A'Saffa Foods SAOG (SPFI) Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

August 5, 2025

MSM OM Consumer Staples Food Products Earnings Calls 50 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#1

Welcome, everybody, to the MSX Investor Relations session to present the financial for the first half of 2025. I would like to just introduce my colleague with me. My name is Muhammad Rafique Chaudhry. I'm the acting CEO. And I have the -- Mr. Yasir, he is the CFO, Deputy CFO of the A'Saffa Foods. Then we have the [indiscernible], he is the Head of the Finance and the accounts and then Ibrahim is the Manager of Finance. This is the introduction of the team. Then I'll just give the brief about the project. And then Mr. Yasir, he will present the financial for the A'Saffa Foods for the first half of the 2025. So I would like to -- at the outset, I would like to inform that we are pleased to say that A'Saffa brand is gaining the success day by day. It is the household name in Oman. And this brand is also established in the other GCC countries also. Thanks to the -- our operation team for consistently maintaining the quality and keeping the high standard to produce the high-quality product. We have celebrated last year the 20 years of operation. And during this 20 years, our team, operation team, they were continuously maintaining the same standard though the capacity has been increased by 5x. I mean -- so though the capacity, I mean -- during this 20 year, we have increased the meat production capacity by 5x in addition to the other investment which we have made in the subsidiary company and in the associate company. But our quality has increased. I mean, we have not faced any deterioration in the quality and the brand. Poultry environment is a challenging environment. I mean if somebody from the livestock, you must be aware that there are diseases which is -- I mean, which outbreaks in the other countries, even in the Europe, I mean, which is -- I mean, the high standard, the standards are very high there. But at the A'Saffa, we are maintaining the quality. We are ensuring that the -- whatever we are giving the feed that should be also the vegetable feed. So that is where we are getting the loyalty of our consumer also. At the same time, thanks to our sales team, sales and marketing to reaching all the loyal consumer in Oman everywhere, they are directly supplying the product also and they are providing the after sale any complaint, they are immediately reaching out to the -- that. This is what we are honestly, we are funding the loyalty of our consumer also. So thanks to the consumers' liability also. So I would like to just -- I mean, that -- our design capacity for this project is 42,000 the placement of the birds. This is the design capacity. But by optimizing, we have reached to the 46 million placement of the -- sorry, 48 million placement of the bird and 46,000 tonnage production of the meat. So this is what the -- by optimizing the facility, though our placement -- I mean, we have increased the 6 million placement of the birds by optimizing our operation. Moreover, our demand, as I told that the success of the brand, that is also visible that the -- our market demand as we are currently producing at the optimized capacity, not the 100% of the optimized capacity and we have the further demand of our product. Demand has grown. So this is the reason that we are going -- we are currently have started another expansion also to increase our capacity by 25%. We are currently the 180 houses, and we are going to another 45 houses farm, which will be completed in the quarter 2 of the 2026 next year, which will increase our placement of the bird to 60 million DOC placement in the broiler housing. And we have the workforce, the human resource, which is our biggest strength to produce the high-quality product and to reach out to all the customers. So we have the very skilled manpower with us, very loyal manpower. So that is helping us to achieve all this growth. Now I would like to request Mr. Yasir. He will present the financials for the first half of 2025.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#2

As Mr. Rafique. just mentioned, we are pleased to present the first half financials of A'Saffa Foods, and we can compare with the last year. However, as you already must have seen the financials, we will touch base only the financials so we can keep more time for the question and answers. I will go only into the income statement briefly, and then we will leave more time for you to give the questions -- or ask the questions. As you can see and as you also must have read analyzed the information from the websites, the group has achieved OMR 29 million as compared to the OMR 34 million sales last year. There is a reduction in the sales by around 15% and that was due to the carryforward stock that has been sold last year. Having said that, if you can go to the gross profit, you will see that the gross profit achieved in this year in the group level is better than the last year. We achieved OMR 9,456,000 as compared to OMR 9,159,000, which is almost more than 3% more. That is due to different reasons and I just give the highlights that the product mix which was sold this year, giving more profitability, also more control on the procurement side and the product efficiency that all of these factors has contributed to a better gross profit. With regards to the expenses, we have controlled the expenses. And if you can see almost more or less that the expenses as compared to the last year are same. Hence, the profit before tax has been -- or it increased achieved in the group level OMR 4,930,000 as compared to OMR 4,618,000, which is almost 7% more if we compare to the last year. Finance cost more or less the same. However, I want to only emphasize on the share of net gain from associates Osool poultry, as you all aware from the previous sessions. Osool also recorded a better profitability if we compare from last year and achieved share of gain, which we recorded in the group this year is OMR 450,000 for the first 6 months as compared to OMR 377,000. Also that contributed to profit achievement, which you can see the profit after taking tax into the consideration, the group has achieved OMR 3,562,000 as compared to OMR 3,159,000, which is almost 13% better than the last year. So this is a brief of the financial achievements and if you have -- we will leave now the time for you to ask questions and we will answer.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#3

We will go to the Q&A session now. I just want to tell that I think I forgot to introduce one of our members, Amira ElAtta. She is our Investor Relations Officer.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#4

This is Abbas Muslemi from U-Capital. Congratulations on a great set of numbers. A couple of questions from my side. One is, can you speak about the overall industry in terms of -- if you're seeing any sort of structural shift from frozen to fresh products? Because I wanted to reflect on the capacity expansion that you've planned. There was one successful one where you're pretty much working at 100% utilization now. And there's another one that hopefully should come on stream, I think, next year, which you've spoken about in the past. So just wanted to understand, is there a structural shift that you're seeing from frozen to fresh -- maybe A'Saffa has brand appeal instead of a commodity appeal. What I mean is people prefer your brand over others. I'm just trying to understand what's the next 3- to 5-year sort of story for A'Saffa? That's my first question.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#5

Good question. Thank you very much. To produce the fresh chicken, we need the -- we must need the air chilling capacity. So because in the 2021 expansion, we set up most -- the modern slaughter house with 12,000 birds, the slaughter line -- per hour slaughtering line. And then I mean, visualizing the chilled requirement, we set up the chilled line, I mean, which is the air chilled capacity for the 3,000 birds per hour. But what we have noticed how the market shift is -- I mean, changing in the Oman, that is really impressive. It was expected. We were expecting it that there will be a shift. That is the reason we kept proper design. We kept the space to increase the air chilling capacity, but we were not expecting that it will be so soon. So immediately after that, we have to increase the air chilling capacity from the 3,000 birds to 6,000 birds per hour. Now our 50% the capacity -- production capacity is going to the air chilling. And that is reflecting how the chilled product market has increased also. I think Yasir will give the number also how much the chilled -- I mean, the sales has increased, but it has increased by double, I understand.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#6

Yes, Rafique. Now -- even the quality of the chilled product will increase, that will yield more customer satisfaction because the product which -- as Mr. Rafique was saying that the demand is raising. So we had to -- even though the chilling capacity was very limited, so we had to fulfill the requirement of the customer. Now almost we are reaching around 900 metric tons on a monthly basis from a chilled point of view. So that is giving us around 25% or 26% of total -- I mean monthly production is chilled.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#7

But if we compare with the previous one, it is more than 50% -- I mean, more than 100%, we were at 400, 450 tonnes. So we have reached to the 900 metric ton the monthly sale of the chilled. So this is the level of the increase for the chilled production. And I would like to add further that we are expecting further increase. That is the reason we have kept a proper provision in the design that we can change our production line to the 100% air chilled production also that we have kept the proper provisioning in the design.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#8

Okay. And after this expansion that you have already announced, just some specific questions on the expansion. When will that come on stream? And Yes, please go on...

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#9

It will complete in the May 2026, the expansion. And the moment the production -- sorry, the installation or the expansion project will complete, we will immediately start because we have already the demand with us, and we will not wait. We will immediately start the -- utilizing the full expanded capacity that we will start. And...

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#10

Yes. Just a follow-up question on the expansion was that you've already spent last year close to OMR 2 million in CapEx. And this year for the first half, OMR 470,000. So until May of next year, what sort of incremental CapEx are you seeing from the June end results that you announced till May next year until the expansion goes live? And how are you going to fund it?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#11

So I think when I spoke about the optimizing the capacity, so that is what -- because there was -- we were having the one area which were already fully utilized. So last year, we increased our only hatchery capacity where we are producing the day old chip, which is -- which are being placed in the broiler houses. So that -- after increasing the hatchery capacity, we increased our capacity by 15% just by optimizing the utilization of the broiler houses. So that all expansion, we have the -- I mean, sourced from our internal sources. So this expansion project, it will be from the internal sourcing also and from the funds generated also. We will be -- we are -- we have the around OMR 5 million -- OMR 5 million to OMR 6 million, we will be securing from our sources and OMR 8 million to OMR 9 million, we have the already approved facility -- the loan facility with us.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#12

And how much of that OMR 8 million to OMR 9 million has already been drawn down?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#13

Not yet. We will -- A'Saffa practices that first, we utilize our own sourcing -- our own the funds available, then we will go into the drawdown because we want to make sure that our project cost will not increase by unnecessarily adding the pre-operating -- I mean, the finance cost into that. That is from the beginning, this is the practice at A'Saffa we are doing. We will go drawdown after exhausting our own resources.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#14

Actually, this brings me to my second level of questioning, which is around your balance sheet and your borrowings. Now I can see that you have outstanding borrowings of close to OMR 40 million, and you're looking to add another OMR 9 million. So you're looking at a total comprehensive borrowing at OMR 50 million. Then I can see that based on your first half cash flows, I'm going to not just talk about net profit, I'm talking about cash flows. You generated close to -- without any working capital changes on an annual basis, you're generating close to OMR 13 million. So I would imagine there is very good room for you to renegotiate the terms of this OMR 40 million, OMR 50 million loans, which we've seen with some of these other companies in the market over like a longer period where suddenly there is more cash. So you can -- there will be more cash available for even your dividend commitments. I feel like the company is generating serious cash, which sometimes is being hidden because of the very high amortization that you're paying right now. So this was just wondering if there's any conversation at your level to rationalize some of this amortization schedule over like a 10-year, 12-year period. I know banks are very, very accommodative in this environment. So just wanted to understand what are you looking at? Because when I do the numbers myself, I can see that you can release serious money for dividend distribution if you manage to just push your amortization over a longer period. Just wanted to hear your views on this.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#15

I would just like to be informed, though the decision will come at the Board meeting, but I would like to give the comfort that there will be the dividend, and there will be increased dividend this year. That will be -- I mean, that will be sure. But I mean, it is difficult to speak anything now because the Board has to -- it is -- I mean, the Board authority to approve this one. But yes, whatever you have spoken, that is already being considered and the dividend will be considering those factors which you have just spoken. As regard the rescheduling, that is also -- this option is being considered also, but there are 2 -- I mean, there are 2 scenarios. One is to reduce the debt and go into the further -- I mean, the further takeover the project expansion or something increasing the project base. So there are 2 things. But this option, which you have spoken is under active consideration.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#16

Excellent. This is excellent news. Just a final question in terms of your -- currently, what sort of borrowing costs are you looking at given A'Saffa's strength and your strong relationships, what sort of average borrowing costs are you looking at on this post sort of drawdown of OMR 50 million debt outstanding? Just for me to sort of plug it into my model.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#17

We -- I know when we set up the food subsidiary project, that time we got the 3.25% the financing cost. We were looking something 4.5%, but I think it is -- the deal is at 5%.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#18

For the entire OMR 40 million, OMR 50 million facility?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#19

No, no, I'm talking -- which we are talking the loan for the expansion project. But for the entire facility, also we will be negotiating around similar term.

Abbas Muslemi

Analysts
#20

Wow, that's fantastic. really. That brings down your cost of capital in a very meaningful way. Excellent. That's it from my side. You guys are doing a fantastic job. Look forward to interacting with the future. I'm sure some of my colleagues have questions for you.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#21

Any other question.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#22

This is [indiscernible] from Vision Capital. I just had a couple of questions. First thing that you mentioned that the new capacity will be coming online in May 2026. Do you expect -- how soon do you expect it to ramp up to 100% utilization? Is there a period as you mentioned that you will obviously be starting on this new capacity immediately, but how soon do you expect it to go 100%.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#23

Let me repeat your question because the voice was not correct. So you are asking about the utilization of the new expansion when we will reach 100% capacity. Is that correct?

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#24

Precisely. Yes, sir.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#25

Okay. So I think it was mentioned briefly by Mr. Rafique that immediately our plan is to go to 100% capacity.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#26

And to further, I think I just -- I will add only that currently, as I mentioned in the previous -- I mean, in the intro also that our demand is currently more than what we are producing already more. And we have to -- because Oman is our major market, Oman is, I mean, where we have the strong base. So we are already reducing our export some percentages, and we are going more into the Oman market. So we have already the presence in the other 4 GCC countries and the demand already there. So we don't feel any issue of going into producing another 10,000 metric tons and selling that the capacity in the market.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#27

Perfect, sir. On the demand side, as you mentioned, obviously, there's a huge demand in the country. What about competition? Do you see any threats from the competitors because on the frozen chicken side, especially because in the region, we can see that competition has been giving some tough time to local producers where is in Oman, your margins are very decent, higher than those in the region. So what is driving these margins for you? And if you could shed some light on competition as well?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#28

Okay. The -- honestly speaking, the major which is there, that is the -- what we are continuously achieving the economy of the scale. That is the one factor that is helping us because I remember we were having the margin -- similar margin until the 2015, '16, then because there was some time -- some gap for the increase in the capacity where we had -- we saw the -- I mean, the reduction in the margin. Once we have gone into the capacity increase, we have achieved the economy of the scale, we have reduced the fixed overhead cost over the production -- over the unit of the production, we started achieving the -- again, the good result. And this is what we are continuously following. At the same time, as Mr. Yasir has said, our other investment associate company -- that is also -- I mean, when they came into the full production, they are also contributing, I mean, the healthy contribution from their side in our -- the result. On the other side, if we look at the 2021 to 2024, the material prices were abnormally high. I mean, it has gone to the -- some material prices gone double than the -- what was the earlier standard. So there is the price improvement also and our procurement strategy also, that also helped us. See, I would like to just say that during this challenging world, during the turmoil, we have to go extra care. We have to ensure the availability of the raw material and the stocks, which we are taking care of that. That is helping us in -- by taking those to arrest the better -- the cost of the material also, which is helping us to improve this profitability.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#29

Right. So you source your feed obviously, locally. Is that correct?

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#30

So the feed is -- mostly all the feed items are being imported because our major commodities are not grown in this region, we have to import.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#31

Right. So what my understanding is that are these margins sustainable? Or would we be -- are these dependent on international commodity pricing and we can -- in case there is an increased uptake in feed prices, we might see your margins compressing because you might not be able to pass on the cost if that happens?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#32

When the material prices were high -- I mean, the high also because that time, then ultimately, the -- okay, there is a material cost factor. But I think the economy of the scale, that has a more significant factor. If the material cost will increase, there are the avenues where it can be compensated. So it is all sustainable. I mean, when the material prices has gone double also, we were also that time achieving the good results. There might be a little bit, I mean, the percentage -- I mean the impact on the percentage, net percentage, but we don't expect any -- I mean, the -- anything on a major negative side.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#33

Right. Perfect. And my last question would be on the competition. Do you see any threat from the competitors' international competition in the frozen market?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#34

There is no competition as far as the other local producer in Oman. We are all -- we are considering them as a partner and trying always to help them whenever there is a need. So we don't consider them competitor. Our major competition comes only with the frozen product when they are being dumped in the country at a cheaper prices when those are the -- I mean, which is called dumping. So that threat is there because they near the expiry product coming at a cheaper prices. But I think now that is being a little bit controlled now, which is helping us. And on the other side also, we have seen the internationally, the demand -- there is a surge in the demand also. So that threat is not visible for the -- probably if I mean, foresee for the next few years, that threat is not there.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#35

Any other question.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#36

Am I audible?

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#37

Yes, please.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#38

One question I wanted to ask is regarding the overall poultry market size in Oman, like if you can bifurcate between the fresh and frozen, like what's the market share in terms of capacity and all? Also, what would be market share of A'Saffa in that particular market?

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#39

Okay. There is no official numbers regarding the overall market in Oman, but we have done our own initial exercises where we see that the overall demand is around -- it varies between 200 to 220,000 metric tons. A'Saffa Is producing around now currently, as mentioned in the slide, 46,000. So that is our share overall of the market. With regards to the retail market, we are around 25% that is between the chilled and also the frozen. There are no official [indiscernible] emphasized statistics on this. This is our own internal efforts.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#40

Okay. Also considering you have a planned expansion, which will be going live next year in May 2026. So apart from that, are there any planned expansions like post that because you said there's good demand coming in. So...

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#41

Can you repeat...

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#42

I think he's asking the future plans. Yes. So A'Saffa is always actively working on the planning side. But so far, which has been -- yes, there are always discussion on the further investment or the further -- the growth that is there. I mean, the vertically, horizontally and in the other similar project also, those are there. But so far, the concrete one, which is the expansion project is going on, that is the approved one. Other are just ideas still.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#43

[indiscernible].

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#44

This is Rashid an asset [indiscernible] from U-Capital. I just want to ask about the cost of sales margin. You have mentioned that you don't expect a huge, let's say, a significant increase in the margin. So do you expect that it will be around, let's say, 45% to 50% this range, even post the expansion?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#45

I think the margin, which is currently we are achieving that is more of the -- I mean, the reflective for the future also. So it should be around similar, the margin will be around -- if you are talking margin to the gross profit?

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#46

Yes.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#47

So. Normally, honestly, the 30% to 35%, that is the best margin, which A'Saffa earlier was achieving also, and now we are also in the same range.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#48

Great. My second question is about the CapEx to the sales. After the expansion, do you expect that -- or what is your target for that?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#49

We have CapEx -- yes. For this expansion project, we have the CapEx of the OMR 14 million.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#50

Yes. I mean after the expansion. Do you have a specific target?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#51

We have the target, but until unless those are not approved, those are the -- as I said earlier, so we -- there is a discussion at the A'Saffa Board meeting, that the A'Saffa investment committees, there are discussions, but so far, we are focusing on our expansion project. We will work on that one on those, I mean, areas. We have to see the viability. We have to see the possibilities of available market study. Then we can -- then we have to work on the -- and then we can see the cost estimate also. Cost estimate is easy, but the other part is more delicate to market study and to see the viability also. So that will be after this expansion.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#52

There is one KB is raising his hand.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#53

Am I audible?

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#54

Yes.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#55

Yes. So in quarter 2, we witnessed a growth of almost 10%. Could you quantify how much of this was a volume based and how much was the price based?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#56

10% you are talking, which one?

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#57

Quarter 2, quarter 2 of '25 year-on-year, we witnessed...

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#58

So there is -- I mean, the last year because the -- this is a product mix basically, the product mix and the contribution from the Osool also, which had helped the increased -- the profitability in the quarter 2. But at the same time, when we are comparing it to the last year, last year, the carryforward stock because the stock -- the product mix -- because there are in the poultry meat also, if you see, it's not the poultry meat, it is the processed items also there. So there are very -- I mean, the -- quite a big number of range of the product and every product has a different profitability. So those -- most of the volume which was sold was having the less profitability in that one. So that was the reason when we are comparing with the last year, the number is not -- I mean the comparison is missing the -- those factors.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#59

Okay. Understood. Secondly, with regard to the pricing, could you please speak a bit on the pricing dynamics of frozen and the fresh? What is the difference between frozen and fresh? And is there any scope of fresh taking over frozen in near term?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#60

Fresh has taken over the frozen already. I mean, started taking over as the -- we said that it is almost double than what was earlier, the fresh. This is the -- as far as -- I mean, you have asked the pricing. Honestly speaking, A'Saffa pricing fresh and frozen, the gap is probably the smallest one if you compare any other fresh and frozen because our prices are the same pricing from 2009, I think, yes, 2009, we have the same price for the frozen, same for the fresh. When the material prices gone high, we more focus on optimizing our processes, reducing our cost instead of going to the consumer production and asking for the price increase. We did not opt for that. We have gone to this. So the prices are same. retail price, I think...

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#61

Yes. So the idea is I think maybe you are asking whether fresh is more profitable than the frozen, just anticipating the objective of your question, we see that both are realizing the same realization because there is a return also in the fresh. However, we are increasing the fresh due to the response to the customer demand. It's not because profitability is more in the fresh.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#62

Return factor plus logistic cost and packing cost. So our margin, as Mr. Yasir said, it is -- we are earning the same thing. But we want to meet the customer demand. If the customer will ask 100% production of fresh, we will supply.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#63

Okay. Understood. Actually, my purpose was in starting of 2025, we witnessed a lot of dumping happening from Brazil in the entire GCC region. And the entire region was facing a lot of pricing pressure, whereas that was not noticed in Oman, like I could see from your results that there was not as such pricing pressure. So I just want to understand that are we -- I mean, what sort of pricing we are at, at this point of time as compared to last year? And are we witnessing any pricing pressure from the imports in the country?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#64

I think it's not the Oman that where the other GCC, the dumping, no. In fact, it is the other way when some countries buying from the Brazil, the major GCC country, in the 2023, '22, those were dumped in Oman because the Oman that time, the regulation for the near to expiry. So that was not very -- I mean, stringent -- those regulations. So the more dumping happen. Now if we see the Brazil, they are not, I think, dumping in the other countries also in the GCC, I'm talking, but they have the other market open for them. So they have the market probably in the Europe also the bigger market because the Europe is, as I mentioned in the intro also, the disease challenges, the production has received -- reduced. And if I remember, I think even the Russian countries are -- the demand has increased. So they are going into that market. They are not that they are -- the Oman, they are selling less and other GCC countries, they are no. That is not the case.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#65

Okay. And in terms of exports, which countries do we specifically look at?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#66

We are supplying to all the GCC countries, except Saudi Arabia. Though the Saudi Arabia has also approved our project. I mean they have visited the project. They gave the certificate, but we don't have the volume to go and enter into the Saudi market because the volume -- then the huge volume is required. If we enter Saudi market, then we should enter with a bigger volume. So we opted not to go there.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#67

[indiscernible] was raising and the time slips, yes, we will just give a fair opportunities to other colleagues as well. Please go ahead. If no one, then KP can continue your question.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#68

You just answered my question about the Saudi market.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#69

Okay, so KP please go ahead with your follow-up.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#70

Okay. I wanted to know if you receive any subsidies from the government?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#71

We don't receive. There's no subsidy on the poultry production. There's no -- I mean, from 2015 onwards, there was a very small portion was given in 1 year, probably it was '22, I think, but that was very negligible. So otherwise, there is no subsidy.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#72

Okay. And in terms of the export markets that we are exploring in terms of pricing difference, how do we see? Are they attractive as compared to local markets?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#73

We are selling the -- I mean, we are keeping the similar prices in the export market. We are ensuring that we are getting a similar pricing from the export market.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#74

Okay. And do we supply to HoReCa segment?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#75

We do. We supply to the HoReCa segment.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#76

And what would be the percentage of total at present?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#77

Percentage is very small because the HoReCa -- most of the HoReCa, they are going for the cheaper option. But there are restaurants who want to, I mean, keep the quality and they want to take the A'Saffa brand, they are buying from A'Saffa.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#78

In addition to that, there are some customers -- major customers who are specifically asking for A'Saffa in terms of the HoReCa. There are some government -- also institutions who specifically are asking for [indiscernible]. So there was HoReCa [indiscernible].

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#79

Okay. And the new capacity is coming online, I believe, in second quarter of '26. But from the existing capacities that we have, do we have any planned shutdown of the existing capacities in the near term?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#80

We cannot shut down. We cannot shutdown...

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#81

No, I meant for maintenance or something.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#82

Maintenance we are doing weekly [indiscernible] staff for maintenance, cleaning, deep cleaning. Deep cleaning is every day, but for the maintenance and deep cleaning 1 day [indiscernible].

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#83

We have a very -- the experts maintenance team, full-fledged maintenance team at the farm who are doing all the preventive maintenance also and the regular maintenance -- the critical machine is I mean on the place there who are taken care of -- with the maintenance...

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#84

So somebody is waiting on the queue [indiscernible].

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#85

Yes. Can you guys hear me?

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#86

Yes.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#87

I wanted to ask about your feed inputs. Do you guys have any hedging policies in place?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#88

We are always discussing the options. We are calculating for the hedging options also and spot buying. But mostly when we saw the hedging premium, so then we are preferring to go for the spot buying. We don't have any issue for our financial arrangement. So mostly, we are going for the spot buying because we are buying when the prices are cheaper. So -- and we -- instead of hedging, what we do is we go for the, let's say, now we are covered until December. We have the stock covered. We have the material already. So we have the forward booking that we are doing.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#89

I see. So is it safe to say that you have 4 months of inventory hedged?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#90

Yes, already.

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#91

I see. And then in regards to cost of feed as a percent of sales, do you guys have a target ratio in mind? Yes, cost of feed as a percent of revenue or sales?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#92

Yes, we always have the target ratio for all our costs. That is where we have the budget. We do have the target ratio for every cost.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#93

Anybody -- anyone has another question? We have...

Unknown Analyst

Analysts
#94

Yes. I just have one last question. With regard to the new capacity coming online, the preoperating costs of this capacity, could you give a ballpark figure like from your past experiences, how much would that like could be?

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#95

It will not be significant because honestly speaking, the pre-operating cost, I think we have taken only maybe I'll just give the...

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#96

This is a running project. So I mean, whoever the team that is running the expansion are the same team who are running the operation. So mainly the preoperative cost is very, very negligible. I don't think it's worth to mention.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#97

It will be OMR 300,000 something maximum, I think, the preoperating cost.

Yasir Abdullah Rashid Al Salmani

Executives
#98

Anyone has any further question? I think we are nearing [indiscernible] thank you much. Thanks for valuable questions and we are looking forward to meet you in the next session. Thank you very much.

Muhammad Chaudhry

Executives
#99

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining this session.

For developers and AI pipelines

Programmatic access to A'Saffa Foods SAOG earnings transcripts and 32,000+ others is available through the EarningsCalls.dev REST API. Plans from $24.99/month — full transcripts, speaker segments, full-text search, and the recently-added /api/v1/transcripts/recent polling endpoint for ETL pipelines.