National Central Cooling Company PJSC (TABREED) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Tabreed's Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call on the 13th of February 2026. Please note that this call today is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] So without further ado, I would now like to pass the line over to Mr. Yugesh Suneja, the Head of Investor Relations at Tabreed. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Michael. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Tabreed's management team, I am pleased to welcome you to our Earnings Call for the Full Year Results 2025. My name is Yugesh. I am Head of IR at Tabreed. Our financial results are available on Tabreed's website and on DFM. The presentation, which we will be discussing today will also be posted shortly after the call for your reference. Before we proceed, I would like to highlight the disclaimer on this slide. Some of the information shared includes forward-looking statements regarding future performance. These statements reflect our current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please review the details on this slide for further information. With that, let's move on to agenda for today's call. Joining me today are Adel Al Wahedi, our Chief Financial Officer; and Salik Malik, Vice President of Finance. We will start with a summary of financial and operating performance, including an update on the progress we have made on our growth plans. After that, we will take a deeper look at our financial performance for the year. We will then wrap up with an update on our guidance and outlook, followed by a Q&A session. With that, I will hand it over to Adel to begin the discussion on results.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Let me begin with the headline message for the year. First, the core business continues to perform strongly. Operational performance is stable. Our margins are consistent with our guidance and our assets continue to operate with the high availability and efficiency. Total connected capacity is 1.57 million RTs, an increase of 19% year-on-year, driven by strong organic capacity expansion and M&A. Even after excluding the impact of M&A, connected capacity growth was 4.4% year-on-year, near the high end of our guidance range. Consumption volumes reached 2.62 billion RTs, resilient and stable despite relatively colder weather conditions experienced in Q1, Q3 and Q4. Despite this, Group revenue increased to AED 2.46 billion, up 1% year-on-year, driven by capacity additions in the UAE and CPI indexation. EBITDA increased 1% to AED 1.27 billion with a stable margin at 31.6%. Reported net profit for the year is AED 465 million, which includes one-off transaction costs related to closing of Palm Jebel Ali concession and PAL Cooling acquisition. Excluding the one-off transaction costs, normalized net profit was AED 522 million, reflecting the impact of higher finance costs following the refinancing of low-cost debt at market rates and additional debt raise to fund Tabreed's investments in PAL Cooling. Fourth quarter of the year 2025 so the first time accounting of PAL Cooling joint venture. Our reported earnings before -- therefore, reflects the expected accounting impact from amortization of Palm Jebel intangibles and project financing costs that sit within the JV structure. These are consistent with the acquisition structure and aligned with our investment case. The increase in net debt to EBITDA to 4.6 multiples at the end of the year of 2025 mainly reflects our debt funded share of equity to acquire PAL Cooling. Overall, our balance sheet remains strong, and we continue to maintain investment-grade metrics, which remains a strategic priority for our company. Moving to the next slide. This slide demonstrates the underlying performance of our core business, which remains on stable and resilient. The fundamentals of our operating assets remain robust and the core business continues to deliver reliable value. We added 58,200 RTs of organic additions, the highest level in the past 5 years. This expansion was driven by commissioning of 3 new greenfield plants and continued capacity expansion in existing concessions. We added another 191,000 RTs in Q4 '25 through acquisition of PAL Cooling, executed in 50-50 partnership with CVC DIF. UAE remains our core market, accounting for 84% of total connected capacity and major contributor to our growth. As previously noted, in the first and third quarters, weather in the fourth quarter also remained relatively cold, affecting chilled water volumes for the last quarter and for the full year. While this is reflected in lower revenue growth, this had relatively mild impact on our profits since almost 75% of our EBITDA is generated from fixed capacity charges. Moving to the next slide. This slide highlights the strategic importance of 2 key transactions, Palm Jebel Ali and PAL Cooling executed in 2025. These deals bring high-quality assets in our portfolio with strong long-term fundamentals. These expand our footprint and meaningful capacity over time and further strengthen our position in the market. In Palm Jebel Ali, Tabreed owns 51% stake with 49% stake held by Dubai Holding Investment. This is fully consolidated into Tabreed financials and on commissioning of its first plant, it will contribute to our revenue, EBITDA and profitability. Initially, we will fund the CapEx for the first phase of 16,000 RT through cash in the balance sheet. First connection and revenue from this project are expected to come by end of 2027 or early '28. The full CapEx, AED 1.5 billion will be spread over multiple phases over the development cycle. Our balance sheet is, therefore, well positioned to fund the organic CapEx program of Jebel Ali Palm concession or other concessions we currently have. PAL Cooling acquisition, on the other hand, is executed via JV structure, which is equity accounted. This means this contribution appears only in the share of results of joint ventures line and does not impact our revenue or EBITDA. We have already funded the JV with our share of equity investment, accounting to AED 1.2 billion, and the JV will manage its own operation, operating financing and capital expenditure requirements through operating cash generation and nonrecourse bank facility. As both these projects begin to scale capacity and as operational performance ramps up, we expect a more meaningful contribution to our profitability. Turning to the next slide. This slide shows our capacity growth in 2025 and importantly, the secured pipeline that will come online in the future. The recent transactions we announced are reflected here, and they further strengthen the visibility of our future growth. This chart clearly demonstrates that Tabreed's growth is secured, committed and backed by long-term partnerships. This gives us strong confidence in the future trajectory. Looking forward, the UAE and the wider GCC continue to present solid opportunities. Population growth, major government investments in infrastructure, national net zero commitments and ongoing real estate development all support sustained demand for efficient cooling. With a proven model and a clear pipeline, Tabreed remains well positioned to deliver steady sustainable growth. Next slide. Now I will hand over to Salik.

Thank you, Adel, and good afternoon, everyone. In 2025, our operational performance not only met expectations, but underscored the strength and consistency of our business model. Margins were firmly in line with our guidance, reflecting our disciplined approach to execution. Our ongoing commitment to business expansion was fully supported by a resilient balance sheet, providing a solid foundation for sustainable growth. While leverage has increased due to our strategic decision to debt fund the future focused investments, our financial standing remains strong and is expected to improve as operating assets continue to generate additional cash flow. I'm now pleased to guide -- walk you through the profit and loss balance sheet and the cash flow performance for the year 2025 and highlight the key factors driving this positive momentum. Moving on to the next slide. Let me now share an update on the revenue performance for the period. In 2025, Tabreed achieved a strong revenue of almost AED 2.5 billion, reflecting a steady 1% growth year-over-year and also demonstrating the company's resilience. Our revenue remained strong and consistent throughout the fourth quarter. Our Chilled Water business continues to be a key growth driver. Fixed revenue further increased, supported by significant organic capacity, which included an addition of almost 38,000 tonnes at the consolidated level. This expansion contributed positively both in the fourth quarter and for the full year, underscoring our continued operational momentum. While consumption revenue, which generally represents 45% of our total Chilled Water revenue was influenced by milder weather conditions in the 3 of the 4 quarters, our diversified revenue streams and proactive management ensured stable overall performance. The value chain business experienced a planned reduction in revenue in 2025, following the scheduled expiration of the third-party O&M contract. This segment, while noncore and lower-margin business, remains a flexible lever in our portfolio, allowing us to strategically focus on high-value, high-growth areas for the REIT. Moving on to the next slide. We'll discuss the highlights of our profitability. Gross profit remained resilient throughout the 2025. With only a slight decrease in the fourth quarter, our operating costs were marginally higher, reflecting a strategic investment in new facilities and network expansion to connect additional loads. This forward-looking approach also resulted in increased depreciation and amortization expense, which is a noncash Additionally, maintenance costs rose as part of our proactive asset management plan, ensuring optimal reliability and efficiency across our operations. In 2025, EBITDA also grew to AED 1.27 billion, fully reflecting in line with our revenue growth. While the fourth quarter EBITDA was temporarily lower compared to the previous year due to the timing of the cost acquisition, our full year G&A expenses remained stable. The 2025 EBITDA margin around 52% is well within our guided range of 50% to 53%, showcasing our disciplined financial management and the strength of our business model. Now moving on to the next one. Despite maintaining our stable profit from operations throughout the year, our net profit reflected temporary fourth quarter moments. This were driven by strategic investments, including the closing of Palm Jebel Ali concession and the acquisition of PAL Cooling, which resulted in a higher finance cost and a modest decrease in JV contribution, all of which positions us for future growth. Excluding this nonrecurring one-off cost, our normalized net profit reached AED 521 million, demonstrating the underlying strength and the resilience of our business. Let me provide further details on each of these positive drivers in the next slide. Looking at first, the increase in the net finance cost. Following the successful completion of our refinancing at the end of the Q1 2025, we transitioned bank debt to a Green Sukuk issued at a prevailing market interest rates, while this has led to an increase in net finance expense compared to the low rate environment in 2020. The transition positions us also favorably for sustainable financing, notably in Q3 2024 onwards, we began to realize significant finance cost savings as a result of Sukuk buyback, enhancing our financial resilience and flexibility in '24. At the beginning of Q4 this year, we secured an additional Islamic financing facility of AED 1.8 billion, which enabled us to proactively settle our outstanding Sukuk matured in October '25 and strategically fund our share of equity investment in the acquisition of PAL Cooling. This prudent move, while increasing the finance cost in the last quarter of '25, strengthens our capital structure and supports our long-term growth initiatives second, on the other income and losses, Q4 '25 included one-off transaction costs of about AED 15 million related to the 2 new transactions closed during the year. Transaction costs associated with PAL Cooling, partially recognized in other losses due to Tabreed's due diligence and advisory efforts reflecting our commitment to comprehensive and responsible investment processes. The majority of these costs were absorbed within the JV itself. Additionally, while there were one-off costs related to asset write-off on replacement during the year, these were partly offset by one-off gain from a successful divestment of one of stake in the associate and the other nonoperating income demonstrating the strength and diversification of our income streams. Lastly, regarding the share of results from the JVs and associates. During the fourth quarter, the results reflect several transactions-related cost impact at the JV level of PAL Cooling, including the one-off upfront advisory and transaction costs amounting to AED 29 million and the amortization of the newly recognized intangible from the purchase price allocation. And thirdly, the higher finance costs following the successful project finance raised at the JV level of PAL Cooling. These investments and associated costs are expected to drive future value creation and reinforce our leadership in the DC sector. Furthermore, 2024 featured a one-off gain from the divestment of our minority stake in one of our associates. Excluding these exceptional items and the PAL JV contribution, performance across all our associates and JVs showed year-over-year improvement, highlighting the ongoing strength and positive momentum in our core operations. Turning to the balance sheet. Our financial position remains robust, demonstrating continued strength and stability, consistent with our investment-grade credit profile. In 2025, both assets and liabilities grew by 3% year-over-year, reflecting our ongoing commitment to sustainable growth. Key positive developments in assets, fixed assets and intangibles showed resilience with the periodic depreciation and amortization, largely offset by strategic new capital expenditures, ensuring our ongoing asset renewal and expansion. Our investments in associates and JVs strengthened, highlighted by the addition of AED 1.2 billion for Tabreed's share in PAL acquisition. Profit from these ventures were prudently balanced with dividend payout optimized through the disposal of minority stake and enhanced by the fair value adjustment on derivatives and demonstrating active portfolio management. Receivables and other assets remained healthy with the settlement of bank debt improving our positions. These effects were complemented by higher inventory of space on consumables as well as marginal increase in customer receivables supporting operational readiness and revenue growth. Positive movements in equity and liabilities. Our equity and results reflect proactive shareholder engagement, including the payment of the 2024 year-end dividend and the first interim dividend for the year 2025 paid in the Q4 last year to both shareholders and the minority stakeholders. While there was a negative movement in the fair value of derivatives and the reduction of noncontrolling interest in Tabreed Asia, these were effectively balanced by strong profit generated in 2025, underscoring our ability to deliver value. Payables and other liabilities improved as lower accruals for utility costs driven by efficient consumption, combined with timely payments to suppliers and contractors, further strengthened our financial discipline and relationships within the supply chain. Debt profile, we successfully secured an additional AED 1.8 billion in dual tranche financing from local banks, reinforcing our access to capital and strategic flexibility. The proceeds of these were used to settle our outstanding Sukuk, matured in October '25 and to fund the equity part of PAL Cooling acquisition, positioning us for further growth. Importantly, Tabreed's balance sheet remains clear of significant near-term debt maturities, supporting our financial resilience. Leverage and credit quality. Net debt to EBITDA increased to 4.6x by the year-end, primarily due to funding of Tabreed's equity investment in PAL Cooling. Despite this increase, we remain committed to maintaining strong credit fundamentals as evidenced by our investment-grade credit rating. Our high-margin cash-generative business model provides exceptional resilience as well. Furthermore, the PAL JV debt is ring-fenced and nonrecourse to the PAL and our disciplined capital management ensures we preserve the flexibility and strength that an investment-grade rating offers. Moving to the next slide, which highlights our strong cash flow movements and continued financial momentum. This year, company achieved an operating cash flows of AED 1.3 billion before the working capital movement. The temporary increase in working capital was due to the timing difference in major customer payment, which was promptly settled, post the year-end, demonstrating the reliability of our customer base and the strong credit quality of our customers. Equally, cost-effective measures adapted in some accelerated supplier payment from prior year accruals, furthermore, underscores our commitment to long-term partnership and financial prudence. We invested $193 million to complete a new greenfield project and expand capacity within our existing concession, ensuring we are well positioned to capture future growth opportunities and reinforce our market leadership. Following our strategic equity investment in PAL Cooling acquisition, free cash flow for the year was temporarily negative. But most importantly, our underlying recurring free cash flow remained strong at AED 862 million, highlighting the resilience and sustainability of our core business operations. Our capital allocation priorities are steadfast. We are committed to maintaining investment-grade credit metrics, advancing our growth agenda, delivering balanced shareholder returns and pursuing disciplined value-accretive investments that will drive long-term value for all stakeholders. Moving on to the next slide. Tabreed's strong and reliable growth pipeline gives us exceptional visibility on future cash flows, reinforcing our unwavering commitment to sustainable long-term value creation for our shareholders. Aligned with this confidence, our 2025 dividend strategy continues to exemplify our long-standing principles, robust financial discipline, stability for investors and a forward-looking approach to growth. The Board has proposed a cash dividend of AED 0.065 per share for the second half of 2025, complementing to the interim dividend that was declared for AED 0.065. This results in a total dividend of AED 0.13 for the year 2025, representing a payout ratio of close to 80% on the reported profit and 71% on the normalized profit, demonstrating our enhanced focus on delivering compelling returns to the shareholders. Despite making significant M&A investments, we have successfully preserved our payout ratio consistent with our strong historical track record. This further underscores our commitment to providing meaningful returns today, while actively investing in top-tier long-term opportunities that will accelerate value creation well into the future. Our strategy remains thoughtfully balanced and prudent. We reward our shareholders and rigorously maintain a strong balance sheet, ensuring we are fully positioned to capitalize on the secured and visible growth already present in our pipeline. With that being said, I will now pass it back to Adel to take you through the rest of the proceedings. Over to you Adel.

Thank you, Salik. In 2025, we delivered a robust 4.5% year-on-year increase in connected capacity, fully in line with our ambitious growth targets and guidance. Our medium-term outlook remains strong with annual capacity expansion projected between 3% and 5% through the year 2028, building on a significantly elevated '25 base, which saw a remarkable 19% increase. This momentum translates to annual additions of approximately 50,000 to 80,000 RT of connected capacity, signaling an acceleration compared to earlier expectations. Notably, we believe that joint ventures will contribute around 20% to 30% of this growth with the remaining -- with the remainder coming from fully consolidated assets. As PAL JV capacity expansion is progressing smoothly. And as these assets ramp up, we foresee a steady and substantial uplift in the JV's operational earnings, which will positively impact our share of results. In 2025, we invested AED 193 million, demonstrating our commitment to growth and aligning closely with our targeted CapEx range of AED 200 million to AED 300 million. Looking ahead, we plan to continue fueling organic capacity growth with annual capital expenditure between AED 200 million and AED 300 million. Our CapEx guidance remains consistent, and we will proactively update the market should the new projects or opportunities arise. Additionally, we are finalizing exciting plans for new greenfield plants and expanding our interconnection network, which will allow us to unlock surplus capacity across plants and better serve increasing customer demand, all while optimizing our capital allocation for maximum impact. Our EBITDA margin improved by 2 percentage points in 2025, reaching a strong 31.6%. This exceptional performance is well within our guidance of range 50% to 53%, and we remain confident in our ability to sustain these robust margins moving forward. As of December 31, '25, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is 4.6x, comfortably within investment-grade threshold, backed by resilient business model, a premier B2B customer base and strong support from our strategic anchor shareholders, we are well positioned for continued success. Any short-term increase in leverage due to our growth-oriented investments is expected to quickly normalize as our expanding cash flows and EBITDA materialize. Our proven track record of disciplined financial management and balance sheet optimization underscores our confidence in delivering sustained value. Moving to the new slide, next slide. Let me close by repeating stressing our confidence in the future of and emphasizing our key messages. We continue to see tremendous opportunity in the district cooling sector, driven by ongoing population growth, robust government investment in infrastructure and urban development, favorable real estate trends and strong policy support for net zero objectives. Our core business remains stable and dependable with a solid foundation for future expansion already established. Recent strategic partnerships such as the Palm Jebel Ali concession and PAL Cooling acquisition have further strengthened our platform for long-term growth. We are proud of our strong financial position and remain committed to maintaining investment-grade discipline. Looking ahead, our prospects for capacity-driven growth are as promising as ever. With that, we conclude our presentation. Thank you for your continued trust and support. We are excited about our journey ahead, and we'll now open the floor for questions.

[Operator Instructions] We have a first question from Rakan from Jadwa Investment Company.

I have 2 questions from my side, one on Saudi Tabreed and other on...

We can't hear you, can you be a bit closer to the mic and louder?

I have 2 questions, one on Saudi Tabreed and one on the PAL Cooling JV. On Saudi Tabreed, the dividend paid by the entity seems high relative to its historical profitability and historical dividend. Is there a one-off dividend there? And is there anything you can share about that? And as a follow-up to that, are there any updates on a potential IPO or exit for Saudi Tabreed?

So regarding the dividend that we received, so see, again, the dividend distribution is determined by the growth and the optimal capital structure for better returns to the equity holders. So based on that, the Tabreed Saudi, we had distributed a higher dividend than the historical trend. It does not mean that there are no further growth as well because the structure to fund this growth will be slightly changing the capital structure to maximize the returns to the equity holders.

Just a follow-up on that. Any plans for the IPO or for potential exit from Saudi Tabreed?

Yes, I will take this one, Rakan. I think, yes, there is a speculation in the market considering the, I think, maybe strategy once they fit into any national platform. It could be along there. But as we speak now, nothing really foreseeable. I believe there is still setup or value, okay, to Qatar as of now, but nothing so far.

And PAL Cooling, the JV. I just have a few questions on that. One, what's the expected normalized run rate going forward on PAL Cooling? And then if you can also give us the cash generation because I'm assuming that the amortization of intangible assets are being booked on the JV level. So if we can get the cash generation of the JV as well, that would be great. And the final question on that. We saw that there is a new investor that's investing in PAL Cooling. Is this news true? If yes, who's selling, is it CVC and at what valuation?

So see, this is an asset with a long-term growth prospects. Today, the connected capacity is around 190,000 tonnes. We expect it to -- on full concession is around 600,000 tonnes. So having said that, if you look at their cash generation or EBITDA will be close to around AED 200 million today, okay? But again, as we said, because of the valuation and the price -- purchase price allocation, there is a significant amount on amortization and -- which is a noncash. And on top, again, these assets were also financed at the JV level through a project financing methodology, again, to maximize the returns to the equity stakeholders. So in the short run, yes, there will be some impact when it comes to the financing cost. But then our business model is generating an EBITDA of close to 50% to 53%. And these strong business fundamentals and the scaling up in future in PAL concession will significantly increase and which means it will also contribute in midterm significant value at the consolidation level of Tabreed as well. With regard to, again, the CVC as an investor, yes, they are an infrastructure fund and their first investment, I think, the region in the district cooling sector, and it has been progressing very steadily because it's just one quarter that has been ended. Now we are looking into all the governance aspects and looking all the things that makes this joint venture to be successful in the long run.

Rakan, if you're referring to entry of some other investors in the PAL Cooling, that is not at the JV level itself. That was at the fund, which CVC DIP holds or owns. In that fund itself, they have brought in some new investor and does not change the shareholding structure at PAL level.

Okay. Great. So the Arab Energy Fund and the Azerbaijani State Oil Fund basically bought into the CVC fund that owns 50% of PAL Cooling and the other 50% of Tabreed . Is that correct?

Yes.

We'll now be moving to the text questions. First question is from Ms. Megha Bansal from Stone Harbor. My question is on leverage. Is there a target where the management would like to see in the medium term? How much buffer do we have within your IG ratings?

Thank you, Megha. It's a good question. As we always say, and we have been maintained as well today, our leverage ratio is around 4.6x, as we have mentioned this in the today's presentation as well. And our strong belief and we follow is the maintaining the investment-grade credit rating and which also gives us better capital flexibility, allocation flexibility and better returns to our equity stakeholders. So having said that, our target is to maintain and currently, there's no leverage defined policy, but our aim is to maintain and continue to follow the investment-grade credit rating. And while pursuing the growth opportunities in a way that maximizes the return to the equity holders.

We have a couple of questions from Hetsi from API Analytics. I'll try to group them together. The first one, Tabreed added 182,000 RT of capacity through the acquisition of PAL Cooling Holding. Could you please remind us of the acquisition price paid for this transaction? Additionally, how does this valuation compare with the per RT metrics of Tabreed's previous acquisitions?

So regarding your first question, yes. So as part of the total concession, which is around 600,000 tonnes, if you look at it, it is around AED 8,000 per RT. That is what I would say and it is fully matured and fully commissioned, fully -- its revenue-generating mechanics are established. And with regard to IRR, always, again, we always communicate as well and we follow internally as well as the single high digit and low double-digit IRR. That is what our mantra has been when it comes to acquiring any brownfield acquisitions or for that matter, any greenfield.

Okay. There's kind of a few additional questions. Okay. There's a couple more questions. What IRR did Tabreed generate in projects in 2024 and '25? Furthermore, what is the IRR of the company target for 2026, including contributions from recently completed acquisitions? And then also a question about dividend. What level of dividend is Tabreed expected to distribute in 2026? Should we assume a similar payout ratio for '26 and the medium term or any changes?

And again, I will take this question. With regard to the IRR, for '24, '25 or for '26 always has been between the high single digit and low double digit. again, depending on the customer profile and the partnership that could evolve in the future, this IRR can go up or down based on the credit worthiness of the customer and the potential to grow the business, okay? When it comes to the dividend profile, again, we have been maintaining around close to 70% of our distribution payout ratio, which is subject to again shareholders' approvals. It will -- we are expecting to maintain the similar trend what we had been given in the past.

Next set of questions about utility expenses. Utility expenses increased in fiscal year '25 compared to '24 despite a decline in consumption volumes during the year. Can you please elaborate on this in terms of Tabreed. Staff costs reported on the direct cost increased while staff expenses on the administrative and other expenses declined. Could you please also clarify whether this movement is attributable to the reclassification of expenses or any other factors?

Again, all the details, we can go through a one-on-one call. But having said that, the utility cost increase is referred to the TSC using lower availability of TSC usage in one of our network. So hence, the utility cost increased and creating some kind of pressure in that. But this was on a declining trend, but which means that we are able to secure more quality and more volumes in the back end of the year. When it comes to the staff and between the direct and indirect, it is just related to the work orders that gets converted between the operating cost versus the G&A. So it is just an in and out.

And just a final set of questions. It appears that one-off transaction costs related to the closing of Palm Jebel Ali and PAL Cooling acquisition were under [indiscernible] could you provide a breakdown between acquisitions in [indiscernible]

Okay. So the majority of the other income and losses is reported amount relates to the transaction cost for Palm and Cooling and also the due diligence costs that we had incurred while going through the concession agreements and other legal documentation on Palm Jebel Ali. So the less than 10% or 15% is related to the typical asset wear and tear that we come across to replace and maintain a high reliability of our existing operational assets. So that sums up the answers for your question.

Our next question is from Mr. Ahmed Suleman. What are the reasons for the significant decrease in profits for the fourth quarter? In Note 13 of the financial statements, profit and loss statement for Holdings, there's an administrative expense of AED 60 million. Are these recurring expenses or onetime expenses?

Thank you,. See, again, this is a onetime expenses that has been recorded over this and we mainly, again, related to some of the transaction costs, which we had already spoke about in the presentation today.

Okay. Just a couple of follow-up questions from Ahmed. Although growth in 2019, revenue growth only grew by 1%. Was net profit reduced by 19%? Is there any explanation to that? And finally, what is your plan to repay the [indiscernible] loan next year.

Thank you again, Ahmed. See, as we mentioned, organic growth, we have connected almost 38,000 tonnes, which contributed almost more than 2% in the fixed revenue. However, as I mentioned in the presentation and, me and Adel, where we mentioned about the milder weather conditions resulting in a top line decline, which is having a lower impact in our EBITDA or net income. And as we also reported in our EBITDA margins are being very stable at around 52%, which is again high end of what the guidance that we have given. With regard to the net profit lower, it's again mainly driven by the transaction costs and the associated finance costs for the acquisition of brownfield, PAL Cooling, okay? With regard to the G&A, again, it's majorly related to the one-off transaction costs which we had mentioned. And about the loan repayment, again, based on the profile, we had demonstrated our intentions in the past through exercising liquidity or liability management exercise where we bought from the market for open support and also settlement of project finances. So we will continue to monitor such things wherein to increase our net income profile as well as the returns to our equity stakeholders based on multiple factors. It can be driven by CapEx, driven by growth, again, or driven by excess cash that is lying in the company. So our aim is always to maximize returns to the equity stakeholders.

[Operator Instructions] It looks like there are no further questions at this point. The presentation was comprehensive. I'll pass back the line to the management team for the concluding remarks.

Thank you, Michael. With this, we conclude our call today, and a replay of this call will be available on Tabreed's Investor Relations website. We appreciate your interest in Tabreed, and thank you again for joining us today. You may now disconnect. Thank you.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. We'll now be closing all the lines. Thank you, and goodbye.