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

Hello, and welcome to Al Meera conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to our moderator, Phibion Makuwerere. Please go ahead.

Thank you, [ Dustin ] Good afternoon, and welcome you all to the Al Meera Earnings Conference Call for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year of 2024. My name is Phibion with QNB Financial Services. On the call today from Al Meera's management team we've got Razan Rauff, the Finance Director; Indranil Goswami, the Organization and Business Development Director; we have got Quennie Trajano, Manager, Budgeting and Reporting and IRO Officer. We also have got Jaylene Vibar, the Finance Manager. And as usual, they will go over the presentation and the numbers. And we have a Q&A session immediately afterwards. Let me now turn over the call to Jaylene to go over the numbers. Over to you, Jaylene.

Okay. Thanks, Phibion. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Al Meera's conference call for Q4 2024. We'll start with the overview of Al Meera's results for the year ended December 31, 2024, to be followed by updates on Al Meera's projects. Then we will proceed to questions and answers. The following are the financial highlights of the group results for the year 2024. Al Meera recorded consolidated sales of QAR 2.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2024, a decrease of 1% compared to 2023. Gross profit amounted to QAR 560.3 million, an increase of 2.1% compared to 2023. Gross profit margin was at 19.9%. Rental income is at QAR 79 million compared to QAR 85.7 million in 2023. Other income is at QAR 43.8 million, an increase of QAR 9.2 million compared to QAR 34.6 million in 2023. Operating expenditures is at QAR 360.2 million compared to QAR 355.5 million in 2023. Overall, Al Meera reported a net profit of QAR 183.4 million and earnings per share of QAR 0.89 for the year ended 2024. I will now give you an update on the group's operations. Al Meera's retail store expansion plans are progressing as planned and are expected to be operational in 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 answers.

[Operator Instructions] It seems like there are no questions in the queue. I'll be turning the -- I'm sorry, there was a question that popped in. And this question comes from the line of Nada Amin from EFG Hermes.

I just wanted to get some color on the number of stores that Al Meera closed the year with and maybe get some additional guidance or some views on how many stores it's expected to add or what's going to be driving its top line growth over the next few years, please?

The total number of stores as of 31st December was 68, but please bear in mind, some of them were under renovation. I think about 6 of them were under renovation, and that's why the sales got impacted because they were not fully operational 100%. So as of now, it's 68. The new stores that we have in mind, there is [ Thumama ] one which is opening up within the next probably 1 month's time. And Mansoura was another new store. It's not a new store, it's basically a relocation of the store, which also started operation probably 2 weeks to 3 weeks ago.

Okay. Understood. And how much retail area does the company have if -- these 68 stores translate to roughly how much retail area?

It's roughly about 120,000 square meters.

Sorry, could you please repeat that?

120,000.

120,000. And the softness in the rental income that we saw during the year, was that related to also some of the locations being under renovation? Or are there specific issues that...

No. It's due to renovation, where some of the outlets have to get vacated for the renovation. So we lost on the rental income.

Okay, understood. That's all from my side. I appreciate your responses.

[Operator Instructions] And it looks like there are no more questions in the queue. I will now turn the call back over to our moderator, Phibion Makuwerere, for closing remarks.

Thank you again, Dustin. This is Phibion. If there are no questions on the line, I think we can end the call now. Thank you all for joining Al Meera's call for the fourth quarter. Please do join us for future calls, and have a good day.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.