Al Meera Consumer Goods Company Q.P.S.C. (MERS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Al Meera conference call. I would like to advise all participants this call is being recorded. Thank you. I'd now like to welcome Phibion Makuwerere to begin the conference. Phibion, over to you.

Thank you, Gavin. Good afternoon to you all, and thank you for joining us for the Al Meera Consumer Goods Company Conference Call for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2024. My name is Phibion. I am a Senior Research Analyst with QNB Financial Services. On today's call from the Al Meera team, we have Razan Rauff, the Finance Director; Indranil Goswami, the Organization & Business Development Director. We also have got Quennie Trajano, Manager Budgeting and Reporting & IR Officer; and we've got Jaylene Vibar, the Finance Manager. And the management will go over the presentation and the performance first and then afterwards we have a Q&A session. I'll now turn over the call to Quennie to begin. Over to you, ma'am. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Phibion. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Al Meera's Conference Call for Second Quarter of 2024. We will be starting off with overview of Al Meera's results for the period ended 30 June 2024 to be followed by updates on Al Meera's projects. Then we will proceed to question and answer. The following are the financial highlights of the group results for the 6 months ended June 30, 2024. Al Meera recorded consolidated sales of QAR 1.5 billion for the six-month period ended 30 June 2024, an increase of 1.8% compared to the same period in 2023. Gross profit amounted to QAR 271.9 million, an increase of 2.2% compared to last year. Gross profit margin was at 18.4%, which is in line with last year. Rental income is at QAR 4.6 million (sic) [ QAR 40.6 million ] compared to QAR 4.3 million (sic) [ QAR 43.7 million ] for the same period in 2023. Other income is at QAR 28.5 million, an increase of QAR 10.1 million compared to QAR 18.4 million in 2023. Operating expenses increased by 8% to QAR 181 million compared to QAR 167 million in 2023. Overall, Al Meera reported a net profit of QAR 90.4 million, and earnings per share is QAR 0.44 for the six-month period ended 30 June 2024. I will now give you an update on the group's operation. We have opened a new store in Ain Khaled this year during Q2 2024, and Al Meera's retail store expansion plans are progressing as planned and are expected to be operational in the next Q1 2025. The corporate and e-commerce sales segments are also being expanded based on market demand. I will now open the floor to question and answer.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Zohaib Pervez of Al Rayan Investment. Your line is open.

Thank you, Jaylene, for the presentation. Could you give us a sense of what was the like-for-like sales in the outgoing quarter? Also, what was the reason for expansion of margins -- gross margins for the second quarter? These are -- my third question is on your expansion into Oman. Could you tell us what is the update on that? And Oman still is showing losses. So what strategy is being used to mitigate these losses?

Okay. Thank you for your question. So our average like-for-like sales for the Q2 is 2%, including our e-commerce sales. Our gross profit margin has been expanded for Q2. This is basically a result of our progressive rebates have started to come in. And as for the -- your queries in Oman, Niel you want to add something, related to Oman?

Yes, sure. Oman, at present, there are no expansion plans. But for one, in terms of retail business, it's profitable. So the retail business has made higher profits compared to last year. But it's the rental business which has taken a hit because we had opened a mall last year. That mall is not fully occupied yet. So the rental incomes from that mall are not sufficient to cover the depreciation and the finance cost. So that's the reason you are seeing loss from Oman. But the retail part of it is [indiscernible].

Okay. Perfect. So you mentioned that the sales -- like-for-like sales per -- are plus 2%, right?

Yes.

Hello?

Hello. Yes.

Yes. Just wanted to confirm that the like-for-like sales you mentioned are higher by 2%?

Yes.

Okay.

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. So I'd like to hand back to Phibion.

Okay. If we no longer have questions on the line, I think it brings us to the end of our call today. Thank you all for joining us, and please do join us in the future. Should you wish to ask questions later, you can either reach us at QNB Financial Services or the management team directly. Thank you. Good afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. .