Kumar, and then the acting finance manager, Ravi. And we also have got the IR officer, Ahmed Saeed Al-Mansoori. I'll now turn over the call to Ahmed to begin the call. Over to you, sir. Please go ahead. Thank you, Phibion. Good day to all the participants, and we hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. We welcome you all to WOQOD's third quarter and September twenty twenty-four results conference call, and appreciate your participation as WOQOD is committed to continuously enhance its investor relations initiatives. This is to strengthen our communication and improve transparency with all members of the global investment community. The presentation of this call will be available on the investor relations section of our website. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections, guidance, or any other characterizations of future events, including financial projections or future market conditions, is a forward-looking statement based on the assumptions today. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. The company cannot disclose any commercially sensitive information due to the confidentiality agreement signed with its suppliers. Please refer to slide number two for the full version of disclaimer statements. All figures expressed in this call are in Qatari riyals, and the conversion for the same to US dollar is QAR 3.64 to $1. Now, I would like to hand over the call to our acting finance manager, Mr. Ravi Vansa, to provide a brief overview of WOQOD and update on the key operation activities. Thanks, Ahmed. The key vision of WOQOD is to be the leading petroleum products distribution and related services marketing company in the region. I am on slide four now, which shows the overview of WOQOD growth. WOQOD started operations in 2002 with exclusive rights for storage and distribution of petroleum products in the State of Qatar. Operations started with two petrol stations in 2003, and has grown to 125 stations as at the end of September 2024. The chart on the right shows WOQOD's station network. WOQOD also owns and operates 13 Fahes for inspection of vehicles across the state of Qatar. Moving to slide five, which shows the key operations of WOQOD Group. Key operations of WOQOD Group includes diesel and gasoline fuel distribution and sales, jet fuel distribution and sales, shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship bunkering, LPG and natural gas distribution and sales, fuel bunkering, bitumen operations, PISO and auto care activities, vehicle inspection services, office leasings. Turning to slide seven now, which shows the diesel and gasoline fuel sales volume trend analysis. As mentioned before, the core activity of WOQOD is fuel distribution and sales in the state of Qatar. The total fuel sales were higher by 2% YTD September 2024 versus YTD September 2023, driven by market demand. Diesel sales volumes were lower by 2% YTD September 2024 versus YTD September 2023, driven by macroeconomic factors. Combined gasoline sales volumes were up by 5% YTD September 2024 versus YTD September 2023, again, driven by market demand. On quarter-on-quarter basis, sales volumes for third quarter 2024 increased by 14% and 1% for diesel and gasoline respectively. Average fuel prices for diesel and gasoline remained almost same during the reporting period. Turning to slide eight, which shows the jet fuel sales volume comparison. Jet fuel sales were higher by 11% YTD September 2024 compared to the same period last year, driven by market demand. On quarter-on-quarter basis, jet fuel sales volumes for third quarter 2024 increased by 9%, mainly driven by market demand. Jet fuel prices YTD September 2024 decreased by 4% as compared to the same period last year, driven by changing crude oil prices. Combined sales volume of all petroleum products increased by 7% YTD September 2024 as compared to the same period last year. Turning to slide nine, which shows the quarterly trend of retail fuel sales volumes. Overall retail fuel sales volumes increased by 3% YTD 2024, YTD September 2024 against the same period last year, driven by increased market demand. Retail diesel sales increased by 2%, whereas the retail gasoline sales increased by 4%, YTD September 2024 as compared to the same period last year, driven by market demand. On quarter-on-quarter basis, retail diesel sales volumes in third quarter 2024 increased by 13%, whereas gasoline sales remained stable. The market share of WOQOD in the retail, in the petroleum retail market in the state of Qatar reached to about 85% YTD September 2024. Non-fuel retail sales decreased by 8% YTD September 2024, mainly on account of decreasing in auto care services. Now, I would like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Pradeep Kumar, to discuss the key financial results. Thanks, Ravi, for all the volume updates. Good day, everyone. I would like to discuss the consolidated financial results of WOQOD for the third quarter 2024, and the 9 months period ended thirtieth September 2024. Slide 11 shows the revenue trend of WOQOD. Revenue from fuel sales account for nearly 97% of the total revenue. WOQOD achieved total revenue of QAR 21.3 billion for YTD September 2024, as compared to QAR 20.5 billion during the same period last year, representing an increase of 4%. This increase is mainly driven by increase in overall fuel sales volume by 7% during YTD September 2024, as compared to the same period last year. As compared to the second quarter of 2024, the total revenue increased by 3%, mainly driven by the increase in sales volume by 8%, partly offset by lower sales price by 4%. Turning to slide 12, which shows the net income trend analysis. WOQOD has made a net income of QAR 289 million for the third quarter of 2024, as compared to QAR 272 million during the same period in 2023, representing an increase of 6%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the net income for third quarter 2024 increased by QAR 50 million, representing an increase of 21%. The detailed analysis of net income variance is given in the next slide. Slide 13 shows the key variance analysis of net income for the nine-month period ended September 2024, as compared to same period last year. The increase in net income of QAR 60 million is due to the following major factors: Fuel segment margin increased, driven by increase in fuel sales volume. Trading stock price variance is mainly driven by the price impact of jet fuel inventory, which is market driven. B2B segment margins decreased mainly due to low fuel offtake from the B2B segment, and impact of lower bitumen sales due to prevailing market conditions. Non-fuel margin and others, lower due to lower income from non-fuel segment, again, due to prevailing market conditions. Other income increased mainly due to higher interest income, driven by the optimization efforts on return on cash. WOQOD's fundamentals continue to remain robust, and WOQOD is committed to meet all its strategic goals while placing safety as a top priority. WOQOD has a strong leadership committed towards delivering the results to its shareholders. With this, we are ready for the Q&A session. Thank you. Thank you. We are now opening the floor for question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one. Our first question comes from Ramy El-Kapra from Ashmore. Your line is now open. Hi. Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks, thanks for the call today. Much appreciated, as always. Yeah, just a couple of questions from me. So yeah, just on the last slide you were on, so just looking at the waterfall chart for net income. So yeah, just to understand, so fuel segment margins running better, but also much better in the third quarter than we saw in the first half. You say this is primarily because of jet fuel volume. So just to understand, is it just the mix effect, that jet fuel is a higher margin business for you? Or is it that the margins in jet fuel have improved? Thank you. So yeah, as compared to last quarter, definitely the volume has increased, which contributed to the increase in the margins. But the margin structure as it is, there is no change. It remained the same. It's because of the volume that contributed to the higher margins. Yeah. Okay, great. And then just on the, on the B2B segment, so when I look for the nine months, you're kind of QAR 40 million behind last year. But at the first half, you were kind of QAR 46 million behind. So again, we're kind of seeing an improvement there in the, in the third quarter, year on year. Could you just kind of give us an update on B2B and maybe this kind of, weak sales in the bitumen side of things? Like, is it starting to turn a corner? Is it starting to improve, or is it getting less bad? Like, what's happening out there? Yeah, you're right. As compared to first half of this year, it's improved by six million. So we expect to improve in the fourth quarter also, because there'll be more activities we believe going to happen in the fourth quarter. Definitely, that's going to improve this one. So it's all driven by the macroeconomic activities. Yeah, brilliant. Thanks very much. Thank you. Question comes from Ashish Agarwal from TFI. Your line is now open. Hi, gentlemen. Thanks for giving me this opportunity. You mentioned that there is this 14% quarter on quarter volume growth in the diesel, and I believe it is seasonal, possibly diesel will be used more in summer season. Can you confirm that? That is my first question. Second question is, a couple of your slides mentioned that the volume growth is driven by increased market demand. So, if you can just break this down into from which sectors or industries this increased market demand is coming in. My third question is, you know, jet fuel sales have been increased by 11% year to date. So wanted to understand the drivers behind this volume growth in the jet fuel. What I'm trying to understand, is this some sort of low base in 2023, or, is this sustainable going into 2025? And if I may, I have one more question. I just want to squeeze that in here. I was looking at your subsidiaries, and you have, subsidiaries in, Saudi, Oman and Liberia. So, does this qualify, you to be called as a multinational? That's, that's from my side. Thanks a lot. Just give us a second. Let me pull that information. We'll answer in a moment. Sure. Yeah. On your first question, you know, on the diesel, you can see on a, on a quarter on quarter basis, it improved by almost 14%, because on the second quarter, the sales was 483 million liters, whereas in the third quarter it's 551 million liters. So it's mainly driven by, I would say, you know, we have bunkering activities as well as we have the business, mainly all the B2B segments, they start taking more. That's why you're seeing that, you know, the margin as compared to first half versus, you know, the YTD September, it has increased. So it's mainly, you know, the B2B segment and the bunkering segment start taking more product from us. That's what contributes to the diesel side. On the jet fuel side, it's purely market driven because we are the sole suppliers here in Qatar, and it's purely based on market demand. And whenever there is a demand, definitely we are ready to supply all the requirements of the market. And we see a lot of travels happening around, so maybe that is contributing towards this higher jet fuel sales in 2024. Regarding subsidiaries, you know, at present our operations are based in Qatar, so all these are kind of Qatar-based revenues. Okay. So on that subsidiaries question, I mean, I do agree with you, like, a major chunk of your revenues are Qatar-based. And I mean, you know, because you know, I mean, I assume you understand that, you know, the reason I'm asking this question is because you do meet the threshold for Pillar Two tax, and that does qualify you for, you know, the 15% expected tax next year. But given these subsidiaries, and like, you know, such a low contribution to your revenue, I was wondering, like, how are you going to, like, treat them going into two thousand twenty-five? And is there a possibility for you to... I mean, just trying to understand that, because, like, does this qualify you as being called a multinational because of these subsidiaries? Do you have any update to offer on your discussions with the tax consultants? ... Again, on the operations, you know, I reiterate the sense that, you know, it's based in Qatar at present. And regarding the tax regulation, we are waiting for necessary regulations from the tax authorities. So once we have that, definitely we can provide more information when time comes. All right. Okay. All right, that's it from my side. Thanks for answering my questions. Thank you. Our next question comes from Zohaib Pervez from Al Rayan Investment. Your line is now open. Thank you, gentlemen, for the presentation. I've got one question only, and your, on your page 11, so your revenues for the third quarter were actually slightly lower, while your volumes on, you know, increased quite a lot. And probably the prices, this could be prices, but even the price decline of 4% does not justify a decline. Is it because of the periphery business is not doing well, or how do you see that? Thank you. If you're comparing to the second quarter, it has improved. As I mentioned before, the volume increased, but the price has dropped. Mainly the jet fuel price has dropped. That's the reason for as compared to the second quarter. I'm actually comparing it to year-over-year. Year-over-year, your revenues are slightly lower, and year-over-year, your volumes are higher. Prices are more or less stable to lower on the jet fuel. Is it just, just this year-over-year decline because of jet fuel, or it's because of, you know, your bunkering business or the other business that is not, you know, doing well or something? Thank you. Okay. On the year-on-year, definitely jet fuel volume has increased, which you have seen, but on the other side, price has decreased as compared to last year for jet fuel. That contributed towards that. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Ildar Khaziev from HSBC. Your line is now open. Hi. Thank you very much for the presentation and the chance to ask question. So one question is about comparison of the gross profit in the fourth quarter to the last year. It seems like they're being... You know, if I look at three Q this year to three Q last year, gross profit was almost flat. As far as I recall, last year in three Q, there was probably a large positive impact from stronger jet fuel prices. I think there was, there should have been some inventory gain in that quarter. And this year, we, you know, it's unlikely to have been any inventory gains because the jet fuel price actually slightly declined quarter on quarter. What am I missing? I'm a bit confused about this. I was expecting actually, gross profit to be much, much weaker, given the jet fuel price trend. But it's, you know, why is it comparable to 3Q last year, given that last year there was an inventory gain? Thank you. Yeah. If you go to slide 13, our net income variance analysis, on one side you can see that we made the fuel margins, which is increased in line with the volume. But on the other side, there are other factors that is influencing. Our B2B segment, which comprises not only the fuel margin, a lot of other activities that we carry out in that segment, has dropped because of the lower activities during this period. And of course, the trading price stock variance due to jet fuel lower pricing, as well as the non-fuel segment margins. These three contributed. So if you take net, you can see, and it's almost flat on the GP side as compared to last year. But I'm looking specifically at 3Q, not year to date. So I was talking about not nine months, rather 3Q this year on 3Q last year. That's why I'm a bit confused. Okay, maybe just another angle. I think in your press release you mentioned that there was an increased focus on non-fuel business activities. Can you talk about that a bit in more detail? Like, what's happening exactly and what you are trying to achieve? Thank you. First part of your question relating to the third quarter, the story is pretty much same because the weaker price of the jet fuel has impacted the price and everything. Now, on the non-fuel, yes, you know, all our non-fuel segments, we are focusing on that segment and trying to improve the revenue wherever possible, but we look in the market condition also. So definitely we are working on that to improve the margins wherever opportunity comes. Are you expanding your sort of, you know, building out new grocery stores or expanding the capacity, or you're sort of trying to optimize merchandise and stuff like that? I mean, what's the problem exactly? All our segments, all our non-fuel segments, of course, this, convenience store is one part of it, but we have auto care and many other activities. We look into all segments to improve the profitability. Okay. Thank you. ... Question comes from Lee Beswick from QNB. Your line is now open. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Just a question on domestic fuel sales, both gasoline and diesel. I suppose in the very long term, which I think is about a third of your total revenues. In the very long term, that will go to zero, once electric cars and electric vehicles become more common in Qatar, as we're starting to see right now. What's the plan to replace that chunk of your sales? And also when do you expect that the sale of electric cars and the decrease of gasoline cars within Qatar, when do you expect that to start sort of impacting on your revenues? At present our retail sales continue to go up slightly, although the EV segment start hitting the market, and we position very well to take advantage from that segment as well, because we have 22 plus chargers already installed at various stations. About the real impact in the market, we have to wait and see. Okay. So you wouldn't have an expectation whether it's sort of five years away, ten years away, where it starts impacting? You don't know yet. We are waiting to see the market, how it's going to react. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next question comes from Abdulaziz Al-Naim from NBK. Your line is now open. Thank you, management, for the presentation. This is Abdulaziz Al-Naim from NBK Wealth. I have just a few questions from my end. My first question is regarding your trade payables account. If we look at it, we see part of the amount is related to provision for lands leased from the municipality. So I would like to understand the nature of this account and why is it there, and why has it been growing in the past few years? Okay. Those payables relating to, or those provision relating to the lease rental for the lands that we operate, and we are working with the government on that matter. So once it is cleared, that will be. This liability also will be cleared. This is related to leases. You aren't paying right now, or what? Because when we look at the cash flow statement, we see QAR 60 million last year related to these payments. So part of it is being paid and part isn't being paid? Yeah, I just would like to understand the picture. Yeah. Our MD and CEO is working with the government authorities on this matter to firm up, the lease term and everything, and then after that we can tell you exactly. But right now we create the provisions based on the latest information we have on a conservative basis. Clear. I have another question related to your receivables. If we look at the aging of your receivables, we find in the last two years, receivables that have been there for more than a year have reached almost 10% of your receivables. Can you please explain why it reached this level, and what are your expectations in terms of collection for this amount? Also, when we look at the prepayments part, you have a receivable from ministries around QAR 65 million that have been there for a while. Can you also elaborate on that amount, please? On the first question on receivables, you see our receivables as consistently coming down. All the efforts are going to improve the collections. We can see on one side the revenue has increased, but the receivable has come down. So consistent efforts are ongoing to convert the receivables to cash. Yes, on the other frame, receivables, yes, we are working, our MD and CEO is involved and working and consulting with all the departments concerned to collect the money. Clear. One final question from my end. If we look at your board report in 2022 and 2024, and the mentioned targets for the number of stations that you are planning to open in the retail business. We look in 2024, you planned first to reach 136 stations, and in the latest board report you mentioned you reduced that number to 131. Now we see the number of stations reaching to 125. So can we explain why the target? Can Can you please explain why the target is being reduced for the number of fuel stations? This plan is very dynamic, as we always state in our press releases. You know, we always look into the market demand and requirement of specific areas, and definitely, you know, we will improve. Right now we have 125 stations, one more station going to open during the fourth quarter of this year. But we have a plan, but it's dynamic based on the requirements. Clear. But do you see limited growth in the future, so that's why you're reducing the target, or what? ... It It all depends on market requirements. Clear. Thank you. That's it for my end. Fabian, we'll get one last question. Thank you. Hello, Ellie. Do we still have any more questions on the line? Let's take one more, and then we can close the call. Yes. I already called in Abhinav Sinha for our last question from QNB Financial Services. Yeah, hi. I can see that your gross margin is roughly 3%. Can you give us a sense on how is the jet fuel versus your retail? Thank you. Sorry, can you repeat your question? I didn't understand. You want jet fuel versus, other- Yeah, because I see your gross margin is roughly 3%, so like I was just trying to understand like how is it among the various segments? So how what would be your jet versus your retail margin within that? You know, specifically, we cannot disclose due to commercially sensitive information. Okay. We can- Okay. You know very well that jet fuel contributed significantly on the increase in volume. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We are now closing the Q&A. I'd now like to hand back over to Fabian for further remarks. Thank you, Ellie. Yeah, we understand that there are perhaps more questions that investors want to ask, but we've come to the end of our call due to time constraints. Feel free to reach the management team directly or through QNB FS. We can relay your questions to the management team. Anyway, this brings us to the end of our call. Thank you for joining us. I would like to thank the management team for addressing investors' questions. Feel free to join us again for the fourth quarter earnings call.