Woqod registers net profit of QR429 mn in first nine months
QATAR Fuel Company (Woqod) on Wednesday announced that it registered a net profit of QR 29 million in the first nine months of 2020, compared to QR872 million achieved in the same period last year.
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) was QR0. 3 compared to QR0.88 for the same period of last year.
The decrease in net profits and earning per share for the period were partly attributed to slowdown in market due to COVID-19 and lower demand for petroleum products.
Woqod Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Saad Rashid Al Muhannadi said that the Group’s net profits and overall sales volumes have witnessed a considerable increase in the third quarter of 2020 compared to second quarter of the same year.
With regard to the company’s operations, Muhannadi said that the company’s overall sales of petroleum products decreased by 23 percent as compared to the same period of last year driven by the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Diesel, Super Gasoline and Premium Gasoline sales decreased by 11 percent, 1 percent, and 9 percent respectively, and Jet fuel volumes decreased by 3 percent due to reduced operations of the airlines in most countries globally.
Bitumen sales have decreased by 6 percent driven by macro-economic factors, COVID-19 pandemic and the completion of the major projects. The LPG sales decreased by 3 percent compared to the same period of 2019.
Refined petroleum products retail sales from petrol stations decreased by 3 percent compared to the same period of last year driven by micro-economic factors as well as the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
As for building more stations, Al Muhannadi pointed out that the petrol stations operated by ‘Woqod’ as of October 1 totalled 106 stations. The company is set to add five more petrol stations by the end of 2020, he said.
For the purpose of improving the profitability of the company, Muhannadi indicated that the company will continue to increase the levels of implementation of its efficiency and cost optimisation initiatives.
Muhannadi said that Woqod is working closely with its partners to coordinate the implementation of all the governmental directives issued in furtherance of combating the spread and the negative effects of COVID-19.
He said that despite the challenges of coronavirus, Woqod implement a exible and effective business plan to ensure the continuity of the supply activities throughout the country on regular basis and in line with the health safety security, and environmental sanitation procedures.