Qatar Navigation Q.P.S.C. (QNNS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to Milaha Conference Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Now I would like to hand the call over to Bobby. You may now begin.

Thank you, operator. Hi. Hello, everyone. This is Bobby Sarkar, Head of Research at QNB Financial Services. I wanted to welcome everyone to Milaha's Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. So on this call, we have Akram Iswaisi, who is the EVP of Finance and Investments; and Sami Shtayyeh, who's VP of Financial Planning and Analysis. So we will conduct this conference with the management first reviewing the company's results followed by a Q&A. I would like to turn the call over now to Akram. Akram, please go ahead.

Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone, for joining Milaha's first half of 2026 earnings call and your interest in the company. When we had our first quarter call, we were just about 2 months into the regional conflict with a lot of uncertainty about how things would play out. Here we are today over 5 months since the start of the conflict and although a lot of the same uncertainty remains, 2 key priorities are constant. First, for us, ensuring the safety of our people and continuing to provide services to our clients and the state of Qatar at large. We are grateful that there have been no conflict-related injuries among our staff, and we remain committed to their safety. Our operational resilience has also stood out as we continue to serve our customers, move goods and operate effectively in an uncertain environment. Much of what I said on our first quarter call still holds true. We remain confident in our business and expect a rebound once things settle down. From what we are seeing, strong fundamentals and pent-up demand continue to support that view. Now on to our H1 results, and I will start by going over our consolidated financial results and move into our various individual business segments before turning it over to Sami to go over our outlook for the rest of the year. As usual, we will end the call with Q&A. The key highlights of our financial results are as follows: Milaha's operating revenues came in at QAR 1.68 billion for the first 6 months ended June 30, 2026, compared with QAR 1.59 billion for the same period in 2025 or an increase of 6%. Operating profit came in at QAR 265 million for the 6 months ended June 30, 2026, compared with QAR 354 million for the same period in 2025 or a decrease of 25%. Net profit for the 6 months ended June 30, 2026, was QAR 542 million compared with QAR 672 million for the same period in 2025 for a decrease of 19%. And lastly, our earnings per share was QAR 0.48 for the 6 months ended June 30, 2026, compared with QAR 0.59 for the same period in 2025. Now moving on to our segments, starting with Maritime & Logistics. Maritime & Logistics reported operating revenue of QAR 384 million, up 43% or QAR 115 million from QAR 269 million reported in 2025, primarily driven by significantly higher project cargo volumes in our logistics business. Operating expenses similarly increased by QAR 62 million, largely reflecting variable costs associated with the higher revenue. Nonoperating income decreased by QAR 69 million due to lower contributions from our QTerminals joint arrangement, reflecting reduced port volumes resulting from the regional conflict. As a result, net profit decreased by QAR 16 million compared to 2025. In Offshore, the top line remained virtually flat at QAR 874 million despite operating under difficult circumstances. Vessel chartering posted higher revenue driven by a vessel that was added in mid-2025, whereas our Harbor and Marine Logistics units were both negatively impacted by the regional conflict. Overall expenses increased by QAR 94 million, driven by a combination of conflict-related expenses such as war risk insurance coverage and war risk allowances paid to crew, along with costs associated with the vessel added in mid-2025 and the use of higher-cost chartered vessels. The mismatch between revenue and expenses is largely driven by lower overall vessel utilization versus last year due to the regional conflict, which impacted our top line and the higher war risk-related expenses. Reduced tax provisions due to the onetime recording of a deferred tax liability in 2025 drove nonoperating expenses down by QAR 11 million and overall profit for the segment ended down -- was down 64% or QAR 85 million versus 2025. In Gas & Petchem, revenues dropped by QAR 41 million or 26%, going from QAR 159 million in 2025 to QAR 117 million in 2026, primarily due to the divestment of the VLGC vessels in 2025 and the nonrecurrence of dividend income received from our partially owned LNG vessels in the prior year. On the expense side, savings resulting from the VLGC divestment offset higher war risk insurance costs and the nonrecurrence of one-off items recorded in 2025 with total expenses decreasing by QAR 7 million. Nonoperating income increased from QAR 293 million in 2025 to QAR 360 million in 2026, with QAR 15 million of the increase coming from reduced tax provisions due to the one-off reporting of deferred tax liability in 2025, along with QAR 12 million in net finance income driven by fixed deposits funded by the proceeds from the VLGC sale. Altogether, net profit for the segment decreased by QAR 12 million, going from QAR 367 million in 2025 to QAR 355 million in 2026. With respect to the Marine & Technical Services division, we recorded a slight increase in revenue going from QAR 180 million in 2025 to QAR 190 million in 2026, driven by proceeds from the sale of our Hino dealership concluded in the first quarter of this year, higher mobilization work and increased lubricant and bunker sales. Operating expenses went up by QAR 24 million, primarily due to the higher cost of goods sold tied to the revenue growth along with increased provisions for bad debt. Net profit for the segment declined by QAR 18 million, going from QAR 13 million in 2025 to a loss of QAR 3 million in 2026. Lastly, in Capital, on the revenue side, higher investment income was offset by reduced real estate income following the internal transfer of warehouse assets to our Maritime & Logistics segment. Expenses were broadly flat as cost reductions associated with the warehouse transfer were offset by the nonrecurrence of a favorable onetime adjustment recorded in '25. Overall, Capital's net profit decreased by QAR 2 million, going from QAR 143 million in '25 to QAR 141 million in '26. And that wraps up the segments, and I now will turn it over to Sami to discuss the outlook. Thank you.

Thank you, Akram. Starting with Maritime & Logistics. In container shipping, most of our vessels remain outside the Strait of Hormuz and are working on newly established routes, mainly from China and India to Oman. The vessels in the Arabian Gulf are operating coastal and intra-Gulf routes. In logistics, we will continue to find creative solutions to move cargo for our customers. In both container shipping and logistics, we expect growth driven by acquisition of new clients and the introduction of innovative supply chain solutions. Our QTerminals joint arrangement is financially exposed during the Strait of Hormuz closure; with limited ships calling Hamad Port, volumes are similarly limited and that affects profitability. In Offshore, once the conflict is resolved, we expect to see strong recovery across the board. However, up until that happens, the segment is expected to underperform. In Gas & Petrochem, we expect limited volatility due to long-term nature of contracts at Nakilat, our FSO and our wholly owned LNG vessels. The outlook on the partially owned LNG vessels, however, is uncertain, the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. In Marine & Technical Services, focus on this new segment will continue to be selling -- cross-selling services to existing and potential clients. While the conflict is ongoing, ship services are impacted due to fewer vessel calls to Qatari waters, but the shipyard remains operational and is active. So it's really a mixed bag on performance. And lastly, Capital, where we will continue to focus on yield enhancement of the financial portfolio, but we do expect a reduction in dividend income from our local equities portfolio. And with that, operator, we'll now open it up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Nikhil Phutane from CBFS.

Resilient performance. That's what definitely one can say about Milaha now. Well, my question actually pertains to your outlook, which you have mentioned on maritime logistics container shipping in terms of it getting disrupted from a regional conflict. So actually just wanted to highlight and suppose if possible, what happened in second quarter given the fact that you mentioned that most of the vessels are outside the Strait of Hormuz diverted to the new shipping lines? And what we expect in the third quarter? Are we going to be seeing a progressively increasing revenue line, top line for container shipping?

Thank you so much for this question. It's -- I think you know that this container shipping business is a spot business is a volatile business. And for us, we've been able to grow, if you look at our revenue and our top line effectively, we've been able to grow logistics because we've been able to grow our client base, increase our service offering. And so again, in reaction to this geopolitical situation, we've been able to serve our existing clients and been able to add additional clients. If you look at container shipment, again, it's been a significant enabler to Milaha and to our clients to be able to support the new supply chain routes. For us, this is what we've been able to do, and we'll continue to serve our clients that way. It's very difficult for us to give you a prediction on the revenue for next quarter. I think you know, again, the container shipment business is spot business and there's so much volatility today in that space. So I would say that we are quite comfortable that that business will continue to be relatively stable for the rest of the year.

Okay. Okay. Regarding your LNG vessels, if possible, you mentioned about containers, most of the container vessels have been outside. Similarly, can we have an understanding about your LNG vessels, both owned and joint ventures? How many vessels are there stuck up within the current conflict zone, and what are outside and how you see that?

I mean I can tell you that we've had some vessels that are outside of the region and some that have been called inside the region. So in and out, it's very difficult. And honestly, today, we cannot really give comments on where these vessels are today. But I can tell you that those vessels, some of them are -- the ones that we own 100% are still operating and still under contract. And some of the joint ventures that we have are on and off. So again, given the volatility in that situation, we prefer not to comment on what these vessels are today.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Ahmed Es'haqi from SICO Bank.

Congrats on the great set of results. I have 2 questions from my end. My first question is related to the Offshore segment. So in general, we've seen a bit of weakness in this quarter. So was that because of vessels going off hire? Or -- and when do you expect the segment to pick up once again? And my second question is about your outlook for the Maritime & Logistics segment. So as of now in August or, let's say, second month of the third quarter, are the risk premiums for the container shipping still there? And do you expect this to continue in the third and fourth quarter?

Thank you very much for the question. Let me start with the Offshore. Again, Offshore operationally is still a solid business with strong contracts and a strong asset base and strong capabilities. We were clearly impacted by the geopolitical situation and some of our vessels were off-hire, but that off-hiring was not permanent. So the vessels continue to come in and out. So they might be on hire for a while, but they get off-hired for various, let's say, operational reasons that have to do with the conflict and the safety of our assets and the safety of our people. And so we continue to work with our clients to deploy those vessels when they need them and how they need them. And so again, that business has been largely impacted by the geopolitical situation. Now in terms of the war risk premium, they're still on. How long they will last? Again, as I mentioned earlier, it's difficult for us to predict how long they will last. I think everybody expected a resolution to the conflict a couple of months ago, and then we're back on. So given the volatility and the fact that nobody can predict the future, we potentially expect that this war risk premium could continue for the next couple of months. But again, this is a spot business and there's so much volatility that's difficult for us to give you an exact view on how we see the container shipment rates or the war risk premiums playing out for the rest of the year. But again, I've emphasized that in the first quarter, which is that as an organization, we are actively working to expand our business. So if you look at Logistics, if you look at Offshore on all the different segments, Milaha has been actively working on expanding our top line to compensate for lost revenue. At the same time, we've been able to manage and contain costs, taking into consideration, though, that once this conflict is over, our business will rebound, and we have to be on standby and ready to serve our customers. So taking that into consideration, we are still operationally on standby and ready to serve our customers once this conflict is over.

Yes. Fair enough. Maybe a couple of follow-ups from my end. Firstly, about Maritime & Logistics. So you always had this plan to turn around the business. So what portion of this quarter's great results is attributed to the efficiencies being done in the Maritime & Logistics segment? And my second question is related to the off-hire you've mentioned in the Offshore segment. So as of mid-third quarter, have you seen better activities in terms of the offshore vessels? And in general, how have the rates looking for offshore vessels?

Okay. Let me start by talking about Maritime & Logistics. If you recall, I mentioned that we hired a new executive to run this business division. And part of that new hiring was a new strategy for that business division that involved restructuring the way we operate, the hiring of new staff, the creation of new solutions and strategies. And so there's been a lot of work that was done pre-conflict that actually, when the conflict happened, allowed us to be able to deliver solutions to our clients faster. It made us much more nimble. We've been able to even expand much more into Saudi Arabia. So this is a plan that's been in place since last year. But as the conflict happened, we were able to react to that much more efficiently and much more effectively. So there's been a lot of cost cutting in that business division. But at the same time, as you're aware, logistics is a volume business. So one of the things that we've been working on is growing the top line, building new relationships, acquiring new customers. And so that's been a strategy that's been in place since we -- since last year when we hired the new executive. So the conflict has allowed us to reach out to new customers. So -- but we wouldn't have been able to do that if we did not have the right team in place, the right solutions, and we weren't operationally ready for that. So we've been able to react very quickly to serve our customers. If you look at Offshore, I can't really give you, again, because the situation is volatile, and we have to maintain some confidentiality in terms of what's happening on the offshore side. The assets are in and out depending on how the clients need them. And so -- and if you look at -- and again -- if you look at our top line, our top line is still relatively steady. The top line, given our asset base, the plans we had in place, had it not been for the conflict, our top line would have grown much more than this. But again, we have been impacted by suspensions given the geopolitical situation. I mean that's honestly all I can say at this point. But again, if we look at the top line is still relatively steady. And our top priority right now is serving our clients, making sure that we're there. And secondly, making sure that our people, our employees are safe and sound.

Your next question comes from the line of Ashish Agarwal with The First Investor.

Congratulations on the set of the results considering what is happening around the region. My question pertains to your results of joint ventures. Could you give us a split of how much profit was generated from one of the JVs with Nakilat, Gulf LPG and the remaining with QTerminals?