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

Hello, and welcome to Qatar General Insurance. Please note that this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Now, I would now like to hand the call over to Dana. You may now begin.

Hello, everyone. This is Dana Sowaidi from QNB Financial Services. I would like to welcome everyone to Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. On this call from management, we have Omar Alsabbah, Group Chief Financial Officer; Greggy Bueno, Group Head of Finance; and Kabir Sher Ali, Investor Relations Officer. We will conduct this conference call with the management reviewing the company's results followed by a Q&A session. I will now turn the call over to Kabir. Please go ahead.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the earnings conference call of Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company, which will be referred to hereafter as QGIRCO or the Group for the period ended on 30 June 2026. I am Kabir Sher Ali, QGIRCO's Investor Relations Officer. We will start our investor call with a disclaimer, after which we will provide you with a summary of our financial results. I will now read out the disclaimer to this conference call. This call may contain, constitute or imply information or forward-looking assessments, statements regarding the operational or financial performance and future of QGIRCO or any of its subsidiaries. Such statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions of QGIRCO's management to their best knowledge and diligent assessment. As such, QGIRCO, its directors and its officers shall not be liable for any costs or losses resulting from using forward-looking statements throughout this call. I am delighted to hand over to Mr. Omar Alsabbah, who will present the group's financial results.

Thank you, Kabir. We are pleased to report that Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company delivered solid financial performance during the first half of 2022 -- 2026, sorry, building on the progress achieved throughout 2025. The group reported a net profit of QAR 85 million for the 6-month period ended 30 June 2026, an increase of 14.5% compared to QAR 74.2 million in the same period of 2025. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached QAR 85.1 million, resulting in earnings per share of QAR 0.097 for the period. The insurance service results improved to QAR 48.1 million this period from QAR 40.1 million in the first half of 2025, driven by disciplined underwriting practices and improved collection of outstanding receivables. Investment and other operating results reached QAR 96.5 million in June 2026 compared to QAR 92.3 million in June '25. We continue to improve cost management and operating efficiencies. Other operating and administrative expenses declined by 25% to QAR 23.4 million. In addition, finance costs reduced by 24% to QAR 21.6 million, resulting -- reflecting continued debt reduction across the group banking facilities. Net impairment losses on financial assets increased to QAR 22.1 million in relation to certain related party exposures. Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance continued to maintain its strong financial position with total assets exceeding QAR 5.5 billion and shareholders' equity above QAR 3.7 billion as of 30 June 2026. In summary, the first half of 2026 reflected solid progress, driven by improved underwriting performance, efficient cost structure and stronger balance sheet. With that, I will hand it over to Mr. Kabir, who will take you through the outlook.

Thank you, Omar. Let us first discuss QGIRCO Insurance business. Despite ongoing region's geopolitical uncertainty, management remains cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the insurance sector. The sector is expected to benefit from the full implementation of the mandatory health insurance law, while regional economic activity is anticipated to recover as conditions stabilize. QGIRCO is actively developing its product portfolio to serve a diversifying economy with particular focus on digitization, life business and other emerging lines such as cyber insurance and renewable energy. Secondly, regarding QGIRCO's investment in real estate business. On the investment side, the Qatar Stock Exchange has shown relative stability compared to broader international markets, supported by Qatar's strong financial position. We note, however, that our own equity portfolio experienced mark-to-market declines during the first half of 2026, in line with regional market conditions that we continue to monitor our exposures actively. We are exploring selective opportunities to increase allocation to fixed income instruments with the objective of generating more predictable, recurring income and further enhancing portfolio liquidity. We also anticipate maintaining stable recurring income from our real estate portfolio. Finally, let us highlight the effects on QGIRCO income statement and balance sheet. From an income statement perspective, the group objective remains to grow its bottom line through 3 parallel levers: improving underwriting quality, growing diversified investment income and maintaining a lean cost structure. We are targeting further reduction in our finance costs, as we continue to deleverage, and we will maintain tight discipline on our operational expenses. These measures are expected to strengthen both our liquidity position and leverage ratio over the medium term, further consolidating the balance sheet for sustainable growth. With this being said, it is worth noting that the outlook has now been fully presented and the fact sheet will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website, www.qgirco.com.qa by the end of day tomorrow. Please feel free to reach out to us through the contact details provided in the Investor Relations section of our website. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the entire QGIRCO team, thank you very much. We wish you a great day ahead. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask now.

Mark, we can start the Q&A session.