Hello, and welcome to the QNB FS QNB Financial Conference Call . I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to welcome Phibion from QNB Financial Services to begin the conference. Phibion, over to you.
Thank you, Sherry. Good morning to you all, and thank you all for joining us for the WOQOD's or Qatar Fuel Company's 4Q 2022 conference call. My name is Phibion Makuwerere from QNB Financial Services. On today's call, we have WOQOD's management team, led by Pradeep Kumar, who is the Chief Financial Officer. We also have got Sultan Jasim Al-Mahdi, who is the Finance Manager, and Ahmed Saeed Al-Mansouri, who is the IR Officer. The way the call will happen today is that the management team will go over the performance, and immediately after that, we have a Q&A session. I will now turn over the call to Ahmed to begin the presentation. Thank you.
Thank you, Phibion . Good day to all the participants, and we hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy. We welcome you all to WOQOD's year-end 2022 results conference call and appreciate your participation as WOQOD is committed to continuously enhance its investor relation initiatives. This is to strengthen our communication and improve transparency with all members of the global investment community. The presentation of this call will be available on the investor relations section of our website. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections, guidance, or any other characterizations of future events, including financial projections or future market conditions, is a forward-looking statement based on the assumptions to date. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. The company cannot disclose any commercially sensitive information due to the confidentiality agreements signed with our suppliers.
Please refer to slide number two for the full version of this disclaimer statement. All figures expressed in this call are on Qatari rial, and the conversion for the same to U.S. dollar is QAR 3.64 to 1 USD. Now, I would like to hand over the call to our Finance Manager, Mr. Sultan Jasim Al-Mahdi , to provide a brief overview of WOQOD and update on the key operation activities.
Thank you, Ahmed. Good day to all. The key vision of WOQOD is to be the leading petroleum product distribution and related services marketing company in the region. I am on slide four now, which shows the overview of WOQOD Group. WOQOD, as you're aware, started operation in 2002 with exclusive rights for storage and distribution of petroleum products in the state of Qatar. Operation started with two petrol station in 2003 and has grown to 126 stations at the end of year 2022. The chart on the right shows WOQOD station network. WOQOD also operates 13 FAHES centers for inspection of vehicles. I am on slide five now, which shows the key operation of WOQOD Group.
Key operation of WOQOD Group are diesel and gasoline fuel distribution and sales, jet fuel distribution and sales, shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship bunkering, LPG distribution and sales, natural gas distribution and sales, fuel bunkering, bitumen operation, c-store and autocare services, vehicle inspection services. Turning to slide seven now, which shows the diesel and gasoline fuel sales volume trend analysis. As mentioned before, the core activities of WOQOD is fuel and distribution, fuel distribution and sales in the state of Qatar. For the year ending 2022 versus 2021, the diesel and gasoline chart on the top shows the quarterly trend. Total fuel sales were higher by 5% during 2022 versus 2021, driven by market demand. Diesel sales volume were higher by 0.6% in 2022 versus 2021, driven by macroeconomic factors.
Combined diesel, combined gasoline sales volume were up by 9% in 2022 versus 2021, driven by market demand. Average fuel price were higher by 12% for 2022 versus 2021. Turning to slide eight, which shows the jet fuel sales volume comparison. Jet fuel sales were higher by 20% in 2022 compared to the same period last year, driven by ease of COVID-19 related air travel restrictions in many countries. Combined volume of all petroleum products increased by 11% for the year 2022 as compared to the same period last year. Turning to slide nine, which shows the retail fuel sales volume comparison for the year 2022 as compared to the same period last year. Overall, retail fuel volume increased by 9% driven by increased market demand.
Turning to slide 10, shows the retail fuels sales volume trend. For the year 2022 versus 2021, retail diesel sales increased by six, whereby, retail gasoline sales increased by 11%. The share of WOQOD in petroleum retail markets reached to about 86 for the year 2022. We would like to share some additional information on other business segments for the year 2022 versus 2021. Natural gas sales increased by 4% driven by market demand. Diesel bunkering sales increased by 27%, also driven by market demand. Non-fuel retail segment increased by 12%, driven by various initiatives. Now I would like to hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Pradeep Kumar, to discuss the key financial results.
Thanks, sultan , for all the volume update. Good day, everyone, and hope everyone is safe and healthy. Now, I would like to discuss the consolidated financial results of WOQOD for the year 2022. Starting with the revenue, I'm on slide 12 now, which shows the revenue trends of WOQOD. Revenue from fuel sales account for nearly 97% of the total revenue. WOQOD achieved total revenue of QAR 30 billion for the year 2022, as compared to QAR 19.5 billion during the same period last year, showing an increase of 53%. The main reason for increase in revenue are increase in fuel sales volume by 11% and increase in average fuel prices by 14%.
As compared to fourth quarter of 2021, the revenue increased by 25% during the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly driven by the increase in sales volume by 6% and increase in prices by 20%. Turning to slide 13, which shows the net income. WOQOD has made a net income of QAR 1.07 billion for the year 2022, as compared to QAR 974 million during the same period in 2021, as an increase of 10%, mainly driven by higher sales volume and other income. Additionally, improvement in non-fuel segments also helped the increase in net income. The detailed analysis of net income variance is given in the next slide. Slide 14 shows the key variance analysis of net income for the year 2022 as compared to the last year.
The increase in net income of QAR 96 million is due to the following major factors. Increase in gross margin by QAR 162 million, mainly driven by increase in volume and pricing. Trading stock price variance impact of QAR 116 million, mainly driven by comparatively lower increase in fuel price in 2022 against 2021. Increase in finance income by QAR 22 million, driven by higher return from cash. Increase in other income by QAR 28 million, mainly driven by increase in dividends received and other income, partly offset by the G&A expenses. WOQOD's fundamentals continue to remain robust, and WOQOD is committed to meet all its strategic goals while placing safety as a top priority. WOQOD has a strong leadership committed towards delivering the results to the shareholders. With this, we are ready for the Q&A session. Thank you.
At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask question, press star then one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. All right. Your first question comes from the line of Zohaib Pervez. Your line is now open.
Thank you, gentlemen, for the presentation. I've got one question on the jet fuel. I would have assumed that considering this was the World Cup quarter, the fuel volumes would have been higher, probably higher for the year. What was the rationale that they were actually lower even sequentially? Thank you.
Well, even we were also expecting for higher jet fuel volumes, and we were prepared to meet all the demands, the sales volume didn't increase as expected. That's all we know. We were ready to meet all the market demand.
Sorry. Were the number of flights lower, or was it because the refueling was done somewhere else that these volumes did not pick up?
I believe it's a combination of several factors that attributed to this one. Yes.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Faisal Al Saidi from MBK Capital. Your line is now open.
Thank you, gentlemen, for the presentation. I just have one question. As we can see, top line grew by 53%, while bottom line grew by 10%. There is a visible compression in margins. It would be great if you can refresh our minds what were the main reasons behind this compression in margins. Thank you.
There are no compression in margins. You know, our revenue increased by 53%. If you look at slide 14, you can see that our increase in the gross income by QAR 162 million, that's approximately 10%. Our fuel sales volume increased by 11%, so as our gross margin. Our gross margin increase is in line with the increase in the fuel sales volume. The pricing increase, you know, because it's a fixed margin business, we don't get benefit out of the pricing increases. It goes back to the suppliers. On the other side, what hit is that as explained on slide 14, you can see the trading price stock variance, QAR 116 million hit this year in 2022.
Because in 2021, the price increase was considerably high, almost double the price from 2020- 2021. That was kind of helped in 2021 income. This year, the increase in price is not as we're close to 2021 increases. That's why this hit of QAR 116 million. If you net it off, that's kind of it. Our gross margin has increased only close to QAR 50 million. In reality, the gross income has increased by QAR 162 million.
Yes. If I may, I just have one follow-up. It's clear that gross margin, or to be specific, gross profits increased. What I mean is in terms of percentage of bottom line as a percentage of the top line, net income over sales. That's what I meant. Thank you.
Yeah. These margins are based on the fuel sales, not on the price we generate from the revenue.
All right. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Ilda Caci from HSBC. Your line is now open. Okay, I think he got disconnected from the call. Let's proceed with the next question. Comes from the line of Gaurav Sud from Avalon Global Research. Your line is now open.
Thanks, gentlemen. Can you hear me? Hello?
Yes. Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks, gentlemen, for the presentation. Yeah, I just want to know, since oil, crude oil prices has been high in the last one year, that is why the prices has been the key factor who was driven the revenue. Can we have some sort of guidance for 2023? Like, since the oil has been very volatile in the past couple of days.
You're right. The 2022, the oil prices were high, that's why our revenue also high. In 2023, it's all driven by the oil prices. It is determined by the state of Qatar. The price are regulated by the government. Based on that it fluctuates.
Okay.
That's the answer.
Uh, uh-
What's going to be, definitely that drives our income, I mean, our revenue.
Okay. Any guidance can you give me on the sales volume front for 2023?
Well, we don't expect a major decline in the sales trend in 2023. We expect to maintain the position in 2023 on the sales volume.
Okay. Does that mean the volume is expected to grow in the range of 8%-10%?
That's not what I meant to say. I say that, you know, we expect to maintain our position, well, because we reach kind of a level where, you know, post-COVID, the growth is somewhat achieved. This volume of 2022 we believe is sustainable.
Okay. Thanks, gentlemen. Thanks for the answer.
Okay. The next question comes from the line of Ildar Khaziev from HSBC, and he's now open.
Yes. Hi, can you hear me? Hello?
Yes, we can hear. Please. Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Yes, my question is also about outlook for 2023 or rather like what are you seeing during the first two weeks of January? I mean, because it seems that the fourth quarter volumes were down even versus third quarter, presumably because of the World Cup. Are you seeing volumes sort of normalizing after December? Or are they looking stronger or the same versus January of 2022? That's my first question. If you can say, of course. Secondly, would you be able, and would you be in position to maybe guide us in terms of CapEx this year, and what kind of investments the company will go through? Thank you.
On the first question regarding the sales volume. Yeah, in during the month, there are some seasonal factors that influence the sales volume, but in general, we expect to maintain the level of 2022 during 2023 as well on overall sales volume. Regarding your second question on the CapEx, this year we spent around QAR 366 million. Next year, you know, we are going to spend, you know, approximately another 25% more because we got a lot of reliability and safety project spending and which we need to execute during the year. We expect that to grow up in 2023.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Belal Sabhah from Jadwa Investment. Your line is now open.
Yes. Hi. Thank you for the call. Just if you can explain in the fourth quarter why the diesel volume and gasoline volumes. Diesel volume was down Q-over-Q and gasoline volume was up only 3%. Understand it's the World Cup quarter, I would have assumed that all those people visiting the country would result in meaningfully higher diesel and gasoline volume. On the jet fuel, and I understand there's maybe some other factors, there's international agreements or whatever, something's happening there. At least locally, you know, you have the market share. If you could explain that, please. One more question, and forgive my limited knowledge. Are you at liberty to share what the margins are at the fixed margins that you earn on diesel and gasoline?
Thank you.
All right. On your first question regarding the sales volume during fourth quarter, our B2B segment, a lot of infrastructure projects were completed, you know, which were kind of in preparation for the FIFA. Those B2B segment volume has come down during the fourth quarter. On the other side, we saw kind of increase in the B2C segment on fuel sales volume. That's kind of the fourth quarter update. Regarding the margins, I told you these are fixed margin. As we mentioned in the outset, it's commercially sensitive information we cannot disclose due to the confidentiality agreements we have. We cannot disclose that margin information.
Okay, thank you. Just to make sure, I get it correctly. For 2023, you expect to maintain all the overall volumes of 2022, and you expect 25% higher CapEx as you implement the safety measures across your stations. Anything else on the other businesses, the marine, the office leasing? Do you expect some segments to deliver growth in 2023?
On the fuel segment, as you rightly mentioned, yes, that's our expectation. We are focusing on the non-fuel segment also on the growth. So we expect that segment either maintains position or continue to grow in 2023.
Okay, thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Zohaib Pervez from Alrayan Investment. Your line is now open.
Thank you again. I have another question on your fair value reserves. The fair value reserves in 2021 were about QAR 200 million, QAR 240 million, and now they're showing a negative QAR 93 million. What is the rationale for this change? Thank you.
During the year, it's, you know, the fair value reserves reflects the movement in the market price of investment. You need to look into the investment. If you look at the other comprehensive income, you will see the detailed analysis of reclassification of the gains we realized from the fair value reserves. Wherever there is gains that is directly reflected into the retained earnings and remaining reflected as a change. You can go through the other comprehensive income, and you will understand the complete movement in that.
Thank you.
If you would like to ask question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Next question comes from the line of Talal Samhouri from Aventicum Capital Management. Your line is now open.
Hi. Thank you for the call and great results. I have a question. Where do we find the retail grocery business Sidra? I don't see it on the presentation, and it's not apparent in the annual statement. Can you please elaborate on that or help us find it?
As I mentioned in the presentation that 97% of our revenue is from the fuel business. From the convenience store segment, it's very minimal. I would say in overall, if you take the complete one, it's so minimal. That's why we didn't put a separate presentation on that. I can tell you that it's shown a growth of close to 20% during the year in that segment.
Great. Thank you.
Again, if you would like to ask question, press star then the one on your telephone keypad. There are no further question at this time. I turn the call back to Phibion .
Thank you, Sherry. If there are no further questions, then it brings us to the end of our conference call. I would like to thank you all for joining us and for your insightful questions. I would also like to thank the management for answering your questions. Have a good day and hope to join us again in the first quarter of 2023. Bye.
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you.