Doha: Qatar Fuel Company, (WOQOD) net profit for 2020 (excluding minority rights) amounted to QR707m, compared to an amount of QR1.216bn achieved in the past year 2019, representing a decrease rate of 42 percent. Earning by share for the period amounted to QR0.71, compared to QR1.22 for the past year, while Shareholders Equity decreased by about 1.3 percent to reach about QR8.6bn compared to QR8.7bn for 2019.
The decline in net profit and earnings per share was attributed to the slowdown caused by the spread of the COVID-19 corona pandemic, which the company managed to reduce its negative impacts by taking several proactive steps and initiatives to ensure continuity of its business under these critical circumstances, in addition to the continuation of the company’s efforts to implement its policy of increasing efficiency and rationalizing expenditures, which had a significant impact on reducing the decline in profits achieved compared to 2019.
WOQOD said that its Board of Directors had held its annual meeting yesterday, under the chairmanship of Ahmed Saif Al Sulaiti. In accordance with the official directives issued with the aim of combating the spread of the coronavirus “COVID-19”, the meeting was held remotely through the utilization of a video call facility, where the Board discussed and approved – inter alia- the performance of the company’s business operations and financial results of WOQOD Group for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2020, compared to the results achieved in the year 2019.
The CEO and Managing Director, Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi stated that there was an upward trend in results for the third and fourth quarters of 2020 driven by increased fuel sales and the market recovery from COVID-19 pandemic impacts.
Based on the company’s profits in 2020, and taking into account the requirements of current and future projects that the company intends to establish through the approved five-year business plan, the Board has recommended to the company’s Annual Shareholders General Assembly scheduled for March 8, 2021 to approve a dividend distribution to shareholders of 0.46 QR per share. In terms of the company’s operations, Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi, explained that year 2020 witnessed a decrease in total sales of petroleum products by about 21 percent, compared to the same period in 2019, due to supply and demand factors and the negative effects of the Corona “COVID-19” pandemic, where diesel sales decreased by 9 percent, Super gasoline by 10 percent, premium gasoline by 9 percent, jet fuel by -33 percent, bitumen by 60 percent, LPG by 3 percent, and oil retail sales across gas stations decreased by 2 percent compared to the year 2019 results.
On the other hand, sales of bunker fuel and natural gas increased by 7 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2019, while non-oil retail sales revenues, including Sidra sales, increased by 11 percent, due to the opening of several new petrol stations.
In this regard, Al Muhannadi pointed out that the company has supported the non-oil retail services sector by marketing its automotive service products (oils and greases) through tie-up with international manufacturers of these products.
The Board reviewed and approved the current and future projects that the company plans to establish, where the company has opened one technical inspection center, and 12 new petrol stations, thus increased the number of stations operating by the end of 2020 to 108 stations, and the number of technical inspection centers reached 12 centers. The first quarter of 2021 will witness the completion of the construction and operation of three new stations, in addition to five other stations to be completed in year 2021. Al Muhannadi explained that the company has a dynamic plan for the construction of new petrol stations, which will be periodically reviewed according to the demand conditions and the need for petrol stations.
Based on the expansion of the petrol stations construction as mentioned above, the share of WOQOD in the petroleum retail market increased by 3 percent to about 85 percent compared to the previous year 2019.
Al Muhannadi also referred to the actions taken by WOQOD Group towards the Qatarization of jobs, the implementation of the Service Localization Initiative, and the measures taken towards combating the Coronavirus pandemic, where WOQOD continued to work closely with the relevant authorities to reduce the negative effects of the pandemic, and thereby enabling WOQOD to ensure the continuous and regular supply of refined petroleum products and gas to all sectors in Qatar, in line with the applicable health, security, safety and environmental health procedures and standards.
In conclusion, Al Muhannadi assured that the company’s management and its board of directors will exert all efforts to maintain and enhance the service levels and profit status of the company, to achieve its vision mission and strategic goals as a pioneer downstream oil and gas company at the regional level and to build a modern, robust and state-of-the-art petroleum products distribution sector within the country, in order to keep up with the general policy of the State of Qatar in the modernization of infrastructure facilities, and to provide the best services according to the best QHSSE standards, and achieve the best results for its valued shareholders.
