Salik Company P.J.S.C. (SALIK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Yes. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining the Salik's First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. My name is Abhishek Kumar, and I'm part Energy, Utilities, Chemicals sector team at Bank of America in Dubai. We are delighted to host Salik's management today for the first quarter 2025 earnings call. With that, I will pass it over to Wassim, the Head of Investor Relations. Over to you, Wassim.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Salik's earnings call for the Q1 2025 period. My name is Wassim Elhayek, Head of Investor Relations at Salik, and thank you for joining us for today's call. Our thanks to Bank of America team for hosting today's call. Our speaker today from Salik are Mr. Ibrahim Al Haddad, our CEO; Mr. Maged Ibrahim, our CFO; and Mr. Tariq Ismail, our CTO. We are also joined by Mr. Tariq Al Mutawa, Salik's Support Service Director; and Hariharan Gopal, the Director Strategy and Growth, who will be answering any relevant questions that you may have. We will begin our presentation with some key strategic highlights followed by operational overview and then moving forward to the financial review before closing with our financial guidance and concluding remarks. We will then open the floor for the Q&A. Before we begin the presentation, I would like to remind you of our disclaimer on Slide #2, which is relevant to our status as a publicly listed company and which we encourage you to read. Please note that this call is recorded, and by attending this meeting, you consent to the transcription. Also a reminder that a copy of this presentation is available on our website at salik.ae. That's all from my end. I will hand over now to our CEO, Mr. Ibrahim Al Haddad.

Thank you, Wassim. We began our operation in 2007, over 18 years ago, and since then, we have come a long way as a business, growing exponentially alongside the Emirates of Dubai. While Salik has grown, our unique underlying strengths have remained the same. We have 100% exclusivity in Dubai, being the only toll gate operator in the Emirates. We have an attractive concession framework with RTA, which extend far into the future, and a unique asset-light approach, where we are responsible only for the maintenance of our gates. Our ancillary revenue streams are not just complementary to our core business but are the second pillar of our revenue model. With the rise of technology, there is an incredible future potential and the revenue from ancillary streams. While we may have grown significantly over the years, our ambition has remained the same, to become a leader in providing sustainable and smart mobility solutions. Our business continued to scale rapidly alongside Dubai's exceptional growth, driven by a macroeconomic outlook that remains one of the most promising globally. As a headline figure, the IMF's outlook for GDP growth in Dubai is a robust 5%, a clear indicator of continued confidence and expansion across sectors. In quarter 1 '25 alone, the Emirates welcomed come 3.82 million international visitors, a 3% increase year-on-year, reinforcing its appeal as a top destination. Real estate transactions increased by 29%, showing that Dubai is not just attractive to visit but to reside, driving strong population growth. These indicators form a compelling macroeconomic picture, one that continues to support Salik's continued strong growth. We've been steadily accelerating our strategic momentum since our IPO in 2022. This includes the introduction of 2 new toll gates and variable pricing, both new gates have not only improved traffic flow across the city since their implementation but contribute a positive long-term impact on Salik's core tolling business. We also recently announced several exciting partnerships in parking and insurance solutions, which we will expand on later in this presentation. In a post-period event, we also signed an MOU with to introduce a smart payment solutions that enhance the customer experience at ENOC petrol stations. This will enable customers to enjoy a completely seamless experience when paying for fuel and other services. Turning now to our key highlights for the quarter, where we saw continued momentum across all key metrics. Total chargeable trips reached 158 million in quarter 1 '25. This reflects the introduction of the variable pricing model, considering the movement of traffic across Dubai during peak, off-peak and past midnight. Since the variable pricing model was introduced on the January 31, '25, we do not have a comparable year-on-year performance at this stage. Growth in total revenue increased 33.7% year-on-year to reach AED 751.6 million. We also saw very strong profitability in the period with EBITDA margin of 69.1%, up by 210 basis points year-on-year. Salik generated net profit after tax of AED 370.6 million, an increase of 33.7% compared to the prior year. I will now hand over to Tariq Ismail, our CTO, who will take you through the mobility highlights for the period as well as provide an update on our strategic progress.

Thank you, Ibrahim. Good afternoon, everyone. Now let's take a look at Salik's key operational highlights Q1 2025. As the population of Dubai grows, so do the number of trips through our gates. The total number of trips, including discounted trips made through Salik's toll gates grew 35.1% year-on-year. This was mainly driven by the launch of variable pricing and the 2 new gates, alongside Dubai's continued attraction of tourists and strong growth in the commercial activities. Our primary perform growth indicator, total chargeable trips, reached 158 million in Q1. This considers the introduction of variable pricing model and the peak, off-peak and past midnight traffic flows. The main difference compared to revenue-generating trips is the inclusion of traffic past midnight, whereby we have seen an increase in the use of Salik toll roads during the period past midnight. In alignment with the government [ objective ] to drive economic expansion and attract both tourists and residents, we have seen a material increase in vehicle registration and new Salik account openings. Active registered accounts reached 2.64 million by the end of the first quarter, which is an increase on the previous quarter of 1.9% and 7.3% year-on-year. The growth is also underlined by a 9.3% growth in registered vehicles, which totaled nearly 4.5 million by the end of Q1. Total trips increased 35.1% year-on-year, reaching AED 210.8 million. Total chargeable trips reached 158 million, with Al Barsha gate and Al Maktoum Bridge registering the highest number of chargeable trips during both peak and off-peak timings, closely followed by Al Safa South and Business Bay Crossing. Total chargeable trips considers variable pricing and the use of toll roads during peak, off-peak and past midnight periods. As instructed by RTA, we introduced variable pricing on January 31, 2025. Variable pricing is designed to ease congestion across Dubai's road network and enhance overall transportation efficiency. This approach is based on RTA studies, which have highlighted the need for a variable tariff system that adjusts during peak hours and provide exemptions during hours past midnight. As mentioned earlier in the presentation, 2024 marked a key milestone in the expansion of our ancillary revenue streams with the successful rollout of 2 parking payment solutions. We successfully launched Salik's barrier-free parking payment solution at Dubai Mall, which has been operational since July 1, 2024. This initiative has enhanced the parking experience of visitors, in line with our strategic partnership with Emaar Malls to improve convenience at the world's famous shopping and leisure destination. The performance of the parking solution has been strong with a revenue contribution of AED 2.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. The solution has been received extremely well, in line with our strategy to provide a seamless parking solution and to enhance the guest experience for the residents and visitors at Dubai. In Q4 2024, we also announced a strategic partnership with Parkonic, the UAE's largest private parking sector operator. Under this 5-year agreement, Parkonic will integrate with Salik's wallet across its 107 existing locations as well as any future site it operates across the UAE. This milestone also marks Salik's first expansion of its service, offering beyond the Emirates of Dubai. These partnerships are a significant step in broadening and strengthening our ancillary revenue streams, one of our key strategic pillars for driving sustainable growth over the medium to long term. In terms of our medium to long-term expectations, our parking payment solutions are expected to deliver revenue of between AED 30 million and AED 50 million in 2026 and between AED 120 million to AED 150 million in 2030. In addition to expanding our ancillary revenue streams through parking partnerships, we also entered a strategic partnership with Liva Group, a prominent regional insurance provider. The partnership aims to streamline the policy renewal process, enhancing both convenience and efficiency for our customers. Now in Q1 2025, we are actively building on the foundation by leveraging our comprehensive driver and vehicle database to provide timely renewal reminders and other value-added services. This collaboration reflects our ongoing strategy to harness Salik's unique technology and data capabilities to enhance the overall traffic experience of road users in the UAE. Our data monetization activities are expected to deliver revenue between AED 10 million and AED 20 million in 2026 and in the range of AED 40 million to AED 60 million in 2030. I will now pass over to Maged, our CFO, to take you through Salik's Q1 2025 financial performance.

Thank you, Tariq. Thank you, Ibrahim. Good afternoon, everyone. Looking at our key highlights before taking a look at our financials in more detail. The total revenue growth for the Q1 period increased 33.7% year-on-year to reach AED 751.6 million. Our total chargeable trips, which is now the new terminology that you will hear more often, reached 158 million, accounting for the introduction of the variable pricing model. We also saw very strong profitability in the period. EBITDA increased by 37.9% year-on-year to AED 519.6 million with EBITDA margin expanding by 210 basis points year-on-year. We generated net profit after tax of AED 370.6 million, an increase of 33.7% compared with the prior year. Overall, it's another strong quarter and a solid start to the year. Looking at our revenue cost base and profitability. Toll usage, fines and other revenue contributions such as activation fees and transaction fees amounted to AED 751.6 million. And when accounting for concession fees, operation and maintenance-related costs and other costs such as commissions and employee benefits, that resulted in EBITDA of AED 519.6 million. Accounting for depreciation, amortization and net finance costs, profit before tax totaled AED 407.2 million, an increase of 33.6% year-on-year. Net profit for the Q1 2025 period totaled AED 370.6 million, representing a strong 33.7% increase year-on-year with a strong net profit margin of 49.3%. We delivered a very strong performance in the first quarter with total revenue increasing by 33.7% year-on-year to AED 751.6 million, and it's mainly due to a 35.5% year-on-year increase in revenue from toll usage fee, supported by the introduction of 2 new gates and implementing the variable pricing model along with a strong inflow of tourists and movement individuals across Dubai; a 16.2% year-on-year increase in revenue from fines; and 17.4% year-on-year increase in revenue from tag activations. Let's turn now to look -- a closer look at the trend. While our business cycle is cyclical quarter-by-quarter, we have seen consistent growth in our revenue from toll usage over the years. Our first quarter toll usage revenues increased 35.5% year-on-year to AED 665.6 million, supported by the recent introduction of the 2 new gates and variable pricing. Looking at profitability. Salik has a clear history of consistent EBITDA growth and strong margins. We generated EBITDA of AED 519.6 million in the 3-month period, growing 37.9% year-on-year, Salik's highest quarterly EBITDA performance since inception. Our EBITDA margin reached 69.1% in Q1, representing a 210 basis point year-on-year expansion, as said before, as well as our strong EBITDA generation and margin performance. Our net profit after tax totaled AED 370.6 million, representing a strong 33.7% increase year-on-year. Looking at our cash flow dynamics. We generated a free cash flow of AED 626.7 million in the 3-month period, growing 77.8% year-on-year with a free cash flow margin of 83.4%. Salik's balance sheet remains solid with a strong cash and cash equivalent and short-term deposits balance of AED 1.5 billion. Net debt at the end of the 3-month period totaled AED 4.7 billion from AED 5.2 billion at the end of the full year period, mainly due to increase in cash and deposits due to increase in Salik fee charges. This translates to a trailing 12-month net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.7x, significantly below Salik's debt covenant of 5x. And as a reminder, here, we have also secured a strong investment-grade credit rating from both Moody's and Fitch. This is an important milestone that underscores Salik's solid financial foundation, operational resilience and commitment to transparency. It also enhances our ability to access capital market efficiently. Now handing over to Mr. Ibrahim Al Haddad, our CEO, to take you through our guidance and outlook.

Thanks, Maged. Turning to our business outlook. Our guidance for '25 remains unchanged with revenue expected to increase in the range of 28% to 29% compared to full year of '24, alongside EBITDA margin of 68% to 69%. These projections include contributions from the implementation of variable pricing and our 2 new gates. Given the strong performance this quarter and the various new initiatives recently implemented, we will look closely over the year at whether we need to adjust guidance. And as always, we will update the market when relevant to do so. We are also pleased to provide additional guidance on the expected growth and contribution from our ancillary revenue streams. We expect total revenue from our parking payment solutions to be between AED 30 billion to AED 50 million in '26 and between AED 120 million to AED 150 million in 2030. For data monetization activities, we expect revenue to be in the range of AED 10 million to AED 20 million in '26 and AED 40 million to AED 60 million in 2030. Other ancillary streams, which includes the recent MOU signed with ENOC, are expected to deliver revenue in the range of AED 10 million to AED 15 million by 2030. In summary, we are very pleased to report a strong start in '25 with quarter 1, a seasonally strong quarter for Salik. We are also pleased to have reported such a robust financial and operational performance in the first quarter across both our core tolling business and our growing ancillary revenue streams. Salik continues to perform strongly, and we remain focused on expanding and diversifying our portfolio to drive long-term value. With that, we are happy to open the floor for your questions. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ibrahim. [Operator Instructions] So we have first call, Ankur Agarwal from HSBC.

So I think my two questions, so my first question is given the introduction of the dynamic pricing, what are the early trends that you are seeing? And has it solved the problem of peak congestion? That was the purpose of introducing variable pricing for Salik. So that's my first question. And my second question is that can you give us an idea of the margins for the ancillary revenue stream? It's very helpful that you've provided guidance by different ancillary revenue streams. But if you can give some color on the expected margin on those segments.

I can take the first question. Okay. So variable pricing aims to enhance traffic flow across the city, right, and improve transportation efficiency. So this is based on the studies conducted by RTA. So early data shows that the introduction of this variable pricing has contributed to a 9% decline in traffic volumes and about 4% increase in public transportation ridership. But it's too early to comment on any significant change in behavior. And the higher-than-expected uptick in revenue at peak times needs to be considered in the context of Q1 being a seasonally very strong quarter. And given variable pricing is still in early days, we need to, I think, gather more data to assess the true impacts. So we think it's better to do it once we have full quarters to compare each other to.

And if you allow, Gopal, if I can add something that give some more clarity to the investors and the question asked. Looking at this by charts, you can see before and after implementing. We had -- it was at the peak, it's 40% of the traffic. The off-peak was 52% of the traffic. And as you see here, even though it's as the CTO mentioned, it's too early to assess, we see a slight reduction in the peak time. But this is not coming from the total traffic because we need also to consider that during the past midnight, now whoever doesn't use Salik, he used to come and use Salik. So the traffic during past midnight did not take a portion from the peak or off-peak. Instead, it's an additional traffic came from whoever used to take the free road before implementing the variable price.

From other corridors?

Yes, from other corridors. And I think Gopal can take the second question for the ancillaries.

Yes. Thank you, Maged. So regarding the ancillary revenue streams, I think we've given the guidance on expected revenue. But unfortunately, due to confidentiality and confidentiality reasons, we will not be able to provide exact margins from this. But all that I can say is that all these ancillary business lines, obviously, this will not dilute the current margins that we have from the overall business.

The next question is from Anna Antonova from JPMorgan.

Congratulations on a solid set of results. One question from our side. I think on the last earnings call, you talked about the inflation adjustment and the changes to the concession agreement with the RTA following the introduction of variable pricing. Could you please comment what's the current status of that? I think we didn't see any announcements related to that yet.

Thank you, Anna, for your question. I will take this question. Currently, we are in the final stages with RTA to finalize the addendum of the new documents that will reflect the new formula for calculating the inflation protection. And the discussion was about whether we can take the study outcome, that the tariff has been increased as per the study outcome, the blended rate or not. And what we agreed on that, we will freeze the concession fee as of now because still we don't see any actual results. We don't have actual blended rate. It's all based on studies. And we agreed that going forward, we will rely on an actual blended rate in calculation for the inflation protection. So the mechanism will almost remain the same, the same concept of monitoring the inflation and apply for tariff increase. But instead of comparing AED 4 like before, we start comparing to an actual blended rate that will be clear by the end of the year. We are currently in the late stage of official signing the document. And once it's done, we will start -- we will go with a PR, a press release and explain the details. So for 2025, the concession fee will remain 22.5 as per our guidance.

[Operator Instructions] At this point of time, we don't have any additional hand raised. Maybe I can ask a question. Given the Y-o-Y growth in revenues this year, why the 2025 guidance has been kept the same? I mean, when we should think of increasing the guidance?

Thank you for the question. I believe it is too early to assess. As of now, we just implemented the dynamic pricing or variable pricing just a couple of months, as you see in the numbers, just implemented end of Jan. Also for the new gates, it's recently introduced and it needs some time for the commuters to adjust to the new system and used to it. So we thought it's too early right now to give a revised guidance based on just 1 month of data or a couple of months of data. So definitely, we will consider to revise the guidance if needed, based on the actual results by the end of Q2.

And is there any guidance on new gates that you can tell us about?

No, nothing new right now. It's all about RTA to decide when and where, it's a traffic management call. It's not our call. So as of now, we have no instruction from RTA for any new gates anywhere.

All right. All right. [Operator Instructions] I see no raised hands. In that case, I will hand it back to management for the closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Kumar, and thanks for everyone. Thanks for Bank of America for organizing today's call, and thanks for attending by all our investors, the current and potential investors. Please, if you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out to us at Investor Relations at salik.ae or visit our website at salik.ae or contact me directly, please. Thank you very much, and have a good day.