Middle East Contracting
Qatari contracting and investment group lifts first half profit 21 per cent with work under way in ten countries
By Staff Writer | 17 August 2026
Estithmar Holding's revenue rose to QAR 3.159 billion in the six months to 30 June, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation climbed 20 per cent, and net profit reached QAR 561 million, while the group's market capitalisation stood at approximately QAR 20 billion at the half year.
Estithmar Holding, the Doha-listed group whose divisions span specialised contracting and industries, healthcare, services, and tourism and real estate development, reported net profit of QAR 561 million for the first half of 2026, a rise of 21 per cent on the QAR 465 million recorded a year earlier. The results, announced on 12 August after approval by the board of directors, cover the six months to 30 June.
Revenue increased to QAR 3.159 billion from QAR 3.073 billion in the corresponding period of 2025. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 20 per cent to QAR 880 million from QAR 732 million, and earnings per share increased 14.4 per cent to QAR 0.124. Over the same six months the group's share price rose 31 per cent to QAR 4.42, taking its market capitalisation to approximately QAR 20 billion on 30 June 2026.
Our H1 2026 results reflect the strength of Estithmar Holding's business model and the successful execution of our long-term strategy, as we continue to strengthen our global position as a Qatari group.
Basel Shaddad, Holding Chief Executive Officer of Estithmar Holding
Ten countries, five divisions
The group's operations now span ten countries: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Egypt, the Maldives and Kazakhstan. Projects under development during the half included the Rixos Baghdad Hotel and Residences in Iraq, the Rosewood Maldives resort and the Algerian-Qatari-German Hospital in Algiers, each of them carrying design, construction and fit-out work through the group's contracting companies alongside its operating businesses.
Mr Shaddad said the growth in profit was underpinned by a portfolio of secured business worth QAR 4.2 billion across Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Maldives, Algeria and other markets, a figure that gives the contracting side of the group visible work beyond the current year.
A 21 per cent rise in net profit on revenue growth of under three per cent points to margin rather than volume: the earnings improvement came from what the group built and operated, not simply from building more.
During the period the company also established Estithmar Capital as its fifth business division, a dedicated platform for financial services intended to sit alongside the four established divisions and to widen the group's sources of earnings across regional and international markets.
What the half says to the region's contractors
For contractors and consultants watching the Gulf market, the detail worth holding is where the work sits. A Qatari group is carrying hospital, hotel and resort construction through Iraq, Algeria and the Maldives while its home market supplies the balance sheet, and its secured backlog spans six named markets. Diversification of that kind changes where tender opportunities appear and which employers are hiring delivery teams. The half year ends with the group valued at approximately QAR 20 billion by the market, and with its next phase resting on turning QAR 4.2 billion of secured work into built projects.