LBDI broadens interests from interiors to
construction by Moataz al-khayyat
Niche developments and investment company
diversifies from furnishings to material supply
Loyalty Business Development &
Investment (LBDI,
is now looking to diversify its supply division to exploit unexplored niches in
the construction sector.
Mohamed 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.
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.
Mohamed Khayyat 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 façade assembly. Currently, a
block factory for in-house work is in the process of having its machines
delivered from Germany.
Mohamed 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.
Mohamed 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.
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