Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company Q.P.S.C. (QGRI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, and welcome to the Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Q3 2021 Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. And at this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ahmad Almasry. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Alice. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome all of you to the earnings call of Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance for the 9-month period that ended in the 30th of September 2021. My name is Ahmad Almasry, Assistant Portfolio Manager and Investor Relations Officer. I have the pleasure introducing to you our Head of Finance, Mr. Khalid Al Aswad, along with Mr. [ Omar Asacba ], our Financial Reporting Manager, who will be leading this earning conference call together with me. I will start with the -- our disclaimer thereafter, we will provide you with the summary of our operational and financial results. At the end of our conference call, you will have opportunity to ask any questions you may have. I will now read out the disclaimer of this conference call. This call may contain, constitute or imply information of forward-looking statements regarding the operational or financial performance and the future of QGIR Co and its subsidiaries. Such statements are based on the current expectations, assumptions of QGIR Co's management and their best knowledge and diligent assessment as of today. The actual outcomes regarding these statements in the future may be beyond the control of our company or any management of QGIR Co. As such, QGIR Co and its Directors and officers shall not be liable in any way for any costs or losses resulting from the use of any forward-looking statements made throughout the duration of this call. I would like to give the floor to Mr. Omar Asacba, the Financial Reporting Manager, who will start with a general update on QGIR Co's Q3 2022 (sic) [ 2021 ] results.

Thank you, Ahmad. I'm glad to announce that Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance has had a great result in the period ended 30th of September '21 despite the headwind in the context of the COVID-19 situation. Our results show a net profit attributable to the shareholders of QAR 72.1 million comparing to QAR 74.2 million for the same period last year. Most importantly, the positive results show that the proactive measures management has taken starting year 2020 have managed to limit the effects of the pandemic on our business operations and are leading the company into the right direction. In 2021, we continue to apply a prudent approach while performing a detailed client portfolio review and we have adjusted risk and return accordingly across our client base. This will have a positive impact on our gross written premium in year '21 and is expected to continue to benefit Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company in the future. Furthermore, the continued cost management exercises undertaking have resulted in a significant decrease in administrative amount and finance costs for the group. Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company remains in good financial condition, and our insurance business continues to show strong business development in '21 locally, as well as in international markets. I will now discuss with you the financial results in more detail before handing over to my colleague to take you through the outlook. To start off, I will provide you with the high level results before we got into the details. Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company third quarter '21 total insurance revenue stands at QAR 614 million with gross written premiums representing 75% and gross written contributions from General Takaful representing 25%. During the period, the management has taken proactive measures to enhance the company's profitability by undertaking a client portfolio review, applying a good approach in relation to claims management. This will lead to strong underwriting results in year '21 and going forward. Despite the coronavirus pandemic effects on all sectors, we succeeded to keep our investment portfolio performance as to our expectations. Investment results for Q3, QAR 68.9 million. During management exercising, our continuous drive to enhance profitability have successfully resulted in our reduction in finance costs by 24.3% and moderated expenses by 12.2% in comparison to the same period last year. The above resulted in a shareholders' net profit of QAR 72.1 million for the period ended 30th of September '21 and earnings per share of QAR 0.082 comparing with a net profit of QAR 74.2 million and earnings per share of QAR 0.085 for the same period last year. I will now hand over to my colleague, Ahmad.

Thank you, Omar. It was a challenging year indeed for businesses. However, looking ahead, according -- and according to the IMF, the global economy in a mid-cycle expansion. The local economy is witnessing an economic recovery in the current year and expected to achieve a strong growth next year, helped by the ongoing effective vaccine program and strengthening of energy prices and significant increase in natural gas production. QGIR Co's management team will continue addressing measures to benefit from this positive economic momentum to maximize our shareholders' value and strengthen QGIR Co's brand in the market. For the insurance business, our primary objective this year and next year remains to expand our presence in the local market and ensure that our clients' needs are met through the highest quality of products and services. We will continue to be alert and adaptive to the changes in the market to serve our clients better while maintaining our shareholders' best interest. For the investments and real estate operations, our strategy for the next 12 months will focus on the following: Number one, rebalancing our portfolio -- our investment portfolio over the next 12 months; number two, maintain high-quality resilient asset base; number three, maintain capital base at healthy levels to meet QCB requirements; number four, seeking to achieve a strong unsustainable risk-adjusted return; number five, ensuring market consistent valuation of assets and liabilities; and lastly, number six, providing liquidity to QGIR Co's business when needed. Of course, it's not possible to address the precise outlook of the financial and investment markets. However, as a team, we believe that under the guidance, Mr. Saeed Abu Gharbieh, the group CEO and the management team, we are certain of achieving success in implementing our strategy over the next year. I would like to note that this call and the investor presentation and fact sheet will be available on the IR section on our website, www.qgirco.com as well as you can reach us anytime through our context on the IR section. That would be all. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the whole QGIR Co team, thank you very much. We wish you a great day and a splendid weekend. If you have any questions now, please go ahead.

[Operator Instructions] There are currently no questions in the queue at this time. I will turn the call back over to your host.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone for the update and have a pleasant weekend, and we'll pick this up again next quarter.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Shahan. See you next quarter for sure.

Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's conference. You may now all disconnect.