Hello, and welcome to Milaha Qatar Navigation conference call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to our moderator, Bobby Sarkar. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, Dustin. Hi. Hello, everyone. This is Bobby Sarkar, Head of Research at QNB Financial Services. I wanted to welcome everyone to Milaha's Q3 and nine months 2025 results conference call. On this call, we have Akram Bashir Iswaisi, who is the Executive VP of Finance & Investments. We will conduct this conference with Akram going over the company's results, followed by a Q&A session. Akram, please go ahead.
Thank you very much, Bobby. Thank you everyone for joining Milaha's year-to-date Q3 2025 earnings call and your interest in the company. As usual, I will start by going over our consolidated financial results, then move on to the key financial highlights of our various business segments, and finally go over our outlook. We will then end the call with Q&A. The key highlights of our financial results. Milaha's operating revenues came in at QAR 2.46 billion for the nine months ended 30 September , 2025, compared with QAR 2.13 billion for the same period in 2024, or an increase of 15%. Operating profit came in at QAR 516 million for the nine months ended 30 September , 2025, compared with QAR 445 million for the same period in 2024, for an increase of 16%.
Net profit for the nine months ended 30 September , 2025 was QAR 1.058 billion, compared with QAR 917 million for the same period in 2024, or an increase of 15%. Lastly, our earnings per share was 0.93 for the nine months ended 30 September , 2025, compared with 0.81 for the same period in 2024. Now moving on to our segments, starting with Maritime & Logistics. Operating revenue for Maritime & Logistics increased by QAR 41 million, going from QAR 620 million in 2024 to QAR 661 million in 2025, led by our container shipping unit, which was primarily the result of higher freight rates from the China services that picked up in the second half of 2024.
In simple terms, the longer the geographical distance, the higher the cost, and thus the revenue. Operating expenses increased by QAR 56 million, broken out as follows. QAR 13 million of the increase being variable in nature and tied to the revenue growth, QAR 34 million of the increase coming from the right-of-use accounting for two chartered-in container vessels that joined our fleet in Q4 2024. QAR 17 million increase in salaries and wages due to increased crewing costs in our offshore segment. QAR 20 million increase in other operating expenses, mainly attributable to a one-off excise tax payment. Lastly, we had a positive QAR 29 million in increased fleet and technical cost transfer to our offshore segment due to additional expenses related to new vessel additions.
Non-operating income increased by QAR 22 million, with better performance coming from our QTerminals joint arrangement, more than offsetting lower gains on the sale of assets that were recorded in 2024. That brings us to an overall bottom line increase of QAR 6 million versus last year. In Offshore, we had another tremendous quarter of growth. Our operating revenue grew by QAR 320 million or 30% versus 2024. Increased project work and in specific EPC related, and the addition as well of three vessels from mid-2024 drove that growth for this year. Overall expenses increased by QAR 232 million, with QAR 139 million of operating supplies and expenses being directly variable in nature and tied to the growth in revenue.
There was also a QAR 33 million increase in salaries and wages, and QAR 24 million increase in depreciation, and a QAR 30 million increase in vessel technical expenses, all primarily driven by fleet additions. At the non-operating level, there was a QAR 27 million increase in tax expense tied to recently enacted tax regulation of Qatar associated with the global minimum tax. The net income result was a year-over-year growth of QAR 61 million or 41%. In Gas and Petrochem, operating revenue increased by QAR 57 million, going from QAR 183 million in 2024 to QAR 240 million in 2025, or an increase of 31%.
QAR 7 million of that increase is related to additional dividends from our LNG joint ventures, but the bulk of the increase had to do with us taking full ownership of two VLGCs that were previously part of the Gulf LPG joint venture that we had with Nakilat, as discussed on our half-year call. As a recap, we had a 50% stake in that JV, with Nakilat having the other 50%. The JV consisted of four VLGC vessels, and financial results of that JV were recorded below the line as part of share of results from joint arrangements. After we took ownership of the two vessels, we started recording results line by line.
Operating expenses increased by QAR 40 million, with QAR 16 million of that increase coming from higher depreciation expense related to that change in useful life of our wholly owned LNG vessels, which occurred in Q4 2024. Most of the remaining balance related to OpEx for the two VLGCs we took full ownership of. Non-operating profit increased by QAR 98 million, driven by better results from our associate companies, but much more so from an QAR 83 million gain on the sale of the two VLGC vessels that I just spoke about. The sale of these two vessels completes our strategic divestments and exit from the LPG transport business. Net profit for the segment came in at QAR 652 million, versus QAR 537 million in 2024, for an increase of 21%.
With respect to trading, the segment recorded a slight increase in revenue going from QAR 152 million in 2024 to QAR 154 million in 2025, driven by higher marine-related and bunker sales. That increase, however, was more than offset by higher cost of goods sold, with the end result being a QAR 1 million drop in the bottom line versus same period last year. Lastly, capital revenues dropped by 10% to QAR 34 million versus the same period in 2024, with a QAR 80 million drop coming from lower Qatar Quarries sales and a QAR 20 million drop coming from our investment unit. Investments were impacted by QAR 33 million in lower local equities dividend income due to a one-time additional mid-year distribution in 2024, which did not recur this year. The lower dividends were partially offset by higher returns from the rest of our investment portfolio.
On the cost side, total expenses came down by QAR 17 million, with QAR 7 million related to the successful recovery of outstanding accounts receivables that were previously provisioned for, and the balance mainly related to lower Qatar Quarries cost of goods sold. There was a QAR 24 million decrease in non-operating income from a QAR 5 million tax provision, a QAR 8 million real estate impairment, and lower interest income. All in all, Milaha Capital reported a net profit decrease of QAR 41 million compared to 2024. That wraps up the segments, and now I will move on to the outlook for the rest of the year. Starting with Maritime & Logistics. On the container shipping side, there remains industry-wide uncertainty over shipping rates given the political and economic trade and tariff climate.
In Logistics, the environment remains very competitive and challenging, but we're optimistic that new products and service offerings and the turnaround efforts will improve results. In Offshore, on the support vessels and service side, we expect to see continued growth, particularly longer term, with the expansion work in Qatar's oil and gas industry. For the harbor and industrial logistics operations, we expect stable revenue given the long-term nature of most contracts. In Gas and Petrochem, overall, we expect limited volatility due to the long-term nature of contracts we have in most business units, particularly after exiting the VLGC business. In Trading, we will be focused on optimizing the segment and continuing our focus on profitable growth and margin improvement. Lastly, Capital, where we will continue to focus on yield enhancement. With that, we will now open it up for questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Now, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star and the number one on your telephone keypad. Again, that is star and the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to gather the queue. We have not received any questions from the audience at this time. I'll turn the call back over to our moderator, Bobby, for closing remarks. I'd like to apologize. We have one question. This is coming from the line of Ravi Kumar from QIC. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you, gentlemen, for the call. Can you throw some light on the capital segment? You specifically mentioned your focus will be on yield enhancement. How are you planning to achieve that?
Well, I mean, the portfolio, over the past three-four years has been implementing a new strategy, focused on diversifying into new geographies and new strategies. Historically, it's been primarily focused on local equities. The new strategy entails a substantial portion of that portfolio geared towards income generation strategy. We have been executing on that strategy the past three years, and when you look at our numbers, you begin to see a pickup in yields, and that's coming from focus on yields enhancement. If you look at sort of what the portfolio has generated, could be anywhere from 3%-4% dividend income. We've been working towards growing that income or yield through diversification. Again, new geographies and new strategies.
Understood. What is any target yield in mind? What is the medium-term target?
Unfortunately, we're not disclosing that.
Okay. My second question is on your offshore side. How do you see the activity on the offshore side, and how do you see next few quarters shaping up?
Well, I mean, there's only one quarter left, right? In a global business, it continues to do well. If you look at the macro picture, demand far exceeds supply in this space. There's still huge demand for offshore vessels, and there's a significant shortage of vessels and specifically, qualified vessels, if you will. Right? Not all vessels are qualified to be deployed in certain parts of the world. Right? If you look at vessels from the North Sea, they're not going to work here in our region. Right? In general, what we have is the perfect storm for offshore companies. If you look at the region specifically, and if you look at Qatar overall with this expansion plan in Qatar, we're very optimistic and bullish on the growth in offshore. The demand for vessels is there, and it will continue to grow.
This is a segment that we are very dedicated to growing. We are focused, and from a capital allocation, we'll continue to deploy capital to invest in new vessels, new tonnage, and capabilities as well, to complement our asset base. As I mentioned in previous calls, as an organization, historically, we used to be just a tonnage owner, but we've changed that strategy to become a strategic solutions provider to our customers. Meaning that not only do we provide tonnage and vessels, but we provide services and solutions and capabilities to complement our tonnage base, and therefore we become a one-stop shop, strategic solutions provider to our customer. That strategy has worked well for us, and that's reflected in the numbers. Basically, it's a perfect storm for OSV companies. It's a great market to be in.
On top of that, how we position ourselves and how we position our company as a strategic solution provider and a strategic partner to oil and gas companies. that has served us well. this is a market that we see as a business, let's say, as a segment that we are very optimistic on, and we will continue to deploy capital in that segment.
Mm-hmm. On the warehouse, we see a bit of pressure in the market in terms of pricing. How do you see the warehouse performing for you, and where do you see it going?
Well, I mean, again, I think we've mentioned it. There's a lot of pressure on warehousing and logistics in general. For us, again, we're going back to the drawing board to say, listen, it's not about owning a warehouse. It's not about owning a truck. We are a solutions provider. I think you've seen the new addition to our executive team. We hired recently a very seasoned logistics executive, with decades of logistics experience, and we've embarked on a transformation. That transformation begins by looking at how do we grow our existing Dubai and Qatar offices, where we believe there's still growth potential. Rather than looking at our business as, I mean, again, in some businesses, what you see is a guy who owns a truck and goes out there and tries to sell truck services. That's not what we're looking at.
We're approaching this from a solutions perspective, and we've changed our model the past few months, and we've been very successful picking up new customers. The focus for us is on growing volume because logistics is a volume game. That's number one. Within logistics, we will be focused on specific niches and specific segments that allow us to improve our margin over time. That's what we're doing. Again, the challenges are there, but there are ways for us to change our business model, and that's what we're focused on. The first focus, the first priority for us is to turn that business around. We have a plan for the next couple of years on turning logistics around and reducing losses.
Understood. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. Again, if you have a question, please press star and the number one on your cellphone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Divya S from EPAA. The line's open.
Hi. Congratulations on the wonderful set of results. My question was on the Trading segment. We see that there has not been growth in the Trading segment, and I think, if you see this historically in quarter one and quarter two for 2025, do we see anything in the future or how would that be?
Listen, we have a plan for trading, and that plan will materialize and become evident in Q1 of next year. That business, I mean, we've strategically exited certain business lines, and our goal is to focus on where we can grow and scale up the business. We have a divestment strategy. You've already seen it, for example, Gulf LPG. We've exited the LPG business. Again, we don't have scale in that business. We're taking that capital, and we're going to be deploying it where we can build scale and we can actually become a dominant player in specific segments where we know we can add value and we have competitive advantage. We'll continue to capitalize on our competitive advantage in some of those segments. Trading is following that same model. In Q1, we can share more of what we've done in trading.
Fundamentally, we've already began exiting some product lines, some businesses that we were doing where we don't see scale, and they are simply a distraction for us. There is a transformation happening in trading, and we'll be happy to share more in Q1 of next year.
Okay. When did the sale happen? Like, any exact time period of the two vessels that you sold?
It's in Q3 of this year.
No, Q3, I mean, in which month? Because in this quarter we saw that there has been margin improvement as well. Was it because the vessel was sold and there was some efficiency that the company had [crosstalk]
It was sold August of this year.
Okay.[crosstalk]
Okay, go ahead.
The margins have also improved in this quarter. Do we see the same margins continuing forward or how do we see the growth prospects, top line and bottom line?
Well, I mean, listen, this quarter we did book again on the sale. If you look at our margins continue to be healthy. If you look at the operating profit margins have been historically quite healthy. If you look at net profit margin, they're very healthy. Part of our strategy and what we're focused on, and if you've probably seen that in the media, is a big emphasis on digitization, and building scalability into our processes. We are a thin margin business, and if you look at shipping, logistics is a thin margin business. The only way that you can actually grow your margins and be able to hold your margins is through volume growth, as well as digitization. If you look at what we're doing today in our operations and some of that we've announced in the market, we are beginning to digitize.
We are beginning to use AI, to digitize basic processes. This is a big initiative in the organization, where we actually started beefing up digital capabilities to start looking at where we can automate and where we can digitize mundane processes, and then be able to build scalability. A big part of our view is, when we look at improving margins, continue your costs, build the scalability to your processes. Obviously, you're constrained by the market, but looking at your pricing and your pricing strategy and how that translates into margin. These are some of the areas that we continue to look at. Obviously, we're very cost conscious. Again, containing costs, our view, that yes, there's the discipline of containing costs through proper budgeting and planning and controls.
Using technology and digitization to do more with less is the smart way of controlling costs in the future. That's really our focus.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions. I'll now turn the call back over to our moderator, Bobby, for closing remarks.
Hi. Thanks, Dustin. I have a question, Akram. Just on the offshore side, would you venture to give us an updated CapEx guidance over the next three years or so? Thanks.
Thank you, Bobby. I think, we've given a guidance earlier on. I think, we will look at giving you more guidance potentially in Q1 of next year, as we're formalizing our plans for the next couple of years. I think Q1, we can probably share a little bit more.
Okay. All right. That sounds good. Dustin, are there any other questions from the external lines?
No, sir.
Okay. All right. In that case, we can end the call for today. I want to thank Akram for taking the time to go over the presentation and answer our questions, and we will pick this up again next quarter. Thanks, everyone.
Thank you very much, everyone. Appreciate it.
The meeting has concluded. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.