Okay, thank you, operator. Hi, this is Bobby Sarkar, Head of Research at QNB Financial Services. I want to welcome everyone to Milaha's second quarter and first half 2024 results conference call. On this call from Milaha management, we have Akram Iswaisi, who is the Executive Vice President in Finance and Investments, and Sami Shtayyeh, who is a VP in Financial Planning and Analysis. We will conduct this conference with the management, first reviewing the company's results, followed by a Q&A. I would like to now turn the call over to Akram. Akram, please go ahead. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone for joining Milaha's first half of 2024 earnings call, and your interest in the company. I'll be starting with our consolidated financial results, and then we'll go through our various segments before turning it over to Sami to go over the outlook. Finally, as usual, we will end the call with questions and answers. The key highlights of our financial results: Milaha's operating revenues came in at QAR 1.4 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2024, compared with QAR 1.5 billion for the same period in 2023, for a decrease of 5%. Operating profit came in at QAR 316 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024, compared with QAR 344 million for the same period in 2024, for a decrease of 8%. Net profit for the same... for the six months ended June thirtieth, 2024, was QAR 628 million, compared with QAR 648 million for the same period in 2023, for a decrease of 3%. And lastly, our earnings per share was QAR 0.55 for the six months ended June thirtieth, 2024, compared with QAR 0.57 for the same period in 2023. Moving on to our various segments. Starting with Milaha Maritime and Logistics. Operating revenue from Milaha Maritime and Logistics decreased by QAR 41 million, going from QAR 435 million in the first half of 2023 to QAR 394 million for the same period in 2024. 48 million of the drop came from our Freight Logistics unit, which saw reduced volumes and warehouse utilization decrease versus the same period in 2023, which, you know, last year was quite high, immediately following the World Cup. With respect to Container Shipping unit, similarly posted a drop versus 2023, despite an uptick in volume, with revenue coming down QAR 50 million versus 2023, primarily due to reduced shipping rates out of India. Partially offsetting the drops in Freight Logistics and Container Shipping was our Shipyard, which posted a QAR 26 million increase in revenue coming from added project income and volumes. Moving on to operating expenses, they came down by QAR 38 million, with reduced logistics volumes, lower container shipping pass-through expenses, and a favorable reversal of bad debt provisions due to the successful recovery of outstanding debt. Obviously, more than offsetting increased shipyard-related expenses tied to revenue growth. Non-operating income decreased by QAR 30 million, and overall net profit dropped by QAR 33 million, from QAR 17 million in the first half of 2023, to -QAR 16 million in 2024. Moving on to offshore. Operating revenue essentially remained flat versus the same period in 2023, coming at QAR 760 million, with increased chartering rates being offset by both planned and unplanned vessel maintenance, which obviously impacted our revenue. On the operating expense side, we saw a QAR 20 million year-over-year increase, mainly coming from a non-recurring favorable VAT provision reversal that was recorded last year and increase in, in, in expenses in our industrial logistics unit. Overall, net income dropped by QAR 25 million from QAR 141 million in the first half of 2023 to QAR 160 million for the same period in 2024. Now, looking at Gas and Petchem. At the operating profit level, the Gas and Petchem had a slight dip in the first half of 2024 versus 2023, going from QAR 65 million in 2023 to QAR 62 million in 2024. But at the non-operating level, income increased by QAR 35 million, with QAR 49 million increase coming from our associates, mainly Nakilat, which is more than offsetting a drop of QAR 8 million from results of joint arrangements, mainly from the VLGC JV. Net profit for the segment ended up QAR 32 million, or 10% higher versus the same period in 2023. In our trading segment, reduced heavy equipment and bunker sales volumes and margins negatively impacted the results, with the bottom line slipping from QAR 1 million in profit in the first half of 2023 to a negative QAR 8 million in loss for the same period in 2024. And lastly, Milaha Capital, despite an 8% drop in revenue in the first half of 2024 versus 2023, led primarily by Qatar Quarries sales. Overall, net profit increased by QAR 50 million, driven by higher overall investment income. That wraps up the segments, and I will now turn it over to Sami to discuss outlook for the rest of the year. Thank you, Akram. Starting with maritime and logistics, on the container shipping side, we expect rates to continue being under pressure due to depressed global demand and expected new vessel capacity coming online. But we are optimistic that our new China services, which began in May, will provide some uplift. In freight logistics, the environment is still quite challenging and expected to remain so. Our focus continues to be on boosting sales efforts and improving operating efficiencies. In offshore, on the support vessels and services side, we expect to see continued growth, particularly longer term, with all the expansion work in Qatar's oil and gas industry. For harbor operations, we expect stable revenue throughout the year, given that most of the vessels are on long-term contracts. Similarly for industrial logistics, fairly stable as well, due to long-term contracts. In Gas and Petchem overall, we expect limited volatility due to the long-term nature of contracts we have in most business units. Our VLGC JV is the exception, where performance is difficult to predict due to volatile spot prices. In Trading, we'll continue to focus on profitable growth and margin improvement. And lastly, Capital, where we will continue to focus on providing stable results and yield enhancement. And with that, operator, we'll now open the call up to questions and answers. We are now opening the floor for questioning and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our first question comes from Rob Skipper from Ashmore. Your line is now open. Hi. Hi, guys. Thanks for your time, and thanks for the call today. A few bits and pieces from me, if I may. Just on container shipping, so you mentioned there are some new China routes, potentially offsetting some of the weakness. Like, is that... Are you still seeing rates dropping? Like, and will those new routes, do you think that will provide, like, a bottom for the earnings in container shipping? Or like, we should still expect, like, sequentially weaker results from the container business? If you look at, I mean, directionally, rates are much more robust this quarter, and they will continue to be robust. Not expecting significant increases, but the rates are much stronger now. And if you look at, for example, Maritime and Logistics as a segment, and you compare the results from Q1 to Q2, the losses have been diminishing. And so, you know, the trajectory is positive, and, you know, we're optimistic about the second half of the year. Got it. Yeah, thanks for, thanks for the clarification. Great. And then just on freight and logistics, yeah, I mean, obviously it's a little bit, little bit tricky domestically at the moment, but in terms of, like, light at the end of the tunnel there, like, what are you kind of looking out for? Like, when can that improve, to your mind? I can tell you that... Obviously, we're constrained by local market dynamics. Yeah. But what we are doing is we're working on turning this business around, from looking at our operating expenses and trying to right size the balance sheet as well as the P&L. And so this is an exercise that we have begun, looking at our top line, looking at our customer base, looking at our strategic direction, looking at our sales force, you know, looking at segments where we should be focusing more than others, and even potentially looking at, you know, saying, "You know what? Some clients are not profitable. We shouldn't be in that segment or dealing with these clients." And so at the top line, I mean, at the end of the day, if you look at, you know, how do you generate revenue top line, you acquire more clients, you sell more services to existing clients, and then you look at your pricing and whether you're leaving money on the table. So from a, from a big-picture perspective, this is sort of what we're looking at within logistics and saying: You know, how can we grow the top line, and what new segments and services can we offer? Should we be a niche provider focusing on specific segments, given who we are, using our balance sheet, our strength, you know, our ability to deploy capital? And at the same time, looking at our expense side and seeing ways we can optimize that. So this is an exercise that we're undertaking, and it's ongoing. Yeah, and when- Domestically, we're constrained by, you know, you know, local dynamics, but we are looking at how to optimize the business domestically. And we also have our Dubai operation that we're also looking to optimize as well. And so between Qatar and the UAE, there is potential for us to turn that business around. Kind of, when do you expect to start to see the fruits of those endeavors? Well, I mean, we have begun, so you know, you know, success is about, you know... We were stringing along a lot of smaller successes, not gonna be a shock at all. So we have, you know, the exercise is already started a couple of months ago, and so as the results come out, we begin executing and making changes. You know, it will have to be... And again, it takes time for the results of these initiatives to materialize. So I think the Q1 and Q2 of next year, we should potentially see some improvement in the numbers. Great. Thank you. Just jumping to offshore. So I think on the first quarter conference call, you kind of mentioned kind of various kind of contracts that you kind of might be working on at the moment. Is there kind of any update for the market on those? Well, I mean, if you look at offshore, as the offshore market overall, you know, two things, multiple things are working for us. Rates have gone up, so we're sitting in a very, very robust market. So, and we are riding that cycle, that wave, if you will. Secondly, demand is very robust, whether it's in Qatar or the region. And so we have been winning business. And so, you know, some of that business, we will begin executing or delivering, the end of Q3 and Q4, we will begin. Now, because there is a lead time where we win business, we have to mobilize, we have to hire staff, we have to acquire vessels, there's still a bit of a lead time, but, you know, Offshore is on an upward trajectory. Our numbers this quarter were impacted by planned and unplanned maintenance. And so, but the trajectory is positive. At the moment, we can't disclose anything yet until we are able to obtain approval from our clients, but we're hoping the next few months we'll be able to disclose something to the market. Okay. And will that be kind of disclosed as and when, whatever, the NDA kind of lapses and you're able to speak? Or, like, is it, we wait for kind of the next quarterly call? We're hoping by next quarterly call that we would have something that we can share. But again, you know, but we're bound by most of our contracts, there's a confidentiality agreement, we're bound by that, and so we need clearance from our clients to be able to disclose more. Yeah, sure. Got it. Okay, cool. Akram, Sami, thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate the questions. The next question comes from Nikhil Potdar from CBFS. Your line is now open. Thank you, gentlemen, for taking my question. This is regarding, again, which you mentioned about containers in the maritime, and you did mention that you are, you know, you've added up some new vessels. So I just wanted to inquire, the new vessels, I believe, two, has been, you know, started contributing in second quarter this year, or could be contributing going forward? Where did we mention about new vessels? I mean, we continue to charter new vessels as we expand our network. And so we are chartering in vessels and the, you know, as they come up, some of them are short term, some of them six months, one year. So as we continue to expand our network, we do use, you know, use short-term charters to test the network. And then, you know, when the time is right for the market and, you know, we do buy assets. So today, any new service that we get into, if we don't have the capacity, then we charter in vessels. So, you know, it's difficult to answer that question for you because, you know, vessels are mobilized on different services as part of our network. Mm-hmm. Okay. Regarding other things, I mean, given the fact that, you know, over the last couple of years, your disposal of property versus equipment has been, you know, had been a huge increase, I mean, say, in 2020, 2021, and, but of course, of late, we are seeing quarterly, you know, some gains coming through in terms of your, your disposal, maybe salvage value and other things. Do we see, you know, similar trend continuing going forward? I'm sorry, disposal what? Of assets? Yeah. I mean, we are seeing some gains which you are getting through your, you know, assets, your property, vessels, equipment, through your balance sheet and your profit and loss statement flowing through. So wanted to understand whether will that continue going forward? Well, I mean, the gains on our, on our P&L are immaterial. So, you know, we, we buy and sell vessels as part of our normal operating business, you know, and shipping, this is expected. And so, you know, when we need to, upsize or, or upgrade our vessels, that, that's gonna be, you know, part of what we do. So the amount at the end of the day is quite frankly, immaterial. I mean, if you're talking about what we have on our, on our P&L, a gain on disposal of vessels, 2024 year to date, it was QAR 9 million versus QAR 4 million last year. So, you know, part of operating a shipping company or offshore company is that you're gonna buy and sell vessels. You upsize, you know, you buy newer ones, and so, you know, it's very difficult to give you a direction of what's gonna happen, but at the end of the day, we will buy vessels and we will sell vessels. But again, the gain is immaterial at the end of the day. Okay. I mean, the idea was basically your impairment of vessels which took place heavily way back in 2020, 2021. I mean, that we don't see anything coming out of it, maybe in the coming quarters, right? That's what you're pointing out. Are you talking about impairments? Yeah, impairments which you had earlier, from that maybe salvage- You mentioned those at the beginning. Yeah. No, I mean, again, as I've mentioned last quarter, there are no impairments. You know, we don't have anything to. You know, we've been conservative, and we don't have any impairments right now that we're aware of. We have to go through an accounting exercise every year. If the vessel cannot be deployed and has no alternative uses, and, you know, then potentially we'd have to take impairment or sell it in the market. So, you know, that happens, you know, as part of a periodic exercise that we undertake, that's also reviewed by our auditors. Right now, we have no impairments in sight. ... Okay, okay, fine. Lastly, on your shipyard business, I mean, we see a good positive change during the quarter on QOQ. Of course, I mean, not comparing with 2023. So, can you just give some color on this? I mean, in terms of how, what, you know, what we can see it going forward, second half? Well, I mean, we've got some special projects that we are doing in the shipyard. The shipyard is, has been, you know, undergoing from major changes, system improvements, upgrading of staff, and a big focus on growing the top line. So we are undertaking special short-term projects as well. So part of the pickup is short-term projects that we have undertaken on the marine side. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Our next question comes from Mark Krombas from Qatar Insurance Company. Your line is- Thank you. Hello, gentlemen. Hello. I wondered if the management and the board considered the introduction of an interim dividend this year, in line with your largest shareholding, which I'm sure you'll enjoy the dividend of in the next quarter. And, if not, like, just a question as to also understanding, you know, potentially why not? I can tell you that there will be a discussion about this, but at the moment, you know, it's, I cannot really provide, you know, any feedback or opinion on that. But this is something that we will look at as a management and potentially as a board. Thank you. It's on our radar screen, let's put it that way. All right. As of right now, we don't have any pending questions from the attendees. I'd now like to hand back over to the moderator for the final remarks. Okay. So if we don't have any further questions, we can end the call for today. I want to thank Akram and Sami for taking the time to answer our questions, and we will pick this up next quarter. Thank you very much, guys. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, everyone. Thank you for attending today's call. You may now disconnect.