Dear shareholders

May the peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Our progress in 2024 once again reflects our commitment to contributing to the food security of our nation as well as becoming the most trusted brand of nutritional foods and healthy beverages in Qatar.

Strong financial performance and growing market share

This year was a true reflection of the success of our market-driven strategies and unwavering commitment to operational excellence, underpinned by our strategic focus on sustaining growth, optimising efficiency, and expanding market presence.

Market share and brand equity both achieved record highs in 2024, with the substantial increases contributing to our excellent revenue and profit performance. The continuing improvement in these metrics is a key indicator of the health of our business at a point in time as well as a valuable tool for our shareholders to evaluate the longer-term value creation potential of the business.

Baladna generated revenues of QR 1,145 million in 2024, with strong contributions coming from higher sales volumes across all channels, especially HORECA and retail. This was complemented by the introduction of new products, successful marketing campaigns, and continued gains in market share across key product categories. Thanks to our research and innovation capabilities, our new SKUs - formulated to satisfy our consumers’ changing preferences - resonated well in the market, which in turn, further enhanced our competitive position.

Our net profits of QR 185 million rose on the back of ongoing enhancements to operational efficiencies and disciplined cost control measures. Although global commodity prices began to normalise during the year, Baladna, like many other businesses in the region, faced the challenge of continued supply chain disruptions, such as those in the Red Sea. Nonetheless, we responded resourcefully, finding solutions to these obstacles while maintaining our important supplier relationships. Baladna’s continued prosperity is elevated by our resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable issues. These measures, and our focus on efficiency and international opportunities, boosted our profitability, making Baladna the frontrunner amongst its regional peers on a margin comparison.

Our performance in the past two years has enabled a dividend distribution to our valued shareholders. In March 2024, the General Assembly approved the highest distribution in Baladna’s history, amounting to QR 132 million for 2023, representing 6.95% of the nominal value of shares.

On the basis on our profits in 2024, Baladna will issue 100 million bonus shares to existing shareholders as dividend distribution, subject to the approval of General Assembly in March 2025. Baladna is committed to a robust dividend policy that is aligned with the interests of our shareholders and rewards them for their loyalty and trust.

Our investors know well that innovation is a fundamental thread running through our strategy, and this year was no different as we maintained a close focus on consumer trends and demands. We entered new segments, earning consumer approval for our novel products, and we refreshed and revitalised some of our existing brands. Once again, the success of these initiatives is testament to Baladna’s understanding of and response to the evolving tastes and preferences of our consumers, and speaks to the underlying ethos of innovating for sustainability.

Significant highlights and milestones

The 2024 financial year was eventful on many positive levels, strengthening our business, increasing our contribution to Qatar’s food autonomy, and advancing our sustainable roadmap for consistent shareholder value creation.

In November, we secured a Government contract to produce and supply evaporated milk in 2025.We will fulfil this contract, valued at approximately QR 100 million, at our new state-of-theart manufacturing facility. Historically, evaporated milk was imported into Qatar. Our new production capability will further reduce our country’s reliance on imported staples.

I am particularly proud of the operational achievements made in 2024 relating to our commitment to quality. Each day, Baladna produces 60-70 units of the 250-plus products we make and delivers them to customers across Qatar and beyond. In 2024 we once again achieved a perfect quality record with no reported deficiencies, marking another successful year of this accomplishment. This is evidence of the quality assurance and reliability of all our products, which adhere to stringent standards.

The most significant event of the year, and one of the most important in our history, was the conclusion of a US$3.5 billion dairy production joint venture. We signed a shareholder agreement with the Algerian National Investment Fund in September to establish the world’s largest integrated dairy farm and production facility in the world. Baladna, as the controlling shareholder with 51%, is responsible for executing the project, and we commenced preliminary works the same month. We are also exploring the potential of establishing an infant milk production project in partnership with Algeria’s Ministry of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production, which will complement our new integrated dairy venture and further strengthen our regional footprint. The Algerian partnership has significant implications for our business as we look to expand domestically and internationally.

While our primary focus will always be Qatar, we see attractive opportunities to export our successful end-to-end model to other countries that are proactively driving their food security with domestic investments. Baladna’s expansion beyond Qatar’s borders has the potential to make a meaningful impact on the value we create for our shareholders.

Responsible corporate citizenship

Our overarching business strategy incorporates our approach to sustainability in its widest definition, encompassing our commitment to our stakeholders, our employees, our herds, and our environment.

As a leading national dairy and beverage producer, Baladna is dedicated to acting with transparency, integrity, and in line with best practices, robust corporate governance, and regulatory compliance.Our significant progress each year is evidence of our focus on the wellbeing of our key stakeholders and the welfare of our animal herds.

In 2024, we published our first standalone sustainability report, and it is our intention to publish an updated version annually as we continue our journey in building an enduring organisation.

At the operating level, we made important changes in 2024 to progress our utilisation of non-renewable resources. One of the most meaningful was improving our water and waste management systems. We implemented a circular economy approach to transform waste into valuable resources, in line with Qatar’s Vision 2030 and our own long-term sustainability goals.

In 2023, we embedded sustainability principles into our corporate strategy, resulting in the development of an ESG framework and roadmap with the aim of driving economic, social, and environmental gains.

In line with our primary focus of building Qatar’s food security, Baladna continued with its program of increasing its In-Country Value (ICV), which is a measure of a company’s expenditure in its home country.

A new era in governance

At the end of last year, the Board of Directors appointed three new committees—the Executive Committee, the Investment Committee, and the Tendering Committee, bringing to six the total number of board committee and strengthening Baladna’s monitoring and governance practices. The new committees became fully operational during 2024, making a significant contribution to improving Baladna’s reporting and governance standards.

At our General Assembly in November, Baladna announced its new Board of Directors for the three years until November 2027. The appointment of the new members represents a milestone in our corporate governance journey as they were elected following an independent nomination process, in line with best practice. The previous and founding Board of Directors was established as part of Baladna’s Articles of Association in 2019.

I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to our first Board of Directors for the meaningful role they played in the past five years in guiding the extraordinary growth in our business. To the incoming Board, we look forward to your contributions as Baladna moves into the next phase of domestic growth and international expansion.

An exciting year ahead

In the coming year, Baladna will continue with the strategy of building its domestic business in Qatar, growing our share in the categories where we operate, unlocking the potential in high-growth segments, and building our presence in markets where we are new entrants, such as evaporated milk and detergents. Further afield, our new joint venture in Algeria will be accelerated towards first production, which we forecast will take place in early 2027.

We are optimistic about our prospects for 2025. Building on the robust financial and operational platform we have created over the past seven years, Baladna is primed to continue its track record of success. As we advance towards our goal of becoming Qatar’s most trusted food and beverage brand, we will deliver further value for our shareholders, and strengthen the nation’s self-sufficiency.

Acknowledgements

On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend my appreciation to our employees, partners, and shareholders for their unwavering support and contribution to Baladna’s continued success.

Our executive team played a pivotal role in the past year progressing our domestic business to even greater heights, and leading our efforts in securing a landmark international joint venture.

A special mention must be made to our former Board of Directors, without whom we could not have achieved so much in so short a time. Please accept my thanks on behalf of the entire Company for the invaluable role you played, and for setting the tone for a new era of prosperity.