It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to this general meeting of Gulf Warehousing Company (GWC).
The company’s accounts for the period from March 8, 2004 to December 31, 2005. along with the Director’s and Auditor’s report, have already been circulated to you. I take for granted that these have been read and understood by you.
Overview
Gulf Warehousing Company entered the Stock Exchange 22 months ago and is currently meeting to discuss the benefits of our programs.
Work in our main warehouse will reach a peak performance and we are expecting to begin our projects from out location Street 15, Doha Industrial Area in the second quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, we are operating efficiently in our present premises in Street 17. Our financial decisions and work in Warehouse Street 17 exceeded all expectations and helped our company make net profit of QR 11.7 million. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your confidence in us, and as token of our appreciation the Board of Directors decided in their meeting of 22 January 2006 to distribute free shares consisting of 8.33% of initial capital, as well as offering 1 share for every 12 existing shares. We are offering preferred stocks with the exact value of the capital paid as of 31 December 2005. Each share has a nominal value of QR10 plus QR 15 from the shares that have been underwritten. The global value of each share will be QR 25. The total market value of the company reached QR550 million as of 5 January, 2006.
Our future plans
We at GWC are not satisfied with what we have. Our hanger for growth has led us into a foray of new projects which will be realized over the next few years.
These include:
Land Transport and Freight forwarding services.
Building a Warehouse in Mesaieed Industrial City
Building a Warehouse in Ras Lafan Industrial City for Oil and Gas sections
Strategic acquisition of warehouses locally and regionally.
Open Yard Storage Operations
With this vision in mind, we have appointed M/S KPMG to conduct a study for our Strategic Financing Plan for the next 5 years. An Arabic version of their interim report has already been submitted to the Ministry of Commerce for obtaining approval for our rights issue of shares. At GWC, we believe that growth is a way of life.
The following criteria will guide our decisions with regards to emerging business opportunities which we are looking forward to today.
Identify new business with high growth potential
Invest in businesses that can scale rapidly and generate superior returns over an extended period of time
Create a differentiated business model and aspire to be the lowest cost service provider in the region, which shall ultimately result in gaining a dominant market share and leadership in the region.
New businesses have to generate a superior returns on capital employed, which shall eventually enhance the overall returns to our family of shareholders.
We at GWC are fully equipped and confident of tapping the vast business opportunities that the State of Qatar has to offer as the nation marches ahead. My confidence stems from our ability to identify new growth avenues, scale them up rapidly and build sizes unmatched anywhere in region.
Corporate Governance
We are GWC believe in upholding the highest standards in corporate governance. Corporate governance at GWC encompass the entire spectrum of domains from Board affairs, business ethics, customer values, employee welfare, health, safety and environment, shareholder value to social equity.
Acknowledgement
I would like to conclude on this optimistic note. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank all investors, bankers, lenders, suppliers and customers of GWC for wholeheartedly supporting the company. I would also like to thank all employees of GWC for their diligence and dedication. I thank all my colleagues on Board of Directors for their support and encouragement.
As you are aware, value creation is a continuous exercise at GWC that aimed at benefiting all our shareholders. The challenges ahead of us will be to keep delivering results in the short term and not lose sight of building one of the region’s most enviable enterprises in the long term. I promise you that GWC will represent the best success story in this region.
In this journey, we look forward to your continued support.
