A'Saffa Foods SAOG (SPFI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Foreign Language] Good afternoon. I'm audible to everyone? I need some response to start the meeting. Thank you. Thank you very much, and thank you for joining this Investor Relations session to present the financial performance for the year 2025. First of all, I would like to pray for the peace in this region and particularly in the country during this challenging time. We will -- the agenda for the meeting will be -- we will present the overview of the A'Saffa performance. And then my colleague, Yasir Al Salmani, he will present the financial performance and then there will be a question-and-answer session after that. Then I will join the -- I will introduce my colleague joining with me, Mr. Yasir Al Salmani, he is our Deputy CFO; and Ibrahim Al Yakubi, is the Assistant Manager of Finance; and Mr. Bilal. He is the Financial Planning and Budgeting Manager. And then Amira ElAtta, our Investor Relations Manager. I'll just give a brief overview of the A'Saffa performance for the year 2025. The performance was great as you have seen -- you have already seen through the financial reports, which was already uploaded. And as we are already -- we have -- I think this is for the year 2026. This is the first session. But in the earlier session, we have given the introduction of the A'Saffa that it is the biggest integrated poultry project in Oman over 65 square kilometer land. I mean our land is increasing now. It was 50 square kilometers in the last meeting, but now it is 65 square kilometer land. We have taken the additional land for our further requirement. I would like to give the comfort that the A'Saffa is maintaining a very stringent biosecurity measure and the protocol at the farm. Therefore, our production performance is previously, as per the previous is compared to the best of all -- I mean, international poultry project, not only in the region, but as compared to the -- we are getting the reward from our breed supplier also for the best performing company in the region. And this is -- this -- I mean, consistent production is helping us to present the good -- the performance of the project also. We are utilizing our facilities at 100% all broiler farm capacity utilization is fully utilized. We are utilizing them at 100% capacity utilization. Here, we would like to also acknowledge the support from our -- the customers, from the loyal consumers that A'Saffa demand is continuously increasing in the market. So this to keep considering the increase in the demand, we are again now, I mean, in the phase of the expansion of our facility. Currently, our expansion project is ongoing, which will increase our production capacity by another 25%. And in the metric ton, it will increase the production capacity by 10,000 metric tons. And [Foreign Language], we are expecting to start the increased production capacity by September this year. Now I will request my colleague, Mr. Yasir, to present the financial performance for the year 2025. And thereafter, we will have the question-and-answer session.

[Foreign Language], everybody, Ramadan Mubarak to everyone. May Allah bless you with peace and happiness. As you are -- I think everybody has looked into the financials and looked into the results [Foreign Language] the results was remarkable, and there is a significant increase in the net profit as compared to the last year. And the details -- the financial details are already uploaded into the MSX website. For that, I will go into the main indicators, financial indicators, and I will leave mostly the time available for questions and answers. So if you look into the revenue, obviously, you will find a reduction in the revenue of 8% -- 8.9% to OMR 57.5 million in 2025. And that is due to the higher volume of inventory available at the start of 2024 as compared to the start 2025. Those inventory were liquidated in the 2024. So that is the reason for the difference or the reduction in the revenue, which you can see. As regard to the gross profit, there is a remarkable increase in the gross profit, which has increased by OMR 1.42 million, which is 8.6% to OMR 17.92 million in 2025. This is mainly due to different reasons. One is the efficient purchase of raw material, where the raw material prices has reduced compared to the 2024. Also indirect cost control, such as fuel prices is less as compared to the previous year and also profit or sales realization. If you look into the selling and distribution expenses, there is a slight increase in this category, where it is offset by a reduction in the administrative and general expenses. So if you look into both of them, there is negligible or it is in line with the last year. Net profit has increased by OMR 1.27 million, which is 21.4% to OMR 7.17 million. And that is in addition to the reasons which I gave in the gross profit increase. Also the profit from the associate has increased. The share of profit from associate of this year or 2025 reported almost OMR 1 million, which was OMR 720 million recorded last year. So this is with regard to the income statement. If we go to main highlights of balance sheet, there is a remarkable increase in the equity. I mean, in the noncurrent asset, there is a slight increase of 2% only, and that is mainly due to the increase in the PPE. However, if you look into the equity, there is a 10% increase, and that is coming from the share of profit or the comprehensive income, offset by a dividend payment of OMR 2.4 million. Current assets, as we discussed, in 2024, there was no forward -- I mean there is -- there was no stock carried forward. However, this year, we have kept the minimum strategic stock. So you will find current asset increase that is due to the inventory, which was kept in -- by the end of 2025. Total liabilities, there is a slight increase due to the increase in noncurrent borrowing, which was offset -- I mean, the noncurrent borrowing reduced, which was offset by a slight increase in the current borrowing, which will give 1.27% increase in the total liability. So these are the main indicators of the company financial performance.

Just want to add here that our associate company, Osool Poultry, which the A'Saffa took all the initiative to set up the project, which is the hatching egg production facility. It's one of the biggest project in the region to produce the hatching egg that also its performance, the second year, it has crossed even the 2024. I mean they have achieved a good performance during the year, which also added in the performance of the A'Saffa Poultry. So there is a significant amount, which was added by the -- by -- I mean, adding the performance of the associated Osool Poultry farm. I think we are good for the question-and-answer session. So please, the forum is open. We are ready to answer the question.

Abbas, please.

Congratulations on a good year. A few questions. In terms of currently what you're seeing some dislocation in the region, how are you going to be impacted more from the raw material sourcing point of view? Are you seeing any pressure on the raw material prices? Because, of course, I know that you guys mostly sell in Oman and a little bit in the region. So I mean, if you can address the question from the risk point of view, both on the raw material sourcing point of view. And of course, are you seeing any sales impact in your export markets?

Very good question in this -- in the current situation. I mean luckily, we are very careful in managing our inventory because -- in particularly our raw material because we know that our consumption -- our material consumption is very high. I mean we are every month, 8,000 metric tons around, I think this is a feed material, which our chicken, they are consuming. So that size of material management short term is not easy. Therefore, we are very careful, and we keep the additional stock, honestly, we keep a minimum 3-month stock with us. So currently also, we are good. We have the 2 months secured stock at our site and one vessel is already anchored at the Salalah Port. But unfortunately, due to the incident, the discharging has not yet started, but it will start [Foreign Language] maybe in a day or 2. So we have the coverage up to the June. As regards your question about the sale, so that is -- I mean, the Oman requirement is -- still Oman, there is a huge quantity of the imported material is coming. So we have enough space even in Oman to sell our product. So that is not -- we do not consider risk for the sale of our product, though we are exporting to the other GCC countries also, and that is also open. But even if we have to consume all the item in Oman, we don't see any risk in this.

Your exports to GCC is mostly by road, right?

All our export to GCC by road.

Okay. Okay. So you're okay. In terms of any inventory buildup pre-Ramadan, I remember 1 year, you had that. I saw some inventories being up. I'm not in front of my computer now to know that is it finished goods inventory or not. But I remember one Ramadan, you had this massive sort of sales in the Ramadan quarter. Is that something similarly happening this Ramadan as well?

No, we were at the end of the year 2020 -- yes, I remember. I think this was 2023.

'24 were...

So '23 end. 2024, Ramadan. So that time, yes, we kept some stock due to certain -- I mean, the -- looking at the market situation and this thing, we -- I mean, which we liquidated pre-Ramadan and in Ramadan, yes, we agree. But this time, we were having the normal 1-month stock with us at the close of the 2025. And already, we are feeling the pinch now because we don't have the stock to supply to meet the demand. Because demand in Ramadan, there is -- there should be -- I mean, honestly, there was a debate also we should have kept some more stock to meet this demand. But because our consistent demand is also consistent requirement from the market is also matching our production. So we don't -- we were not having the action to keep any extra stock with us.

Yes, because I just noticed your inventory levels have gone up Y-o-Y from last year till this year. So is that mostly on the raw material side? It's almost OMR 5 million up. You were OMR 12 million at the end of last year, now you're at OMR 17 million at the end of '25. So I'm just wondering....

Yes. So this year, some -- because last year, we were only having the finished stock, which was probably around 10 days. So that was very, very small stock last year. So this time, we did not -- we decided not to go to that level. So we were okay with the 1 month at least to go to meet the increasing demand pre-Ramadan and during Ramadan. So -- but we were still 1 month stock with us, not more than that. As regard the overall stock, it varies because sometimes if the vessel is coming, the material vessel is coming in December, it means we have the highest inventory of the material that time because when the vessel will come, we will be having the 20,000 metric ton corn coming, which will be a requirement for more than 3 months. And similarly, in the same vessel, sometimes the soybean meal is coming. So the inventory increases, raw material, I mean, in the books, inventory increase, but that is the cycle -- purchase cycle. So this is the reason. There's no other reason.

Understood. Can you talk about the expansion -- upcoming expansion that's coming up, what visibility are you seeing? Because you said you've been working at 100% sort of utilization?

Can you mute yourself [Foreign Language] Can you please mute yourself because your voice is coming. Yes, Please.

Okay. So I got your question. So as I have in the overview, I explained that our demand [Foreign Language] for the A'Saffa brand, the demand is continuously increasing. The demand is increasing in Oman also in the -- our export market also. So based considering that demand, we have started because we are currently utilizing our broiler farm at the full capacity. But we already increased -- I mean, considering this increased demand, we increased the capacity in the hatchery last year we completed. So hatchery, we have the capacity to meet the increasing demand. Feed mill, we were already having the additional capacity. We need to only increase the poultry houses to put more chicken in the poultry houses to available for slaughter in the slaughter house. So we are increasing now the broiler poultry farm. We are going -- we already have currently 180 broiler farm. So we are now adding more 45 the -- broiler farm. Apology, I'm going in one go. So that will increase our production capacity by 25%.

And in terms of where you're going to sell it is pretty much the same channel, like you said, A'Saffa is a brand now and you're quite comfortable that this 25% increased capacity will be easy to sell in your current sort of geographies that you work at. Have you targeted the geography? And the second question is, what will be the margin impact? Is there any economy of scale where you feel like thanks to this capacity expansion, you're going to -- your margins are going to go up further?

We have enjoyed this expansion throughout when we first expanded our facility in 2008, then 2012, then 2020 and 2021. And now we are going. This has -- all expansion has helped us the -- I mean, the economy of scale, reducing our overhead cost and increasing our profitability, increasing our gross profit, increasing our net profit. And this is the same thing because we don't expect much increase in our -- the fixed overhead cost in our -- if we look at the administration cost, I mean, there will be slight. There will be a cost increase in our supply chain sales. There will be a cost increase in our production workers. But on the management side, on the administration and other, on the depreciation, we will be saving on the optimum utilization of our hatchery facility of our feed mill of our slaughter house. So certainly, it will reduce the cost. It will increase the profitability.

So the benefit will be seen in the second half of this year, when you're going live live?

Yes, benefit will come because our planned expansion start from the September 2026. So the benefit will be because once we start the expansion, we will not go into the phases. We have the market already with us. We will start immediately at utilizing the increased capacity full-fledged immediately after completing the expansion, our production will increase by 25%. So that will go in one go because the demand is already there. We don't need to go any -- I mean, the phases increase the production capacity. We will go in one go.

Okay. Before I come to Osool Poultry, can you talk about your -- the refinancing that happened last year, what's your effective interest rate now? And what sort of repayment terms have you negotiated with the banks? Because I was looking at your dividends and as a market, we probably expected higher dividends from the company. So I'm just trying to reconcile, is this, this year because of this refinancing thing that has happened with the expansion and from next year, possibly, given the cash flows that you generate, we can start seeing more return to shareholders? Or are you looking at another expansion? I'm trying to tie up the entire thing together because when I look at the numbers, it seems you're going to generate a lot of cash flows in '26.

So we are trying to increase the shareholders' asset base. We are trying to -- because we are investing -- we have never -- we have all through after the 2008 expansion, all expansion, even the major expansion, which was -- which costed OMR 50 million money. This all was done without any equity increase, without any right share. We have done the right share only in 2008. After that, we have not got anything. We have -- I mean, whatever the retained earning, the profit, we invested in the project. So this year also, we are parallelly -- we have increased the dividend also. The Board has approved the increase in the dividend. At the same time, we are investing in this expansion project also. Another thing regarding the refinancing because there is a very -- I mean, after the discussion, there is -- I mean, the deliberation that to reduce our -- not to keep increasing the debt to reduce the debt so that we will have the cushion to go into the further expansion, further investment. And if there is anything for the merger acquisition to that one. So that is the reason that we are not -- I mean, reducing the repayment of our loan. Rather, our ambition is to pay a loan at the earliest and then go into the further investment.

Okay. So the annual repayment is OMR 3.2 million, right, on this loan?

Yes, yes.

And the short-term loans can be refinanced basically. That's more like working capital funding.

Yes. That can be refinanced. That's right.

What's the effective interest rate on this loan based on the current, I don't know, 1 year -- I think you mentioned the formula in your notes.

Pricing on the long term is 5.25% -- 5.5%?

Yes.

5.5% on the term loan. And the working capital is 5% or less, I think.

But you don't think given the liquidity in the market, this loan will be refinanced at lower rates and at least 70, 75 basis point lower rates?

The new project, which we are expansion, we have negotiated at 5%. And honestly, looking at the market, we have gone all the banks, 5% is the best negotiated price for the new loan. For the existing loan, there is already the discussion with the bank. I mean, they have agreed to reduce it to the 5.25%. And then they have agreed that they said that because the bank have also -- they have kept the deposited -- they have committed the deposited at the higher rate. So they said that we will further negotiate by the -- I mean, by the quarter 3 of this year to further reduce this -- I'm talking the existing loan. They will further reduce it, and they will go according to the market rate.

Okay. So now from the parent company's perspective, you obviously had this 25% expansion that's going to go live in September '26. And then you said the endeavor is to grow the asset base of the company. You don't want to take on more debt. You obviously want to use the cash flows to repay the dividends. And now you can -- we know that OMR 3.3 million will be repaid from the principal this year. Any other sort of strategic 2- to 3-year plan that you have in terms of growth, either in your sort of core business or through an associate? Any plans that you guys discussed in the recent Board meeting? Because it's a very closely held company, right? 85% to 90% is held with 6, 7 people who represent in the Board. From a minority point of view, it's very important for us to sometimes be aligned in terms of what the Board is thinking in the long run, right? And this forum gives us an opportunity to understand which is the direction of the company, right? Because it's a very tightly held company, of course.

Yes, that's good. But this is good on the other side that all our shareholders, they are -- I mean, you are aware of that these are the institutions, and they are more focusing on the growth of the A'Saffa. And this is the main -- this is the reason that we are continuously on the expansion path. I mean we completed in 2021 major expansion. And then again, 2023, we were expanding our hatchery capacity, and now we are expanding our broiler farm. And we are not stopping here because A'Saffa, the ambition of the A'Saffa is to increase its share in the food security of the country also to increase the asset base of the company also. So there are discussions, there are further -- I mean, already the discussion has started for the further investment possibility whether -- I mean, in the similar -- in the food sector, in the similar sector also and -- but the other sector also, we are looking into the possibility. So that assignment is already going on. I mean, unfortunately, I cannot disclose more than that because nothing has been finalized, but there is an active discussion is going.

Okay. Because the way I'm looking at it is you generate OMR 17 million net CFO and then you have this major CapEx that's behind you now. I don't know -- I mean, what's going to be the CapEx this year, approximately both maintenance CapEx and the remainder of the growth CapEx? If you can just shed light on that, and I'll continue with my question.

There is a OMR 14 million for this expansion project. The -- around OMR 14 million cost for the expansion project. Then we have another, I mean, OMR 4 to OMR 5 million...

Sorry, on the OMR 14 million, how much has already been spent and how much will be incurred this year?

Bilal?

OMR 3 million already spent.

I got the answer, OMR 3 million. So OMR 3 million was spent until December 31, 2025, but I think another OMR 2 million further we have spent now, probably up to now, maybe more than OMR 5 million.

Due to the time allocation, I think we -- maybe I can see, [ Mr. Mohammed ] is raising his hand. So Mr. Abbas, if you can ask your last question and then we'll move to [ Mohammed ].

What I can do is you can ask -- let the others ask the questions that if there's time left, I'll come back. It's fine.

Mr. [ Mohammed ]?

Yes. I just wanted to ask about your outlook regarding the upcoming investments from the Brazilian giant JBS into the poultry industry in Oman. And how do you see the risks and your competitiveness in the market in the next maybe 2 to 3 years?

Thank you. I was expecting this question. Maybe -- I thought it might be the first question. But anyhow. So let me just -- I mean, remind you that each project, which the Brazilian, the JBS, they are coming to invest in this project. This project was initiated as a food security project, and we were also part of that food security project. Looking at the Oman requirement because it was carefully calculated to meet the requirement of the Oman white meat -- I mean, white meat requirement of Oman. So we don't see, honestly, because this is after the calculation. I mean, if A'Saffa after going into the expansion, after doing so much the expansion, spending money, A'Saffa is still 22% of the total Oman requirement. So when this project will come, still, there will be imported chicken coming to the Oman. We don't see, honestly -- this project will be a reduction in the imported chicken coming into the Oman. So we don't see any threat for the local producer from this one. Yes, there will be a healthy competition, which will be good for the new project also, for us also. So that will be there. We have to win on the production performance. If we have the production -- the achievement of the good KPI, we don't see any threat from the project. I mean because the demand is there in the Oman. Yes, there will be threat to the imported material coming into Oman.

[ Mr. Mohammed, ] if there is no further question, Mr. Sandesh Shetty.

Yes. Am I audible?

Yes.

Yes, yes. I wanted to ask, you mentioned about your capacity expansion. So I wanted to -- like what would be the new capacity after September, like how much would the capacity increase to?

We will be going to the 60 million bird slaughtering after the expansion. And if you are asking the tonnage wise, we are currently now I think, 43,000, 44,000, so which will increase by 10,000 metric tons. We will go to probably 54,000 metric tons.

Okay. And what -- yes. And in birds while like you mentioned 60 million birds. So what is your current capacity in bird-wise like you?

48 million.

Forty eight million, and you said that you currently have the capacity for hatchery. You just needed the slaughterhouse and you'll be adding 45 new, right? So considering like you'll be adding -- like you'll be increasing to 60. So currently, I can expect the hatchery capacity to be around 60,000. Like it can produce close to 60,000. So what is the difference? Where is the difference going like? Just wanted to understand there.

Hatchery, we have already increased the hatchery. There is egg placement capacity, and there is a bird production capacity. So I think the egg placement capacity is already 70 million plus. Because to produce the 60 million or 62 million, the broiler DOC, day old chick, which will go to the broiler farm, we need probably 70 million or 72 million hatchery capacity, which we have already increased last year. Our feed mill already sufficient to feed the 60 million broiler birds. And slaughterhouse, if already we can go to the second shift, we have to start the second shift, so then we will be able to slaughter this increased capacity. Only we need to increase the broiler poultry houses, where we need to place the chick, because already the broiler houses are fully occupied. For that, we are constructing.

Okay. Also, like on the Brazilian entry of JBS. Like post the entry, do you see any impact on the prices as well, do you have...

See, the prices. The prices I mean are controlled here from 2000, if I exactly remember, 2009, maybe 2010, probably maybe 2008, we have not increased a single baisa in the market. We are at the same price we are selling in the market in 2021, '22. The material prices, corn price increased 100%, soybean meal, the price also increased maybe by 50%, but we did not increase a single baisa in the market. We kept the same price in the market. So I mean for the other new big player which is coming into the market, they also have to spend the same cost, the same material they have to give. So their costing will not be less than that. So probably and there is a market demand also. So I don't think so that there will be any price war coming with the new projects. But if let's say, if somebody will be coming with the -- play with the market, A'Saffa brand is already established. We don't see any threat.

So any other question? Yes, [ Mr. Fahar ].

You are mute.

Yes. I have just a little follow-up question on the potential investment, the JBS thing. And you have mentioned that you were also part of the project. So I would just like to have an understanding of what's going on with your investment. I believe that Oman Food Capital is like a government-owned entity and under rate, there is another company. So there are different structures and layers with respect to that project. I think A'Namaa Poultry is again the same thing. So I just wanted to understand, other than the competition, what is the status of your investment in that project? And if that investment does not exist, how do you see the potential future collaboration opportunity if being offered from the government?

Okay. So we have a shareholding, I mean, we have already made the provision with -- it is obvious from the financials. Looking at the -- I mean looking at the financial result of the -- our investment in the A'Namaa Poultry. So that we have made the provision on it. But our investment is there, and now it will be because the government, which is the Oman Food Capital, they are the major shareholder in the project. They are leading the -- all the negotiation with the new investor. So this will be -- the decision will be their decision, what -- how they are coming, how they will be -- I mean the -- what negotiation, they will be doing with the other shareholder, which we will be there part of them. So that will, I think, depend upon what will be their dealing with the new investor. So at this point, probably it will be difficult for us to comment anything about that...

Yes, that is understandable. But I'm like I'm just trying to have a broad overview of like do you, as a management, want to continue with that project? If that's happening, again, I know we can understand that you have already made the provision in your accounts, we have already seen that. But the broader question is what's your intention? What's your outlook on that project given the fact that there is still an import dependency and you have rightly mentioned it out that, that project will actually reduce the import burden from the country and will definitely encourage the local production. So what's your view? Still your view is intact that yes, we should do this project along with the government?

Okay. So you see our view for the -- because the project, I mean, it was stopped due to I mean, now you are putting me in difficulty. So the project was stopped due to some financial constraint. So after that, we have not participated any further in any -- I mean, the financial requirement. That is our stance. Whatever we have invested, we have invested. But if your question is, what is the outlook of the project, honestly, we are, if the -- I mean, the financial status of the project restructured, we don't see. We are quite hopeful about the project because the market is there, project design, everything is good. We don't see any complications on that side. We are very positive about the project. But as such our stance is whatever we have invested, we have invested. We are going into our own investment at this time, and we are further planning into our investment. So we will continue on our path.

Okay. And just a little last question. I'm not sure, but I think the project broad scope, I would say, has also been changed because now it's not only poultry project. And when I think, you guys have signed with the government, it was initially like sort of this thing. But I think what I read from the news, as of now, it's like it has been added, the beef and sheep has been added with the poultry. So is it because what I understand A'Saffa is obviously, they have expertise in the poultry business and they are one of the largest, right? So -- does this -- is my understanding correct that new product lines have been added? And if added, what's your view? Like do you have any expertise with that?

No, no, it's not added. There are 2 projects. That's a separate project, Al Bashayer Meat project. The -- I think they have signed deals for 2 projects. So that is a separate project. This is a separate project. So their operation, that's a separate company, which is -- I mean, because JBS has the capability, they are already into the -- both the red meat project also and the poultry also. So they have the capability. So that is the reason they have signed. They are going for the both projects. But both projects will run separately. So it is not that it is one. They have added this -- the meat project into this project. That project is a separate project.

Any further questions, [ Fahar ]?

No. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Any other questions?

Thank you very much, if there is no further. Okay, now...

No, I have a question. Yes, I was waiting for my turn. Based on the scale and size of JBS project and what you know about the market, when do you think these guys will actually be ready to start selling in Oman? Like it's a greenfield sort of project, right? In 2, 3 years?

Very difficult for us to answer honestly because we don't know which stage. We have seen the news. They have signed, but what is the next because we are not part -- we are not into any negotiation for that project. So we -- it's very difficult for us to comment anything.

Yes. No, this is just for me to know that if you were to set up a scale and size because the scale and size was known in that new press release. And just to rely on your experience of being in this market, I just wanted to understand if you were to do it, how long would it take for you to sort of set up something on this scale. Where it's finally live and I can start ordering that buying the chicken from LuLu in the market? So just for me to understand.

Yes. But there's a lot of mean -- the remaining activities to be completed at the project. We have also not detailed study that one. So honestly speaking, better, if we should not comment on that.

Okay. Sure. I respect that. Can you talk about the Osool Poultry, you said it was a fantastic year, and I could see just based on the disclosures you had, the company did very, very well for you on ROE basis and even on an absolute basis. What's going on? Can you throw some light on what's going on at this company? What is the outlook? What's the capacity utilization, just for us to appreciate this investment a little better.

Yes. Osool Poultry, [Foreign Language] in [ 2024 ] also, I think they made OMR 3 million-plus profit. In '24 they made OMR 4 million-plus profit. They're operating at 100%. Once they started operating at 100% capacity and build the market, they are performing very well. So they are operating at the full capacity and their production performance for the '23 and even '24 was also good, and the market was also very -- I mean, the available -- the good market available to them. So in the region of Oman certainly, but in the region also all over the -- they are selling to the Saudi, UAE, Bahrain and even, I think, up to the other countries also they're selling.

And what's the outlook? Are they applying any capacity expansion at their end since they are working on 100% utilization?

So that's a very big project, Osool Poultry. So every month, they are bringing their day-old chick from the breed supplier. So they need to put a grandparent project here, which they are working on that. So their first for them. For them the first and foremost, the important project is to have the backward integration to put a GP project here, grandparent, which they are working on.

Can you -- sorry, I'm not very aware of the industry, what does a grandparent project mean?

The grandparent project is the backward integration of the parent project. Osool is the breeder project. In other terms, it is called a parent project. Why it is a parent project, it produces the fertile eggs, which will go to the hatchery and then day-old chick produced from the hatchery will go to the broiler farm, which is ultimately slaughtered for the meat. But for that, the breeder project or parent project, both name is -- I mean, you can give both name for the same project. There is the need, they need the day-old check, which will be -- I mean, which will be kept for 24 weeks, then they start laying eggs. So those chicks, every month bringing 100,000 chicks is a challenge. So that is the reason they need to put a project to produce those chicks. That is called a grandparent project.

Okay. And you expect your ownership to be consistent at this 23.5% level in this company.

Yes. We -- I mean, Osool is planning to, I mean, put this project from their retained earnings.

Well, okay. So both A'Saffa and Osool are growing from the retained earnings without going back to shareholders, exceptional.

Yes, right, right.

One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you also from a shareholder point of view, especially as a minority is obviously, we're all looking to maximize shareholder value, right? And what you're doing is probably 80%, 85% of that. The remaining 15% is what you potentially can do. While in my opinion is the stock is not the most liquid stock. The company has the means. It has very sophisticated institutional investors. In my opinion, MSX provides you an avenue to provide liquidity providers in your company. The company will have to pay for it, but this can only enhance shareholder value and further lead to better price discovery because A'Saffa is not the most liquid name right now. So I would urge you guys to look at appointing a liquidity provider for your company. And this will help the minority investors in a big way as well because the big boys are there, 85% is held by them. But of course, it's listed on MSX and you guys have been good stewards for the company, but I think this is -- this could be an incremental positive for us. The second thing is a stock split. It's not going to cost you anything, but it makes the stock appeal to a broader sort of retail investor. I know it fundamentally doesn't alter anything. It doesn't change anything when it comes to numbers. But what it does is it makes your stock appeal to a broader sort of investor base, especially the retail Omani base. And the retail Omani base is a very strong investor base right now. At a time that the market is doing OMR 50 million, OMR 60 million turnover, the Omani retail participation is close to 20%, 25% of the market. So these are the 2 aspects I feel like one can look at to further enhance shareholder value. And eventually, it's going to help the majority as much as it's going to help the minority. So this is just a feedback I had from my side, someone who has been in the market from 2008. So I would urge you guys to consider this. I don't know what your comments but...

Thank you very much. But I'd just like to, I mean, to give you the -- we have done the split already 1:10 in 2010, 2009 or 2010, I think. So this we have done already because our share was OMR 1 which we split to -- that time, we decided and we did the split, 1:10 at that time to 100 baisa. And but...

No, actually, to address your question, now there is no minimum par value. So you can make it 10 baisa, 1 baisa. So nothing is stopping you from splitting it again. Yes, yes. So there's no law that says it has to be minimum 100 baisa.

But honestly, when we see the stock market, mostly except from the OQ, all other shares are, nobody is less than 100 baisa.

We have a few companies now -- there are quite a few companies now, Anwar Investment is one. I can send you the list. The idea is what else can we do to maximize shareholder value. Now 85%, 90% is what you guys are doing, managing the company in the best way you can, increasing capacity, working with 100% utilization, doing solid margins now. I can't tell you how to run the business, but this 10%, 15% extra can really help the share even reach it's fair sort of potential whatever that number is. And that number will change depending on how the well the company is doing or how badly it's doing, that depends. But I'm just saying we can address it from a whole -- holistic point of view. From the liquidity point of view and from the split point of view?

Thank you for highlighting this. We will certainly look what we can contribute on this.

We have around 8 minutes to reach our time limits. Mr. Sandesh is there, he is raising his hand.

Yes. I wanted to understand like how big is the poultry market in Oman? Like if you could give a number on how the -- what the market size is and bifurcated in fresh and frozen as well, like how.

Yes, so there is no official statistics. We are just taking this information from some government institutions indirectly. So the expected or forecasted or anticipated market is around 200,000, 210,000 metric tons. That is where is it. And only if you can see our share of chilled, it will be around 25% compared to the frozen.

I think there is no more question. So time to say thank you. Thank you very much for everyone joining this session. We hope, we again pray at the end of the session for the quick peace in the region and looking forward to seeing you [Foreign Language] in the next session. Thank you very much.