Hello and welcome to WOQOD's conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. You will have the opportunity to ask questions to our speakers later on during the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question by that time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. Now, I would like to hand the call over to Phibion . You may begin.
Yeah. Thank you, Angela. Good morning to you all, and thank you all for joining us this morning for WOQOD's first quarter of 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Phibion . I'm with QNB Financial Services. On today's call, we have three members of WOQOD's management team. They are first going to present their Q1 results and then answer investors' questions afterwards. On the call, we have the CFO, Pradeep Kumar. We also have Sultan Jassim Al-Maadeed , the finance manager, and we have got Ahmed Saeed Al-Mansouri, the IR Officer. I'll now turn over the call to Ahmed to begin the call. Please go ahead, sir.
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 first quarter and March 2025 results conference call and appreciate your participation as WOQOD is committed to continuously enhance its investor relations 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 today. 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 suppliers.
Please refer to slide number two for the full version of the claim statement. All figures expressed in this call are in QAR, and the conversion for the same USD is QAR 3.6421 to $1. Now, I would like to hand over the call to our Finance Manager, Mr. Sultan Jassim Al-Maadeed, to provide a brief overview of WOQOD and update on the key operation activities.
Thank you, Ahmed. The key vision of WOQOD is to be the leading petroleum product distribution and related service marketing company in the region. I am on slide four now, which shows the overview of WOQOD Group. WOQOD started operation in 2002 with exclusive rights for storage and distribution of petroleum products in the state of Qatar. Our operation started with two petrol stations in 2003, and we have grown to 125 stations by the end of March 2025. The chart on the right shows WOQOD station network. WOQOD also owns and operates 13 FAHES centers for inspection of vehicles across the state of Qatar. 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-S tore, and Auto Care activities, vehicle inspection services, and finally, office leasing. Turning to slide seven now, which shows the diesel and gasoline fuel sales volume trend analysis. As mentioned before, the core activity of WOQOD is fuel distribution and sales in the state of Qatar. Total fuel sales lowered by 3% during YTD March as compared to the same period of last year, driven by market demand. Diesel sales also have seen a decrease by 7% YTD March as compared to the same period of last year, driven by market economic factors. Combined gasoline sales volume for first quarter 2025 remained almost the same as that of first quarter 2024.
On quarter-on-quarter basis, sales volume for first quarter 2025 decreased by 12% and 6% for diesel and gasoline, respectively. Average fuel prices for diesel and gasoline remained almost the same during the reporting period. Turning to slide eight, which shows the jet fuel sales volume comparison. Jet fuel sales were lower by 3% for the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period of last year, driven by market demand. On quarter-on-quarter basis, jet fuel sales volume for first quarter 2025 decreased by 9%, driven by market demand. Jet fuel prices for YTD March of 2025 decreased by 12% as compared to the same period of last year, driven by changing crude oil prices. Combined sales volume for all petroleum products decreased by 3% during YTD March 2025 as compared to the same period of last year.
Turning to slide nine, which shows the quarterly trend of retail volume sales. Overview of retail volume sales at WOQOD petrol stations remains almost the same for first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period of last year. On quarter-on-quarter basis, retail fuel volume in first quarter of 2025 decreased by 9% and 6% for diesel and gasoline, respectively. The market share of WOQOD in the petroleum retail market in the state of Qatar reached to about 85% during YTD March 2025. Non-fuel retail sales decreased by 12% during YTD March 2025, mainly on account of a decrease in ABC. 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 updates. Good day, everyone. I would like to discuss the consolidated financial results of WOQOD for the first quarter of 2025. Slide 11 shows the revenue trend of WOQOD. Revenue from fuel sales accounts for nearly 97% of the total revenue. WOQOD achieved total revenue of QAR 6.3 billion during the first quarter of 2025 as compared to QAR 6.8 billion during the same period last year, showing a decrease of 7%. This is mainly driven by overall decrease in fuel sales volume by 3% and decrease in average sales by around 6% during the first quarter of 2025. On a quarter-on-quarter comparison basis, the total revenue decreased by 6% during the first quarter of 2025, mainly driven by a decrease in sales volume by 9%, which is partly offset by an increase in average sales price by 3%.
Turning to slide 12, which shows the net income trend analysis. WOQOD has made a net income of QAR 230 million for the first quarter of 2025 as compared to QAR 243 million during the same period in 2024, representing a decrease of 5%. The detailed analysis of net income variance is given in the next slide. Slide 13 shows the key variance analysis of net income for the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period last year. The decrease in net income of QAR 13 million is due to the following major factors: fuel segment margin decrease, mainly driven by an overall decrease in fuel sales volume. Trading stock price variance is mainly driven by the impact of price movements on jet fuel inventory.
B2B segment margin increase, mainly due to high transportation income during the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period last year. Others lower mainly due to lower dividends due to prevailing market conditions and timing of return on cash and investments. WOQOD's fundamentals continue to remain robust, and WOQOD is committed to meeting all its strategic goals while placing safety as a top priority. WOQOD has a strong leadership committed towards delivering results to the shareholders. With this, we are ready for the Q&A session. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening by a loudspeaker in your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Your first question comes from the line of Rob Skepper from Ashmore. Your line is now open.
Yeah. Hi, everyone. Thanks for your time today. Much appreciated, as always. Yeah. Could you just start just by looking on the volume side on the kind of diesel and gasoline kind of core business? Yeah, I guess, in particular, those volume numbers are kind of quite a bit weaker again, in particular, diesel volumes down 12%. Could you just talk a little bit about end markets there? What's driving it so much lower, specifically? That'd be great.
Gasoline and diesel demands are purely driven by the market demand, and specifically in terms of diesel. As you know very well, some of the major infrastructure projects are completed here, so definitely that will impact our diesel sales volume. These are the major factors.
I mean, a lot of those infrastructure projects were also completed by the first quarter last year as well. I guess I'm kind of intrigued for such another big step down. Do you have visibility? Is there anything you're tracking on when kind of those volumes can bottom out, to your mind?
At this point, we think that it's bottoming out, so it's going to recover in coming quarters and coming years.
Okay. Got it. Thank you. I just wanted to talk a little bit about profitability. I guess the first quarter, in hindsight, was a relatively steady quarter, considering what we've seen, obviously, in markets in the last few weeks in April, and particularly the moves we've seen in oil and energy markets. I guess just so we're kind of all clear, as things stand with, obviously, the negative price moves in the second quarter, would we likely see a bit of a negative margin hit in the second quarter from that, or does it take longer to feed through into the profitability?
Yes. We are closely monitoring the market. You are right. We see some volatility in the prices, and we will know the outcome towards the end of this quarter. Definitely, that lower prices will impact it, especially the inventory that we are carrying will have an impact with the change in prices. Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. Great. I just wanted to ask on the balance sheet. Yeah. Obviously, you've got a lot of liquid assets on the balance sheet. It's very large and proportionate of your market cap. Could we just get an update on the asset allocation of your marketable securities today?
Yeah. On the investments, approximately 20% is in the equity market and remaining lying in our long-term cash and in long-term with the banks. That way, we protect the volatility in the market to a larger degree.
Got it. Okay. Do you tend to take any action in times like this where there's volatility or just buy and hold?
We started the process last year. We did last year itself, and we continue to watch the market.
Yeah. Great. Brilliant. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Zohaib Pervez from Al Rayan. Your line is now open.
Thank you, gentlemen. This is Zohaib Pervez from Al Rayan Investment. On page 13, you mentioned that the trading stock price variance has had a positive impact on the trading stock price, this inventory gain. The jet fuel prices were lower. The jet fuel volumes were lower. How come there is a positive impact on the fuel inventories? Could you give us some color on that? The second question is on the margins. Usually, your gross margins are linked to the volume, and the volume in this quarter is lower. What led to the gain in the gross margins? These are my two questions for now. Thank you.
Yeah. First, I'd answer with the last part of the question, the margin. If you look at my slide 13, which clearly states that the operating margin has come down due to lower sales volume. On the first part of your question, which is about the trading stock price variance, as I mentioned during the variance analysis, that the fuel prices, compared to last quarter of 2024, increased by 3% in the first quarter. Of course, the fuel price variance, you're comparing to the inventory that we have on 31st December versus the movement in this quarter. That way, the price has gone up. Naturally, when the price goes up, we'll get the benefit of that. If the price goes down, we'll take the hit. First quarter, the price has gone up by 3%.
The first quarter, the jet fuel price is higher by 3%, quarter over quarter?
Yes.
Okay. This shows a variance. I mean, the analysis on page 13 is between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. I thought that between 2024 and 2025, the prices are lower by 12%. Is my understanding correct that this is the quarterly analysis or the annual analysis?
Okay. Let me give you that variance a bit. Okay. This is the variance between two quarters. If you look at the first quarter variance of 2014, its price existed on 31st December 2023 versus the price during the quarter of 2024. Now, again, this year, we are taking the price out of 31st December 2024 versus the movement in the first quarter of 2025. That is what I was mentioning. It is that way. You are right also. It is a variance between two quarters, but the price prevailed on the 31st December. That is how it impacts on the inventory price movements.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. My last question is on the dividend income. The dividend income has, I think, come down this quarter. Is it because of the interim dividends, which last year you probably earned the full year dividend, and this year you earned only a second half dividends? Is it only because of that, or is it because the total yield has actually come down for your portfolio?
There are two factors. One of the reasons you already explained, it's the interim dividend. During the second and third quarter of last year, we received some interim dividends, which comes out of the final dividend which you received this year. On the other side, definitely, we are going to receive some interim dividends towards the second and third quarter of this year as well. That way, it's a timing adjustment too. On the other side, we reposition some of the equity investment toward the market risk, of course, which goes into kind of cash where the return is going to come over a period of time. It's timing adjustment as well.
Sounds good. Thank you.
Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. There are no further questions. I will now turn the call back over to Phibion for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Angela. It looks like we don't have further questions, which brings us to the end of our call today. Thank you for joining us. Thanks to the management team for taking time to update the market. Please join us for the Q2 conference call. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining.