Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ADNOC Distribution Q2 and H1 2024 earnings conference call. I'm Athmane Benzerroug, Chief Strategy, Transformation, and Sustainability Officer. Joining me today, Bader Al Lamki, our CEO, and Wayne Beifus, our CFO. In today's call, I will start with the key highlights and also speak about the company's outlook. Our CEO will then discuss progress around our strategy. Then our CFO will take you through operating and financial results. After the presentation, we turn to Q&A. The presentation includes forward-looking statements relating to our business. Such statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. For more information, please refer to the international offering memorandum relating to our IPO and to our other investor communications, all of which are available on our website.
Before we discuss Q2 results, I would like to reiterate the key highlights of our unique equity story. Since the IPO, ADNOC Distribution has nearly doubled the value for its shareholders. Growth has been delivered through network expansion, entering new markets, including Dubai, KSA, and Egypt, double-digit non-fuel growth, and cost optimization. Last year, we delivered on our market commitments, including $1 billion EBITDA and additional cost savings. Hence, we are on track to execute the next phase of growth. In line with our recently announced strategy, we are focusing on, first of all, doubling down on non-fuel retail offerings and transforming our service stations into destination of choice. Secondly, future-proofing our business by unlocking new revenue streams and exploring inorganic opportunities to increase contribution from international operations. Number three, we have identified key strategic initiatives to achieve further EBITDA growth by leveraging our market leadership and operational strength.
Lastly, our recent announced dividend policy provides payback visibility, but also offers upside for future growth. Predictable cash flow generation and strong balance sheet enable us to invest into future growth to create incremental value for our shareholders. Regarding the key achievements and 2024 outlook, I will start with the key achievements of Q2 and then briefly talk about the outlook. We recorded a 15% year-on-year increase in EBITDA, and delivered one of the strongest quarterly results since IPO. Net profits increased by 13% and by 24% year-on-year if we exclude the UAE tax impact. This strong financial performance was supported by positive dynamics in operating performance, with record Q2 fuel volumes, continued double-digit growth in non-fuel transactions, and the highest convenience store conversion rate in four years.
As a result of the strong underlying operating and financial performance, in H1 2024, ADNOC Distribution generated free cash flow almost $500 million, well above the interim dividend of $350 million, to be paid in October, subject to the board approval. Let me now speak about the outlook. In line with our new strategy, we are allocating capital towards convenience and mobility and delivering on our non-fuel retail strategy. We want to leverage on recent success, where non-fuel retail gross profit increased at more than 13% after double-digit growth last year, supported by convenience stores, car wash, other car care services, and property management. The incremental growth will be driven by key initiatives such as, one, upscaling our convenience stores and improving category management. Two, upgrading our car wash facilities. Three, sweating our real estate assets.
And four, digitizing our customer experience through our ADNOC Rewards loyalty program. So we are on track to deliver on our targets of adding 15-20 stations in 2024 across the UAE, KSA, and Egypt. We are also on track to reach 150-200 fast and super fast charging points this year. We expect CapEx in the range of $250 million-$300 million in 2024, with a focus on allocating capital towards sustainable growth, upgrading our non-fuel retail assets, and deploying EV chargers... across our network. Let's talk about AI. We are using AI and advanced data analytics to drive top-line growth, efficiency, foster innovation, and deliver exceptional customer experience. Let me tell you how we are doing it.
We are using cutting-edge AI cloud technology to analyze over 220 million annual fuel and non-fuel transactions, and develop advanced models for creating business opportunities. In fact, the company is actively working over 20 innovative AI projects and has partnered with leading AI technology firms globally to implement transformative solutions. Let me give you a few examples. We are using Fill & Go technology that allows us to use license plate recognition and enables our customers to pre-order fuel and convenience store products seamlessly through the ADNOC Rewards app. We are also embedding AI within our operational framework by using innovative fuel demand AI model that provides predictive demand analytics, allowing us to optimize fuel delivery across our network. This has led actually to a reduction in fuel transportation costs and emissions to improve delivery scheduling.
On the sustainability front, AI and technology are critical aspects of the company's target to cut Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions intensity by 25% by 2030. The key identified initiatives of our decarbonization roadmap, which are being unveiled at the beginning of 2023, include energy intensity optimization, installing energy-efficient equipment and PV solar panels, and finally, use of biofuel in our supply fleet. I will now hand over to our CEO, Bader Al Lamki, who will walk you through the delivery of our growth strategy.
Thank you, Athmane, and good afternoon. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Let me start on safety. Safety is a fundamental to our operation. ADNOC Distribution follows the highest safety standards in the delivery of its products and services. In the H1 of 2024, our industry-leading safety record was achieved through the collective responsibility of our staff and ongoing investments in our facilities and training programs. I will now guide you through the progress we have made towards achieving our growth plans. Let me start with the fuel business. In the UAE and KSA, we recorded the highest ever Q2 and H1 volume, supported by network expansion, sustained momentum in the region's economic growth, higher mobility, and increased contribution from the KSA's operations. This has been achieved despite the adverse weather condition in the UAE in April.
The storm negatively impacted some of our customers' operations, mainly in Dubai and Northern Emirates, where it was more intense. Including our assets in Egypt, following a double-digit growth year on year, our fuel volumes in H1 of this year exceeded 7.2 billion liters. We are very happy with the progress we've made on our non-fuel retail business, with a double-digit growth in gross profit in Q2 and H1, driven by new initiatives in the convenience stores, car wash, car care services, and property management. The growth was supported by our initiatives to enhance customer experience, our, and our loyalty program that offers a more personalized rewards, experiences, as well as targeted marketing and unique selling proposition. As an example, we have increased by nearly 40% the number of barista-prepared drinks compared to last year.
This segment represents one of the highest margin F&B categories at our stores. We have seen higher footfall and margins following the upscaling of our stores in the UAE, of which 90% are now new or upgraded, as we are bringing convenience stores to the next level. Supported by these initiatives, convenience store conversion rate exceeded 26% in Q2, the highest level in four years, with an increase of 130 basis points compared to the same period last year. Regarding the outlook, we expect growth to sustain, supported by our initiatives to drive higher footfall in our stations and beyond. In the H1 of 2024, we've launched 5 standalone convenience stores to capture incremental revenue outside our stations. As part of our car wash strategy, we are rolling out new tunnels, which have significantly higher capacity....
We are also progressing with the upgrade of our existing automatic car wash and target renovation of 50% of the network by the year-end. In the property management, in the property management business, we aim to double the number of property units occupied by top international and regional food and beverage brands by the end of 2025. We are future-proofing our business by establishing a nationwide EV charging network, leveraging on our extensive real estate and leading network position to generate new revenue streams. We are offering convenience to our customers by deploying fast and super-fast EV charging solutions in a regulated, high-margin, and growing business. We target similar profitability in the EV charging business as in the existing fuel business, provided the On-the-Go segment captures 20% of EV customers' charging demands.
That will be achieved by offering most accessible, available, and convenient network in UAE to create the best EV charging journey for our customers. In the next five years, based on our current estimates for the On-the-Go EV charging demand, we aim to increase the number of charging points across our network by 10-15 times compared to the end of last year, when we had 50 charging points. The rollout of chargers will be calibrated on a quarterly basis, depending on the actual EV uptake and using best-in-class technology. Enhancing customer experience is central to our success and remains a key focus for ADNOC Distribution's growth strategy. Our commitment to convenience, seamless digital experience, and customer loyalty differentiates ourselves versus the competition and solidifies our position as the preferred destination for UAE drivers.
On that note, we take pride in the success of our ADNOC Rewards loyalty program, which is one of the UAE's most favorable, with over 120 partners and attractive offers. We have now 2.1 million members, representing more than 20% increase year-on-year. We believe that the program has a tremendous potential in enhancing data monetization across our entire retail operations, as it provides valuable insights that we plan to leverage. I will now hand over to Wayne to present the highlights of our financial performance.
Thanks, Bader. Good morning, and good afternoon, everyone. To recap on what has been highlighted by our CEO, in the H1 of 2024, ADNOC Distribution has continued to demonstrate very strong operating performance. Our UAE and Saudi volumes have increased by 7% the same period last year, while looking at total volumes, including Egypt, this shows double-digit growth of more than 10%. The company has managed to set new benchmarks in terms of the H1 retail fuel volumes and the number of fuel transactions in the UAE. We are now reaching the highest level ever for this period, driven by the increasing number of cars on the road, as well as the mobility of the population. Our non-fuel business has continued to show robust performance, supported by the highest ever convenience store conversion rates of just over 26%.
I'll now turn to the key financial highlights. Supported by the strength in our operations, in the Q2, we recorded one of the strongest quarters that we have had since our public offering in 2017. Our EBITDA has increased by 16% for the half year to $515 million, and by 15% for the quarter to $267 million. Our net profit for quarter two has increased by 13% to $170 million. If we exclude the impact of tax, corporate tax, that has been introduced this year, we actually have a 24% year-on-year increase in net income to $187 million, notwithstanding the higher depreciation and higher financial costs in this half year. Let me now walk you through the gross profit by operating segment.
Our quarter two fuel retail gross profit has increased by 10% year-on-year, driven by volume growth and positive impact of inventory gains. In the reporting period, our retail segment inventory gains amounts to $35 million, compared to $22 million in the prior year. Our commercial segment gross profit has increased by 12% year-on-year, supported by the volume growth. In the Q2, our non-fuel retail gross profit has increased by more than 13% year-on-year, driven by new initiatives in our convenience stores, by our car wash business, including investments into the new car wash tunnels, as well as a significant upgrading of our automated car washes across the network. Our convenience store gross profit was up by 14% year-on-year. This has been supported by our strongest ever conversion rate from pump into convenience store of 26%.
Now moving on to our operating expenses. We remain committed to achieving further operational excellence through efficiency improvements across all our business units, including optimizing our logistics, renegotiating key supply contracts with vendors, and the centralization of key functions and payment standardization. Thanks to these and other initiatives, in the H1 of 2024, we have achieved like-for-like OpEx savings of $10 million. This puts us well on track to achieving our $50 million savings guidance over the next 5-year period. As a result, in the Q2 of 2024, our OpEx, adjusted for one-off items, fell 3% year-on-year, despite the significant growth of 4% in our network. Moving on to our EBITDA for operating segments.
Our Q2 EBITDA has increased by 15% year-on-year, supported by the strong volume growth, the higher contribution of non-fuel retail, as well as our international activities. Our retail EBITDA has increased by more than 21% year-on-year, $201 million. Our commercial segment EBITDA was flat as we cycled over a significant one-off benefit in the prior year numbers. If we exclude this benefit, our commercial segment's EBITDA is up 7.2% year-on-year. Our underlying EBITDA growth remains strong at 14% compared to prior year. I'll now move on to our cash generation. Our H1 free cash flow of $488 million is a 47% increase on the prior year. In line with our plans to continue our expansion, during the period, we have invested a further $148 million on CapEx programs.
This leaves us with a very healthy net debt EBITDA ratio of 0.53 times and underscores our strong financial standing. It favorably positions our company for future growth, shareholder value accretion, and distribution. I'll now hand back to our CEO, Bader, for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Wayne. Before opening the floor to Q&A, I would like to highlight our key priorities and reiterate outlook for this year. Number one, ADNOC Distribution has consistently demonstrated its ability to create value by exploring and capitalizing on new strategic opportunities, and is well positioned for the next phase of our accelerated growth plans. The company's strong Q2 results, including double-digit growth in EBITDA and net income and strong cash flow generation, demonstrates effective execution of the five-year strategy. Our focus remains on growing our non-fuel retail business and sweating real estate assets domestically, increasing the contribution of our international platforms, future-proofing our business by rolling out EV charging infrastructure. Finally, I want to reiterate that we will continue to pursue our expansion plans in a disciplined manner, including exploring inorganic opportunities, supported by a strong balance sheet and confidence in our cash flow generation.
The implementation of our new strategy, which we shared with the market in February, will help us sustain this growth momentum, enhance value, and continue attractive shareholders distribution. Let me finish with our dividend policy, which was approved in March 2024. Supported by the solid business fundamentals over the next 5 years, ADNOC Distribution aims to distribute an annual dividend of $700 million or a minimum of 75% of our net profit, whichever is higher. This new dividend policy provides shareholders payback, visibility, and potential for higher dividend aligned with our future growth. This concludes our presentation. We are now ready to take your questions.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, you may signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. Please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, star one to ask a question. We'll go first to Ricardo Rezende with Morgan Stanley.
Hello, good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. The first question, just wanted to touch back on something that were mentioned in the closing remarks about inorganic opportunities. A few weeks ago, there were some articles in the press mentioning that ADNOC Distribution could be potentially interested in some assets in Africa. So something that I was just wanted to discuss is whether would you have any specific target geographies, or it's more broadly that you're looking for inorganic expansions, including potential M&As in regions where you're already present? And then the second question is a little bit more specific. When you look at the convenience stores and non-fuel retail, you've been doing a very good job on conversion rate and expanding the relevance of that within your business.
But when you look at the basket size, it has increased about 2%, 2.2% year-on-year. How should we think about the basket size going forward, given the upcoming changes on product mix and as you try to increase the conversion rate even further? Thank you.
Pardon the interruption. Just to make sure the speakers are unmuted. I'm sorry, we're not hearing the speakers at this time. Are you still in the room there?
Can you hear us? Can you hear us now?
Yes, we can hear you. I can hear you now. Thank you.
Okay. And they heard my answers and, and Wayne's answers?
We did not hear any response, no.
Okay, sorry. So then let's try again. Can you just ask Janice to ask the question again, and then we can, we can answer?
Ricardo, please, ask your question again.
Yeah, sure. First question was on international expansion, potential M&A. There were a few weeks ago, some articles mentioning about Africa and you being potentially interested. And just wanted to get some, get some color on, is there any target geographies, or when you talk about inorganic, opportunities, that could mean, you actually increasing your footprint on some of the other regions where you're already present? And then the second question is on, convenience stores and non-fuel retail. You've been doing a very good job on, on increasing the conversion rate and expanding those operations. But when we look at the basket size, it has increased about 2.2%, year-on-year. How should we think about the basket size going forward, given all of the transformation on the product mix as well and all of the other services? Thank you.
Hi, Ricardo, it's Wayne, and thank you for the question, and apologies for the technical issues our side. Look, let me first address the question on the inorganic. At the beginning of the year, we refreshed our strategy, and we made it very, very clear there that our intention is to continue to expand our business, both organically and inorganically. The inorganic side. If you refer to our balance sheet, we are extremely well-placed. We closed the quarter at a net debt EBITDA ratio of just over 0.5x. So with that strength, we could certainly fund the right acquisition. Having said that, there's a lot of dynamics that we see internationally on the fuel, with amongst fuel retailers. We assess from time to time different opportunities.
We clearly don't comment on any opportunity until it's an opportunity that we've reached the stage of completion. In terms of geographies, we clearly are looking at growing fuel distribution markets and a platform, establishing a platform in a geography would make sense to us. In terms of the question around non-fuel, we're very pleased with the growth that we've had on our non-fuel retail, particularly within the convenience business. We're seeing a significant increase in the number of transactions in non-fuel. So besides the historical high conversion rate that we've reported of 26%, we've actually seen another 8% increase in the number of transactions. So we're definitely benefiting from volume. In terms of rates, as you've mentioned, the basket size is up about 2%.
And, I'm going to ask Athmane to maybe give a little bit of color on what's causing that dynamic.
Yeah, sure. Thank you, Wayne, and hi, Ricardo. So I guess what is important to highlight is the fact that our strategy, which is paying off, is to ensure that we can convert actually the fueling into C-store transactions. So fuel transactions into C-store transactions, first of all, and we have been doing it through upgrading, upscaling our convenience stores, increasing the right level of SKUs, but also making sure that we have the right pricing. So... And this has paid off with, as highlighted, earlier, a 26% conversion rate. What you have seen in the past years is an improvement of the basket size. We do believe that anyway, in the midterm, the basket size will continue to grow.
But at this stage, I guess what is important is to highlight that the introduction of new F&B is driving actually more conversion, and we want to increase the gross profit per convenience stores and the margins, and this is what you can see in the past quarters.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from Afaq Nathani with International Securities.
Hello, hello, thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. Just a little bit on the strategic side, we still you know a little bit waiting for growth in terms of fuel stations in Saudi and in Egypt. I just want to understand what the management strategy is there. And secondly, on if you could explain how much impact you faced from the Dubai floods in the Q2, and what the volumes maybe could have looked like if that wasn't the case. Thank you.
Thank you, Afaq. Hi, this is Ahmed. So the strategy for our international assets, namely, KSA and Egypt, is very clear. So for KSA, as we highlighted earlier, the focus on the roughly 70 stations has been to upgrade the stations. I guess that today we are, what, 90% of the stations which have been upgraded. We have seen, so rebranded, upscaling the fuel and the non-fuel retail, and this has led to a double-digit increase in our volumes. And we want to continue to use the ADNOC Distribution brand to leverage on the future growth in Saudi Arabia. In Egypt, the story is very simple.
80% of the EBITDA of the Egyptian assets is coming from aviation and lubricants, which are US dollar-pegged or highly correlated to the US dollar, and the remaining part is the 242 stations, which is retail stations, which are, sorry, exposed to the EGP. All in all, what we can tell you is that the guidance that we have provided last year, i.e., that Egypt should represent roughly 6% of our EBITDA, is still on track, and this is what we are seeing. The second question, Afaq, sorry, was?
It was just to get some idea on how much impact, if any, you faced from the floods in UAE and poor weather conditions. If that wasn't the case, then could we have seen materially higher volumes?
So, short answer, Afaq. For everyone's benefit, we had some floods in April. This had a minor, I would say, impact on the retail mobility, a couple of days of disruption, but the highest impact was on the commercial business, and you can see it in the volume. That said, if you exclude actually this impact, the commercial volume would have increased at a high single double digit level actually growth.
That's-
We have managed this during the quarter.
Understood. Thank you so much. That's very clear.
As a reminder, star one, if you would like to ask a question. We'll go next to Anna Kishmariya with UBS.
Good day. Thank you very much for the presentation and taking my questions. I actually have two, and one is the follow-up to the previous question regarding the volumes. Do you see an uptick in Q3 to date? Can you comment on the trends on commercial and retail side? And what level of growth do you see now? And then another question is on your balance sheet and working capital. So your free cash flow was supported by working capital release with one big category due to related parties, which I assume is the payment for fuel. And we see that line on the balance sheet is growing. So my question would be: When do you expect the payments?
Do you have some timeline when you need to do the payments? And should we expect some waiting on the working capital at future periods, on this regard? Thank you very much.
Anna, thanks. Thanks for the question. So in terms of volumes, we've seen significant volume growth in the quarter. We're talking double digit, and we've seen strong volume growth in both retail and the commercial business. In terms of retail, what we're seeing is a very active mobility in the country, growing mobility year-on-year. We do expect that trend to continue for the foreseeable future. What's driving our commercial business volume really is a strong drive to win volume share. So strong negotiation, increasing the number of customers, increasing the depth of our customer book, and that we do see as sustainable as well. So we're very pleased with the top line volume performance. In terms of cash flow, we've had a keen focus on working capital management as well as CapEx.
So very tight management over our CapEx, making sure that we are able to expand our network, responsibly, making sure that our investments are giving our required rate of return, and finding new ways to actually drive efficiency within CapEx. And then when we come to inventory, and so overall working capital management, clearly our, our inventory, we're making sure that that gets managed tightly, matching up supply and demand carefully. And in terms of overall payables, we're clearly driving, solid discipline with terms. Part of that is our, relationship with our supplier, which is ADNOC, of course, in terms of timing of those payments. There would be a partial unwind of what we, what you're seeing in, in the close at the end of, quarter two.
But this is a trend that's, that's been ongoing for many years, from quarter to quarter. Overall, we're very pleased with the progress that we're making on free cash flow generation, closing the half year and the quarter at $488 million of cash generated in the six months is quite considerable. We're pleased with that result.
Thank you.
We'll take our next question from Jean-Pierre Djemidjian
Hi, it's Jean-Pierre Djemidjian. Thank you for taking my question. On your EV charging business, you reminded your plan to expand the number of charging points to more than 500 units by 2028 to a disciplined rollout, depending on the actual uptake of EV that you are assessing on a quarterly basis, I think you mentioned. I thought it would be useful if you could share with us the latest insights from EV adoption across the UAE, perhaps in terms of new EV car sales or other relevant KPIs that you are monitoring. Thank you.
Hi, Jean-Pierre. So on the EV strategy, so I guess let me just set the scene on what we are doing and what does disciplined rollout means. I guess what is important is, first of all, that we are operating in a regulated environment, we're focusing on fast and super fast charging, where the selling price actually is attractive, 1.2 AED per kWh, and therefore we make a double-digit margin on this business. This is 1, 2, so with a strong visibility on the selling price. 2, the strategy that we have put in place is to leverage on the most important asset that we have, i.e., our network.
So we are the largest player in the UAE, with more than 500 stations, the largest convenience store operator with more than 360 convenience stores, but also perhaps one of the highest number of quick service restaurant, property management, car wash, and lube change. So what we want to do today is making sure that we create the destination of choice for all the customers through doubling down on our non-fuel retail offering, which is convenience stores, car wash, lube change, and property management. So upscaling all these assets, increasing the number of tenants and high quality tenants to ensure that we have sustainable footfall. On the top of that, we want also that this journey benefits to the EV drivers. And the way we are framing our strategy and narrative is that we want to put fast and super fast chargers.
We are talking about convenience on the go, where you can come plug for 20 minutes, 80%. You can track through your app and your Apple Watch, actually, the level of your battery while you are having your coffee and your croissant at our C-store, and making sure that you have the right and seamless customer journey. So fast and super fast chargers, investing in our network. Now, talking about the uptake of EVs, what we can tell you is that EV today, if you look at EVs plus BEV, which is battery electric vehicles, so the hybrids, you are actually talking about roughly, I would say, 3% of the market. And if you look at the battery electric vehicle in the light vehicle park, you are talking barely about 1.5%.
So we are seeing clearly a double-digit growth, but it's still, I would say, not comparable to... In terms of size, it's still quite small. So the way we are also disciplined is, as you rightly mentioned, we have, on a quarterly basis, data about two things. One is the number of EVs on the road, where we are again focusing on E11, which is Sheikh Zayed Road. And just an example, from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, you have 15 stations. 13 stations are ADNOC Distribution, and these are very high valuable stations with very strong throughput, and also a lot of non-fuel retail offerings, so they are high generative stations.
So the way we are looking at it is, one, the number of EVs, but also the utilization rate, where today, actually, without disclosing the numbers, we are seeing a good uptake in terms of charging in our stations. So if there is any acceleration, of course, we're gonna continue. But again, if there is any slowdown, we're gonna adapt our CapEx. Okay? But what I just wanted to highlight is that this model, again, is regulated, very strong visibility. It's all about making sure that we are putting our flag and leading through our extensive and strategic network.
That's very clear. Thank you, Athmane.
As a reminder, star one, if you would like to ask a question. There are no additional questions. We have two questions here. Can you elaborate on the future-proofing of the business, and how much revenue do you derive, you derive from the current network of EV outlets?
Okay. And also, EV stations can be established anywhere, even at home, so how will you manage this? Wanting to understand how this will future-proof your business. Okay. So future-proofing the business, what does it mean? It means that anyway, long term, we believe that the adoption of EV will happen in the UAE. Of course, the UAE is quite specific today with quite attractive fuel prices, okay? Much lower than a lot of countries, but we are seeing also an uptake in EV. And again, what we want to do is to leverage on a network where we have already invested, okay? In also a field where we have a clear visibility in terms of regulation, okay? So how we are managing this, I guess I answered the question already, but let me repeat.
I guess our strategy is, again, on the go, which is fast and super fast charging. It is, the value proposition is, as an EV customer, this is what we are bringing: two things.... ability to charge seamlessly, okay? With clearly tracking the charging and having also all the offering around, and having actually the EV chargers in strategic locations. Okay. The other question that we have is, how much is the company currently spending on AI? What are the expected costs to be incurred? And, and that's it. So on, on AI. So AI, I guess, is, is again, I guess you understood a, a critical, milestone and priority for us. I guess that what we want to do, and, and we have, a tremendous level of transactions.
We have more than 220 transactions per year that we are leveraging on through machine learning, but also helping us to target have the right targeted offerings, and also improving the supply chain and cost across our network, but also fuel predictions and making sure that we have optimized supply chain. I would not provide, I would say, any guidance on how much we are spending, but what you will start to see, and we have already demonstrated in the efficiency of our assets, that we are embedding AI into the future growth of our company. And for us, it's clearly one of the drivers at the top line, but also on the in terms of cost efficiency. It's okay.
I guess we have the last question is just on the can you comment on throughput per station trends and what you are... And in Egypt and the reason being that the number of stations per capita is lower. And what we have seen in the past quarters is an improvement of our throughput per station, and we still believe that the throughput station should remain at very high at this level, which we are talking about roughly 12 million liters per station per year, and we believe that this trend will continue. I guess we have no further questions. I will hand over to you, operator. Thank you very much, everyone, for attending this call, and please contact the investor relations team if you have any question.
Thank you very much for having us today.
Thank you. That will conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation.