Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Company (MPHC) will remain focused on its five-year business plan of containing expenses while making capital expenditures to optimize plant operating rates, enhance safety of operations and unlock future growth potential said Ahmad Saif Al Sulaiti, Chairman of the Board of Directors, MPHC. He was addressing the Annual General Assembly Meeting held virtually yesterday.
“Going forward, we will remain focused on our five-year business plan of containing expenses while making capital expenditures to optimize plant operating rates, enhance safety of operations and unlock future growth potential,” said Ahmad Saif Al Sulaiti. “MPHC is poised to strengthen its market position and increase its shareholder value, as it follows a strategy towards being a first-quartile petrochemicals producer known for operational excellence, along with high safety and environmental standards,” he added.
Shareholders approved the Board’s recommendation for a dividend payment of QR0.04 per share for 2020, representing 4 percent of the nominal share value.
“There have been some signs of gradual recovery noted in the global macroeconomic climate, specifically in the latter part of 2020, with a rebound in the prices of crude oil and downstream products, owing to unprecedented stimulus announcements and lifting of lockdowns in major markets, along with optimism around vaccine roll-out,” he said.
“Against such a backdrop of positive developments, we look forward to a further improved macroeconomic environment, which would yield positive results in terms of enhanced performance for MPHC’s joint ventures,” he said.
MPHC continued to focus on operational excellence, growth and sustainability in a year marked by extremely challenging macroeconomic headwinds. Operational excellence was mainly driven by continuous optimization of our processes and operating costs in a lower price environment, improved reliability and enhanced asset integrity, said Ahmad Saif Al Sulaiti.
“In sustainability, we continued to limit the environmental impact of our business, while optimizing operating rates. One of our core objectives during the year was to execute the planned turnarounds for certain facilities safely, despite the challenges posed due to spread of the pandemic, all the facilities successfully completed their respective planned turnarounds within the budgeted schedules,” he said.
Delivering the speech, he said, “Given current short- and medium-term economic outlook and the related impact to our business, the Board of Directors proposes to pay a total annual dividend distribution for the year ended December 31, 2020 of QR503m, equivalent to QR0.04 per share, with a pay-out ratio of 94 percent to Group’s net earnings,” he said.
“Given that this year’s pay-out ratio has been the highest since MPHC’s incorporation, even with the extreme challenges faced by the Group during 2020, it is a testament to the Group’s robust and resilient financial position,” he added.
Addressing shareholders, Mohammed Jaber Al Sulaiti, Manager Privatized Companies Affairs Dept., Qatar Petroleum said that year 2020 was one of the most challenging year for the Company since inception, underpinned by oil price turmoil, global pandemic and customer skepticism.
“During the year, despite the threats posed to our operations, amid the aforementioned challenges, we successfully implemented our planned turnarounds within the defined timelines and budget. Also our crisis management committees, along with our marketing partner, were successful in keeping a check on the ever evolving business and market conditions throughout the year, but also collectively delivered commendable results and kept the business risk low, while ensuring minimal supply chain disruptions,” he said.
He said that Group’s marketing partner played a pivotal role in ensuring Group’s product volumes remained sold, even in the current circumstances during the year, without any disruptions to production. MPHC’s marketing partner continued to ensure marketing and logistics operations is effectively and efficiently managed, thereby, creating several arbitrage opportunities, including successful identification of new markets, so as to divert the produced volumes.
“Starting from the fourth quarter of 2020, we are noticing signs of recovery in the global markets, where a rebound in our product prices was noticed, mainly due to stimulus announcements from various sovereigns, while major markets coming out of lockdowns, along with optimism around vaccine roll-out. Against such a positive backdrop, we look forward to a improved macroeconomic climate, which indeed would positively affect MPHC results going forward,” he added.
