Vodafone Qatar P.Q.S.C. (VFQS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to Vodafone. Please note that this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would like to hand over the call to our moderator, Bobby Sarkar. Bobby, please go ahead.

Thank you, Mark. Hi, hello, everyone. This is Bobby Sarkar, Head of Research at QNB Financial Services. I wanted to welcome everyone to Vodafone Qatar's Third Quarter and 9 Months 2024 Results Conference Call. So on this call from Vodafone Qatar management, we have Masroor Anjum, who is the CFO; and Pauline Saab, who is the Head of Investor Relations. As usual, we will conduct this conference with management first reviewing the company's results followed by a Q&A. I would now like to turn the call over to Pauline. Please, Pauline, go ahead.

Thank you, Bobby. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Vodafone Qatar financial results call. Before we begin, I would like to apologize on behalf of Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim Al-Thani, our Chief Executive Officer, who is unable to join us today. Masroor Anjum, our Chief Financial Officer, will be presenting the financial and operational performance highlights on his behalf. Today's presentation is accessible on our website at vodafone.qa with the usual disclaimer on Slide #2. So to begin, I now hand over to Masroor.

Thank you, Pauline. Thank you, Bobby, and thank you, QNB for organizing this conference. Good afternoon, everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome you to our quarterly analyst call for Q3 2024. Let's jump to the key messages on Slide #4. I'm pleased to report that the positive momentum we have built in recent quarters has continued to strengthen, driving solid growth in both revenue and profitability during the first 9 months of 2024. Despite a challenging market environment, our strong execution and disciplined focus on key performance metrics have been pivotal in achieving these results. Our top line continues to expand, allowing us to consistently improve profitability and margins. As of Q3 year-to-date, our net profit margin has surpassed 18%, and our underlying EBITDA margin is approaching 47%. These figures underscore our ability to balance growth with operational efficiency. Secondly, I want to emphasize that this performance comes despite the headwinds in the market. We have made significant strides in our revenue market share, which has increased by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 30.7% in Q2 FY '24 on a trailing 12-month basis. This marks our 12th consecutive quarter of RMS gain, highlighting the effectiveness of our disciplined market execution. In addition to these financial achievements, I want to highlight our continued innovation in delivering products and features that enhance the customer experience, an area of focus for us. Recently, we launched the Instant SIM solution, enabling customers to activate their lines in seconds with the flexibility of choosing between postpaid and prepaid using both physical SIM or eSIM options. We also introduced our new postpaid portfolio, bringing several features to the market for the first time. The positive customer response to these offerings reassures us that we are on the right track with our value-driven product road map. Lastly, as we continue to enhance our core telecom services, we are also positioning ourselves for future growth through advanced technologies. This involves 2 key areas: one, improving our operational efficiency by becoming a more digital and streamlined organization and expanding into non-core technology solutions for both consumers as well as businesses. Our recent partnership with Microsoft is a critical step in this direction, supporting both our internal digital transformation and a broader strategy to diversify and explore new growth opportunities. Now let's move to next slide, and let's take a very quick look at the key features of our new postpaid plans. Our new postpaid portfolio consists of Postpaid+ for mid-value segment and Unlimited+ for the high-value segment. Both categories of plans offer a range of lifestyle benefits in addition to core telecom services. With this launch, we are proud to drive innovation forward by introducing features and benefits never seen before in Qatar. On the telecom services side, we are proud to be the first provider in Qatar to introduce dedicated social media apps data for postpaid customers. This allows customers to use popular platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok without any restrictions. We have also introduced features tailored to specific customer needs, including multi-SIM, mute services and international call block. And lastly, we have launched our new program for Unlimited+ customers named iPass. This offers access to exclusive experiences across 5 different categories. Together, these offerings deliver the best telecom and lifestyle experience for both mid-value and high-value segments. I will now move to detailed financial review slides. Let's start the financial review with key financial performance highlights on Slide #7. Our commitment to enhancing customer experience and delivering value has driven a robust financial performance with top line growth of 3.9%. This growth is underpinned by a 2.8% increase in service revenue, highlighting expansion across our mobile, fixed and wholesale segments. In addition, our ongoing emphasis on cost optimization has been critical in supporting our overall success. This strategic focus has enabled us to continue investing in network expansion and achieving revenue growth while consistently improving operational efficiency. We are pleased to report a sustained reduction in OpEx intensity, which reached 23.3% for the 9 months period ended September 30, 2024. Sustained top line growth, coupled with our commitment to efficiency has translated into exceptional profitability. We have surpassed QAR 1 billion in absolute EBITDA for the first time in the 9 months period, achieving a year-on-year growth of 6.4%. Net profit for the period stands at QAR 437 million, representing a solid year-on-year growth of 11.5%. Lastly, our financial strength remains evident through our robust liquidity position. Operating cash flow reached QAR 453 million, marking a 20% year-on-year increase on an underlying basis. This achievement is a direct result of our effective collection strategies and successful working capital optimization initiatives. Now let's turn to attention to Slide #8. This slide showcases our key financial performance metrics for the 9 months period compared to the same period of last year. Total revenue increased by QAR 89 million, reflecting a strong year-on-year growth of 3.9%. This growth was primarily driven by a 2.8% rise in service revenue with all business segments contributing positively. Despite higher revenue and ongoing network expansion, we have effectively maintained stable expenses, underscoring the success of our cost optimization initiatives. Year-on-year increase in direct cost is directly attributable to higher equipment costs corresponding to higher equipment revenue, excluding equipment costs, direct costs have declined year-on-year. With increased service revenue and disciplined cost management, EBITDA grew by an impressive 6.4% year-on-year, leading to a margin expansion of 1 percentage point, reaching 42.3%. This solid performance translated into robust net profit growth of 11.5%, reaching QAR 437 million. Let's now turn to Slide #9, which talks about our key financial performance metrics for the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period of last year. The growth momentum we experienced in the first half of the year continued very strongly in Q3 as well. Total revenue increased by 7.3% year-on-year, driven primarily by a 2.8% rise in service revenue. This growth was supported by positive contributions across all service revenue segments, including prepaid, postpaid, managed services and fixed. Increase in equipment revenues this quarter is primarily attributable to the recognition of nonrecurring project revenue amounting to QAR 34 million. Expenses increased by 7.2%, mainly due to higher direct costs associated with the nonrecurring project revenue recognized during this quarter. Excluding this impact, direct costs have decreased year-on-year. The combination of higher service revenue and disciplined cost management resulted in a robust 7.3% year-on-year increase in EBITDA with a margin of 42.3% for the quarter. This strong financial performance translated into 8.8% growth in quarterly net profit, reaching QAR 144 million for the current quarter. Now taking a closer look at service revenue on Slide #10. As I mentioned before, all our service revenue segments continue to show positive growth year-on-year. Starting with postpaid. In postpaid segment, our efforts this year have been centered on upgrading our customer base and minimizing discounted offerings to existing customers. This strategy has led to a notable 3.9% improvement in postpaid ARPU year-on-year and an enhanced margin. However, this shift has led to consolidation and post to pre movement resulting in reduction in postpaid base in the short run. This, along with the fact that in Q1 last year, we still had the impact of World Cup-related contracts resulted in muted postpaid revenue performance year-on-year. As I mentioned earlier, during this quarter, we revamped our postpaid product portfolio with enriched Unlimited+ and Postpaid+ plans. The initial response to these plans is really encouraging. In the enterprise segment, we continue to encounter aggressive price competition. While we recognize the potential for improved market discipline, we remain selective in responding to competitive offers, ensuring we maintain our overall competitiveness without compromising on value or long-term strategy. Talking about prepaid. Prepaid revenue has recorded a growth of 2% year-on-year after declining by close to 11.5% last year. As mentioned before, we have seen a noticeable reduction in market pricing aggression in prepaid segment by customers receiving good value but at a reasonable price. As a result, prepaid ARPU has recorded an impressive growth of 4.5% year-on-year. However, this shift has led to consolidation in the market and attrition of ultra-low value subscribers. Overall, prepaid revenue has not only stabilized but has also started to grow, which is really encouraging. Managed services, wholesale and fixed revenues are the primary service revenue growth drivers, registering an increase of 6.2%. Wholesale business, including inbound roaming visitors revenue recorded impressive growth, reflecting increase in number of visitors. And our commitment to expand our fiber network is paying off. We are adding new customers nationwide, which has led to a steady increase in our fixed broadband revenue. It's worth highlighting that consumer fixed broadband market has also seen a reduction in intensity of discounted offerings at starting price points towards the end of Q2. This has also started to impact our fixed ARPU and margins. Turning our attention to Slide #11, let's analyze the efficiency and profitability margin trends. Our focus on operational efficiency has yielded positive results. As shown in the first graph, our OpEx intensity continues to decline despite growth in our mobile and fixed networks. We have achieved a further 0.4 percentage point reduction in OpEx intensity compared to FY '23. On to the graph in the center, we see EBITDA margin. Growth in service revenue, coupled with focus on cost optimization, continue to drive margin expansion. We achieved a reported EBITDA margin of 42.3%, registering 1 percentage point improvement over FY '23. Notably, EBITDA margin, excluding equipment business, shows a significant increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to last year. The final graph illustrates our outstanding performance in net profit margin. It has increased by another 1 percentage point compared to FY '23, reaching 18.3%. This achievement is a direct result of sustained strength and ongoing improvement in our EBITDA margins. Turning our attention to Slide #12 now, and let's take a closer look at CapEx and return on capital employed. Our CapEx for the period stands at QAR 178 million, reflecting an intensity of 7.4%. We have taken a very disciplined approach to capital allocation, carefully selecting projects that meet our stringent investment criteria for targeted ROI. While CapEx has trended lower this year compared to previous years, we anticipate a catch-up in Q4 with total CapEx investments remaining within the target range outlined in our external guidance. Our relentless pursuit of growth and profitability has paid off as demonstrated by the substantial improvement in our return on capital employed. Compared to FY '23, our return on capital employed has increased by another 0.7 percentage points to 11.3% on an annualized basis. This translates to a remarkable growth in returns over the past 4 to 5 years. Now coming to cash flow and net debt on Slide #13. As we discussed in previous quarters, working capital management has been a major area of focus because of high market interest rates. The first chart represents operating cash flow, net of capital expenditure, taxes and lease payments. Operating cash flow has registered impressive year-on-year growth of 20%, excluding the impact of last year's World Cup and one-off collections. This achievement is a testament to our company-wide initiatives focused on optimizing cash flow and working capital management. As a result, our net debt has reduced year-on-year by 31%, even with an increase in dividend payout and net debt-to-EBITDA ratio has improved from 0.38x to 0.25x, well below the financing covenant of 2.5x of EBITDA. Turning to statutory income statement on Slide #14, we have already covered major year-on-year movements. Both consumer and enterprise and other revenue increased year-on-year. Notably, this quarter, we also had a one-off accelerated depreciation on few assets, which are subject to modernization and the impact is QAR 7 million for this quarter. Decrease in financing cost reflects the impact of optimized borrowing despite impact of higher interest rates and lastly, EPS has also increased in line with the net profit. To sum up my presentation today, let's look at the 5 years trend view of our key financial performance indicators on Slide #15. Our top line growth continues despite the market slowdown and pricing aggression we talked about earlier. Over the last 5 years, our top line has registered a very impressive compound annual growth rate of 9% in service revenue and 10.3% in total revenue, underscoring our ability to navigate challenges and sustain robust growth in our revenue. Importantly, while expenses have increased, they have consistently remained lower than the growth in our top line. This strategic balance has resulted in substantial profitability growth. EBITDA has seen an impressive CAGR of 14.3% and net profit has soared with an extraordinary CAGR of 36.3%. These results underscore our strategic focus on sustainable growth, operational efficiency, prudent financial management. As we continue to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities, we remain committed to delivering value to our shareholders. Lastly, on full year guidance on Slide #16, there are no changes to what we discussed in H1. We are tracking well to deliver on our guidance. To summarize this, management expects top line to continue to grow with an impressive margin expansion of up to 1 percentage point, resulting in yet another strong EPS growth of 8% to 12%. At the same time, CapEx intensity is expected to reduce and remain between 12% to 14% for the full year FY '24. And that's all from my side. As usual, the balance sheet, detailed statement of income, subscribers and ARPU details are available in the appendix. Thank you. And now back to Pauline.

Thank you, Masroor. We can now move to the Q&A session. Operator, kindly explain to the participants how to ask questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Fahad Alghamdi with NBK Wealth.

Congratulations on the results. I just have one question, which is according to the previous investor presentation, there is around 2,500 radio access network sites. I just want to make sure this is the number of towers you have, right?

Okay. So this count that you have just mentioned includes both towers as well as indoor sites.

Okay. How many towers do you have?

We actually don't disclose that externally.

Your next question comes from the line of Nishit Lakhotia with SICO.

I have couple of questions. First, on the -- when you started the presentation, you said the performance despite the headwinds in the market. So I would want you to elaborate on the headwinds that you mentioned. Basically, is it only price-based competition? Is there something to do with your -- maybe the macro situation, population also, because your subscriber count is also low sequentially, it is one of the lowest in last 7, 8 quarters, total subscriber 2,067. So we just want to know whether this is stagnated there and your growth will come only from ARPU expansion and this growth that we've seen this quarter is mainly from equipment project base, so that could be lumpy over a period. So a bit more on what exactly are these headwinds from your end, so we have more clarity on your performance despite the headwinds, both on competition and macro situation. That's my first question. Second, yes, you touched upon the depreciation aspect on the accelerated depreciation. So we saw the depreciation on PPE going up, by more than QAR 10 million to QAR 93 million. So how do we look for it going forward? Do we -- will there be a few more quarters of accelerated depreciation? Or what's the run rate now and why is it being taken? I mean, how many assets, any more clarity on that?

Okay. Thank you for your questions. First of all, addressing your question #1, when we talk about headwinds, we talk about both the macroeconomic environment as well as the pricing competition in the market. Regarding growth, so yes, equipment revenue growth is one of the key elements of our top line. But I mean, you would appreciate that our service revenue, which is high-margin revenue has also increased by 2.8%. On the positive side, prepaid revenue, as I mentioned during the call, which declined last year, has stabilized and has increased by 2% this year. We have been growing in other areas as well other than mobility revenue, which includes our wholesale, managed services and fixed revenue and the growth there for this year is 6.2%. So yes, there is a growth on equipment side, but there is a growth on the high-margin service revenue side as well. Regarding your question #2, the increase in depreciation is partly resulting from network modernization-related accelerated depreciation amounting to QAR 7 million that we have taken in this quarter. There is a further impact of around QAR 8 million to QAR 10 million that we will see in Q4, and that's about it.

Okay. So in terms of the macro situation, how do you see it going forward? Do you expect the population to increase going forward, subscriber count to go up? I mean, anything -- how are you looking at it from a strategy point of view on your forecasts?

Okay. See, yes, so we don't expect population to grow significantly. You all know the organic population growth opportunities in the market are limited. Where the growth for us is going to come from and from where it is coming in the last few years, the first target area is the high-value segment. If you look at the difference in ARPU between us and the competition, it's still in the range of 20% to 30%. And the reason for that is the majority of the high-value customers still sit with the competition. We are focusing on gaining our share -- our fair share in that segment. That should definitely help us improve our overall ARPU as well as revenue. The second area of growth for us is the fixed segment. You know that we started getting into fixed market quite late. We are still expanding our fiber network across the country, and we are still far off from our fair share of market in the fixed segment. So these are the 2 major growth areas on the core telecom service revenue side that we are targeting.

Okay. So in terms of growth areas that you mentioned, what about data center? Your competition is investing quite a bit in the data center, and you are saying your CapEx intensity is going to fall going forward. What's your strategy on data centers?

So as of now, I mean, we don't have any plans to enter into data centers. If there is anything which comes up in the future, we'll definitely take you guys and look.

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Aashish Agarwal with The First Investor.

This is Aashish Agarwal from The First Investor. So I recently saw a news that Starlink service has been started in Qatar Airways Airlines. And I believe Starlink of Elon Musk is also planning to come to Qatar, I think, in the late 2024 or early 2025. So how do you look at this competition in terms of your fixed -- in terms of your fiber offering? Because I believe that will be a direct competition to your fiber offering currently. So if you can comment on that.

Yes, we have also been hearing. But I mean, since we don't have specific details on how these plans will cost, what sort of quality of service that will bring to the market, we are keeping a very close eye on this thing. As soon as we see the details, we'll be able to better comment on that.

Your next question comes from the line of [indiscernible] with Orion Investment.

So just one question. What is your market share in the fixed business that you just mentioned is one of the growth areas. What is your current market share and what do you want to achieve?

So we have not been disclosing our fixed customers and revenue separately and the details of the market share due to competitive reasons. As I mentioned earlier while answering a question, we still are far off from achieving our fair share in fixed. We are expanding our network across the country. And as we expand and grow at some point in time, we can start sharing the results with you guys.

Sounds good. One more question. This quarter we saw a significant growth in your equipment sales. Is this -- and usually equipment sales, correct me if I'm wrong, these are not high -- these are high margin or these are not high margin? That's one. Secondly, is this because you've got new government contracts or is this because of the launch of iPhone 16? What will you classify this equipment to?

So equipment revenue includes the -- both handsets revenue as well as the equipment delivery and installation projects, both in government and non-government sector. As you rightly mentioned, these are not very high-margin streams of revenue. The margin typically ranges between 8% to 12%, I would say, on the average. Specifically, this quarter, we had a recognition of QAR 34 million in non-recurring projects revenue, which resulted in growth in this quarter's top line.

By margin, you mean EBITDA margin or you mean...

Yes. So direct margin, I mean to say, there are no OpEx related to these items. So I mean, this is EBITDA margin, pretty much the EBITDA margin as well.

There is no further question at this time. I will now turn the conference back over to Bobby for closing remarks. Bobby?

Thank you, Mark. Okay. If there are no further questions, we can end the call for today. I want to thank Masroor and Pauline for taking the time to go through the presentation and answer our questions and we can pick this up next quarter. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Bobby, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. We will keep you informed on all our upcoming investors call roadshow. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations team if you have any further inquiries or visit our IR section on the Vodafone Qatar website. Thank you once again for joining. Thank you.

That concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.