IHC nine-month profit up 87% as revenue tops AED100bn

IHC nine-month profit after tax rose 87% to AED32.5bn (US$8.8bn), International Holding Company, the Abu Dhabi-listed investment group, said on Thursday, as revenue for the first nine months of 2026 passed AED100bn.

Revenue climbed 33.2% to AED100.5bn (US$27.4bn) in the nine months to 30 September, according to the company’s results. Gross profit rose 35.4% to AED25.3bn and profit before tax increased 84.2% to AED35.1bn, while earnings per share more than doubled to AED9.71.

Net profit attributable to owners of the company rose 109% to about AED21.2bn (US$5.8bn), The National reported, citing the filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The newspaper attributed the gain to a surge in investment income, which rose nearly 215% to AED24.2bn.

Seven of eight IHC segments grow revenue

Real estate and construction remained the largest contributor, with revenue up 12.8% to AED33.3bn. Marine and dredging generated AED22.4bn, a rise of 3.7%, while energy and mining revenue jumped 295.1% to AED19.3bn on minerals, metals and hydrocarbon trading.

Hospitality and leisure revenue almost doubled, rising 93.7% to AED7.8bn. Financial services revenue grew 53.7% to AED4.4bn, food rose 25.7% to AED5.1bn and technology added 20.5% to reach AED2.9bn. The company said international revenue more than doubled over the period.

Profit from the seven segments outside financial services rose 37.5% to AED12.6bn, the company said. Return on equity stood at 20.8%.

Balance sheet expands as buyback continues

Total assets grew 13.4% to AED485.9bn (US$132bn) at the end of September, with total equity up 9.9% to AED275.4bn and owners’ equity up 11.5% to AED170.5bn. Cash and bank balances stood at AED76.6bn, and the company reported net debt of AED30.4bn, a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.4 times and a quick ratio of 2.6 times.

IHC said it deployed about AED25bn of capital into associates, joint ventures, financial assets and investment properties during the period. The first AED1.8bn tranche of its second AED5bn share buyback programme began in June, and about 1.9 million shares had been repurchased for AED705m by 30 September, Aletihad reported.

Syed Basar Shueb, Chief Executive Officer of IHC, said: “Surpassing AED 100 billion in revenue is an important milestone.” He added: “Our focus remains on maintaining financial discipline and deploying capital selectively.”

Why the IHC nine-month profit matters for investors

IHC has a market capitalisation of more than AED722bn and over 1,300 subsidiaries spanning technology, infrastructure, financial services and consumer businesses, according to The National. Its shares closed almost 2% higher at AED329.20 on Thursday after the results.

The quarterly picture was softer than the nine-month headline. Third-quarter net profit fell by about 30% to AED3.25bn even as revenue rose almost 31% to AED35.6bn, The National reported, which means the bulk of the year’s profit growth came in the first half.

The group has continued to expand through acquisitions and partnerships. It has signed an initial agreement alongside India’s Adani Group with the state of Odisha to invest about 2.1 trillion rupees (US$25bn) across 14 projects, and said it was acquiring an 80% stake in Marlan Holding to enter the space sector. Its listed subsidiary Alpha Dhabi also committed US$1bn to the Alpha Wave III AI fund last month.

IHC has also named Fount Trust as its ultimate owner, above Royal Group Holding, following a restructuring that the company said does not change its ultimate beneficial ownership, operations, strategy or business activities. Earlier in the year, second-quarter profit had surged 220%, The National reported, which set up the strong nine-month comparison.

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For Abu Dhabi, the IHC nine-month profit numbers show how much of the emirate’s private-sector activity now flows through the group and its units, from construction and dredging to hospitality and trading. Investors following Gulf corporate results will watch whether the third-quarter slowdown in profit persists when the company reports its full-year 2026 results, expected early next year.