LBDI broadens interests from interiors to construction

Niche developments and investment company diversifies from furnishings to material supply

Loyalty Business Development & Investment (LBDI), an interest of Urbacon and parent company of Qatar-based interior supply company Credo, is now looking to diversify its supply division to exploit unexplored niches in the construction sector. Mohammed Moutaz Khayyat, CEO of LBDI, said: In LBDI we have seven companies, and the fastest growing is Credo, which now has seven divisions. Now that there are projects in Qatar, there are good margins, and the retail market will grow up to an estimated five times in size within the next year, so we expect profits to be healthy. Credo, a reflection of the fast-paced whirlwind of change that LBDI is bringing to Qatar, is a supplier of exclusively sourced luxury and consumer brands of Italian lighting and furniture. LBDIs managing director, Mohammed Khayyat, says the key focus of the team is searching for weaknesses in the market. Using Credo as an example, he highlighted that the company started with lighting from Italy and some other countries in Europe before branching out into sanitary bathrooms and kitchens. He adds: LBDI will develop any idea it believes to be successful, but for each idea, it will open a company especially for that purpose. One example of a recent addition is an Italian specialist in generators and substations, which LBDI brought to the Middle East, but who previously had limited themselves to South Africa and Asia in scope. Mohammed adds: We started working with them two weeks ago; they are very professional and the quality of their generators is very high. To date, all the live tests on projects are giving very good results. LBDI has also set up an aluminium company called Profession, which is involved in faade assembly. Currently, a block factory for in-house work is in the process of having its machines delivered from Germany. Mohammed Moutaz Khayyat, explains: LBDI supports our sister companies with all its building materials, focusing first on the finishing materials, but potentially also raw materials in future.

The latest company is called Fibro and involves a factory opening in about a month for glass-reinforced concrete and glass-reinforced plastic. Mohammed Khayyat notes: The GRP is like the GRC, but it is a little stronger and more aesthetic, and you can achieve many different looks. If you go to a theme park, all the curved elements and sculptures are made from GRP you can even make a boat or car body from it if you want. Profession has around 300 employees: 120 for the installation and the remainder in the factory. Fibro presently has around 70 personnel, but this will increase after three months to 400 people.