Ezdan Holding Group Q.P.S.C. (ERES) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to Ezdan conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to our moderator, Roy Thomas. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Justin. Hello, everyone. This is Roy Thomas from QNB Financial Services. I want to welcome everyone to Ezdan Holding Group's Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. On this call from Ezdan Holding Group, we have Tamer Fouad, the Group Chief Financial Officer; and Taha Moursi, the Financial Controller and IR Officer. We will conduct this conference call with management first reviewing the company's results followed by Q&A. I will turn the call now over to Tamer. Go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Roy. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today in the Ezdan Holding Group conference call to discuss the financial performance and the position of the group for '24. We have made the investors presentation for this conference call available on our website, www.ezdanholding.qa under Investor Relations section. Before proceeding, we would like to provide the disclaimer that some of the information that would be discussed here might contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or which are financial performance of Ezdan Holding Group. Any forward-looking statements include those that are not historical facts and speak only as of when it is made. Ezdan undertakes no obligation to publicly update or publicly revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Our conference call today will include 3 parts. The first part will compare financial performance for '24 with '23; second part will talk about financial position; and third part will be a brief of cash flow. Regarding the first part of financial performance, Ezdan achieved a net profit for its owners of around QAR 105 million compared to QAR 100 million. The profit or loss statement contains many changes in the following factors: rental income and other operating revenue decreased by around QAR 19 million. Finance costs decreased by QAR 55 million. Operating expenses decreased by around QAR 12 million. The group incurred a loss in ForEx of around QAR 7 million compared to a gain of QAR 9 million. General and admin expenses decreased by around QAR 16 million. Other income has decreased by QAR 57 million. The main ratios of financial performance were as follows: operating gross margin was 81% compared to 80%. Net profit margin was 6% compared to 5%. In terms of the components of the profit or loss statement, Ezdan recognized the rental income of QAR 1.75 billion compared to QAR 1.76 billion with a decrease of around QAR 17 million, representing around 1%. The decrease in rental revenue was mainly attributed to a decrease of QAR 40 million for the Residential segment by around 3%. Increase in the Hotel segment by around QAR 16 million, representing 12%. The main statistics for Residential segment was an average occupancy rate of around 89% in '24 and '23, with an average revenue per unit was QAR 4,400 compared to QAR 4,800 and average total units available for rent of around 32,300 compared to 30,500. The main statistics of the Hotel segment was an average occupancy rate of around 79% compared to 72%, average daily rate of QAR 187 compared to QAR 182. For malls, the average occupancy rate was around 91% compared to 92%. Operating expenses have decreased by around QAR 12 million from QAR 360 million to QAR 353 million, which represents 3%. On a component basis, the decrease was mainly in sewage charges and utilities by around QAR 23 million. On a segment basis, the decrease was mainly in the Residential segment of around QAR 16 million. Operating profit from main operations was around QAR 1.5 billion for '24 and '23. On a segment basis, operating profit for Residential segment was around QAR 1.28 billion compared to QAR 1.3 billion, with a gross margin of 84% compared to 83%. Operating profit from Hotel segment was around QAR 139 million compared to QAR 121 million, with a gross margin of 65% compared to 63%. Operating profit for Malls segment was around QAR 64 million compared to QAR 67 million, with a gross margin of 67% compared to 69%. General and admin expenses have decreased by around QAR 16 million from QAR 123 million to QAR 107 million, representing around 16%. The decrease was mainly due to a decrease in professional and legal fees expenses by around QAR 25 million, while the combined increase of other categories of -- by around QAR 9 million. Regarding finance costs, it decreased by QAR 55 million from QAR 1.5 billion to QAR 1.05 billion, representing 5%. The second part, which is related to the financial position. The group has total assets of around QAR 46.4 billion compared to QAR 46.8 billion, with a decrease of around QAR 0.4 billion. Cash and bank balances was QAR 113 million compared to QAR 372 million, with a decrease of around QAR 258 million, representing 70%, which was mainly utilized for the settlement of liabilities. Investment in properties of around QAR 45.5 billion, which has decreased by around QAR 155 million, mainly because of revaluation loss during the year. The total liabilities, we have QAR 13 billion compared to QAR 13.5 billion, with a decrease of around QAR 0.5 billion, representing 3%. Trade and other payables have decreased by around QAR 510 million due to related parties have decreased by around QAR 0.2 billion. Islamic borrowings have increased by a net amount of QAR 190 million. That increase resulted mainly because of obtaining a new facility amounting to QAR 657 million, related finance cost of around QAR 0.9 billion and repayment of around QAR 1.3 billion during the year. Total equity, including noncontrolling interest was around QAR 33.6 billion compared to QAR 33.5 billion. Share capital of Ezdan is QAR 26.5 billion. Retained earnings have increased by around QAR 92 million, which represents net profit for the year after deducting legal reserves and provisions for social and sports activities. Concerning the final part which is related to cash flow statement, net cash flows from operating activities were around QAR 1.36 billion compared to QAR 1.43 billion. Net cash flows used in investing activities were QAR 63 million compared to QAR 117 million. Net cash flows used in financing activities was QAR 1.56 billion compared to QAR 1.4 billion. Thanks for your attention. And now we can open for questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] And it seems like there are no questions in the queue. I will turn the call back over to our moderator, Roy Thomas, for closing remarks.

All right. If there are no questions, we'd like to thank Ezdan Holding Group's management for the results update and we look forward to speaking to you all for the first quarter 2025 results conference call. Thank you.

Thank you.

The meeting has now concluded. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.