It is obvious from the recent growth in Madina’s turnover that the 2007 partnership formed with Interserve, as well as Qatar’s unprecedented investment on gas infrastructure moving into the operations and maintenance stage, have combined to make an incredibly successful few years. In 2006, its sales were $19.8m; the forecast for 2012 is for revenues of $104m. The more than five-fold rise in turnover shows how far Madina has come in the past five years, but the question is whether this growth is sustainable.

Qatar’s spending on its gas infrastructure is over. The only new investment in the Gulf state’s oil and gas industry in the next five years is going to be the addition of petrochemicals facilities. This will have a significant bearing on Madina’s training division. At the Pearl GTL project, the unit instructed 55,000 workers on 400,000 courses over five years.

However, the operational staff of Pearl GTL only number about 800. This means that with no extensive spending in the hydrocarbons sector, Madina’s training arm may struggle to maintain the levels of business it enjoyed between 2007 and 2011. The investment in infrastructure to host the World Cup might provide opportunities and Madina will be looking to pick up work related to staging the event.  

There is no doubt that having the maintenance contract for Pearl GTL is a massive coup for the firm and it is vital that it secures similar deals in order to maintain its growth. Many of Qatar’s major process plants should have maintenance deals up for tender in the next two years and this should provide opportunities to win work. Competition will be fierce, however. There are several similar joint venture maintenance companies in Qatar as well as larger global players such as the US’ Fluor. 

Being able to offer fabrication and construction services as well as training and testing to clients in Qatar gives Madina an advantage over some of its rivals. Building on this capability and offering a more diverse set of services would aid its chances of winning the large maintenance contracts it craves.  

Madina is well placed to continue its success in Doha and has built a diverse set of business units that still complement one another. A similar surge in revenue growth is unlikely if the firm continues to focus just on Qatar, but if the group looks to projects elsewhere in the region, with its experience at Ras Laffan it has the potential to become one of the largest maintenance contractors in the GCC.