Speaker #2: Have a good day. Bye. Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Qatar Aluminum Conference call. My name is Angela, and I will be your conference operator today.
Speaker #2: I'd like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded, and that all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.
Speaker #2: Now, I would like to hand the call over to Dana. You may begin.
Speaker #3: Hello everyone, this is Dana Sowaidi from QNB Financial Services. I would like to welcome everyone to Qatar Aluminum Manufacturing Company's Q3 2026 financial results conference call.
Speaker #3: On this call from Qatar Energy's privatized company affairs, we have Abdallah Yaghoub Al-Hari, Manager Saud Abdulaziz Al-Abdulghani, Head Investor Relations and Communications, and Ahmad Zakri, Assistant Manager Financial Operations.
Speaker #3: I will now turn the call over to Saud to discuss the company results. Please go ahead.
Speaker #4: Thank you, Dana. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for. Before starting, I would like to remind everyone that this call is purely for the shareholder of Camco, and no media representative should be attending this call.
Speaker #4: Additionally, please note that this call is subject to Camco disclaimer statement, as detailed on slide 2 of the IR presentation. Moving on to the call: on Sunday, 25 October, Camco publishes results for the 9-month period ended 30 September 2026, and during today's call you'll present those results and discuss the key financial and operational highlights.
Speaker #4: Kadi note that this that Microsoft Teams link provided will display the investor presentation as we discuss the results. Today in this call we have Abdallah Al-Hari, Private Manager Privatized Company Affairs, Ahmad Zakri, Assistant Manager Financial Operations, and myself, Saud Abdulghani, Head Investor Relations and Communications.
Speaker #4: We'll structure this call as follow: first I'll provide a brief overview of Camco ownership structure, its competitive strength, and overall governance structure, secondly Ahmad will provide an overview of the microeconomic environment followed by a summary of the financial and operational highlights for this period.
Speaker #4: To start with, the ownership structure of Camco is made up of Qatar Energy, which has 51% shareholding, and the remaining 49% making up the three floats in the Qatar exchange.
Speaker #4: And has held by various domestic and international institutions, corporates, and individuals. Qatar Energy being the founding shareholder and parent company of Camco, provides all of the head office function through a service level agreement, while the operation of Catalum, the JV, are independently managed by its own board of directors and senior management teams.
Speaker #4: Camco holds a 50% stake in Catalum, which produced more than 670,000 tons of high-quality aluminium per year, mainly for customers in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Speaker #4: Catalum facility includes a carbon plant cast house port and storage facility, as well as a gas fire power plant. Catalum's manufactured products include standard ingots, value-added cast house products such as extrusion ingots and primary foundry alloys.
Speaker #4: All of which are which all of which serve customer across key international markets. In terms of competitive strength, Camco joint venture is considered to be a low-cost aluminium smelter, with a state-of-the-art production facility.
Speaker #4: A short feedstock supply via long-term agreement with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. In addition, Catalum has a diversified customer base, a strategic location close to key markets, and a strong record of competitive bidder margin, and operating cash flow generation.
Speaker #4: The IR presentation provide additional details on the governance structure, Camco, including detailed aspect of Camco code of corporate governance, and now hand over Ahmad to continue the presentation.
Speaker #5: Thank you, Saud. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Let me begin with an overview of the broader market environment. During the first 9 months of 2026, global commodity markets, including aluminium, continued to be affected by the regional conflict.
Speaker #5: Persistent disruptions created a challenging operating environment and contributed to heightened market volatility. Despite these conditions, activity across key NU sectors including infrastructure, construction, automotive, manufacturing, and energy transition projects continued to support aluminum demand.
Speaker #5: Aluminum prices therefore remained relatively strong during the period. Reflecting the metals continued importance to the global industrial supply chain. Across the industry, producers remained focused on operational efficiency, cost optimization, and maintaining flexibility in navigating this increasingly complex environment.
Speaker #5: Turning to our operations, the joint venture continued to operate at reduced capacity, during the period, due to regional disruptions and associated logistical constraints. Resulting in lower production and sales volumes.
Speaker #5: Against this operating environment, Camco reported a net profit of 276 million rial for the 9-month period ended 30 September 2026, equivalent to an earnings per share of 0.05 rial.
Speaker #5: This represented a decline of 48% compared with the corresponding period of 2025. The decline was primarily driven by lower sales volumes reflecting reduced operating rates and ongoing shipping constraints.
Speaker #5: Higher average selling prices partially mitigated the impact but this were not sufficient to offset the reduction in volumes. Operating costs also decreased, mainly reflecting lower sales volumes and reduced raw material costs.
Speaker #5: Camco's share of revenue from the joint venture decreased by 48% year on year to 1.4 billion rial while its share of EBITDA declined by 32% to 602 million rial.
Speaker #5: Importantly, despite the lower earnings, EBITDA margins improved significantly to 44% compared with 34% in the corresponding period last year, supported by stronger aluminium prices and lower input costs.
Speaker #5: The company also continued to maintain a strong financial position. As at 30 September 2026, cash and bank balances including Camco's proportionate share of cash held by the joint venture stood at 1.85 billion rial.
Speaker #5: Providing the company with a strong liquidity position. Looking specifically at the third quarter of 2026, Camco's net profit increased by 458% compared with the second quarter of 2026, primarily driven by a 143% increase in sales volumes.
Speaker #5: This improvement was partially offset by a 7% decline in average selling prices and higher operating costs during the quarter. Health, safety, and operational excellence remained key priorities for the joint venture throughout the period.
Speaker #5: Alongside continued focus on asset reliability, and business continuity. In summary, the first 9 months of 2026 presented significant operational and logistical challenges. Nevertheless, Camco continued to demonstrate the resilience of its business model supported by favorable aluminium pricing lower raw material costs strong EBITDA margins and a robust liquidity position.
Speaker #5: With that, I will hand the call back to Saud for his closing remarks.
Speaker #4: Thank you, Ahmad. With that, we conclude our call. We'd like to thank our investors for their continued trust and support, and we look forward to speaking with you again during the next earning call.
