Al Koot Insurance & Reinsurance Co (Al Koot) will maintain its competitive position in Qatar's insurance market while it continues to grow profitably and diversify its portfolio, according to a forecast by S&P Global Ratings (S&P).
In 2025, Al Koot’s insurance revenue increased about 12% to QAR1.4bn ($380m) from QAR1.2bn in 2024, driven mainly by the growth in the medical line, which contributes about 60% of the insurer's revenue.
Its second-largest business line is energy, contributing about 20% of its revenue, as Al Koot is one of the six leading national insurers in Qatar and benefits from access to government-related risks (tenders) that are only open to the six national insurers, which are a part of consortium.
The very profitable medical and energy lines contribute to more than 80% of Al Koot’s top line, leading to some concentration risk.
On the underwriting side, Al Koot’s net combined ratio in 2025 was 82%, compared with a three-year average net combined ratio of 84%. S&P projects a net combined ratio of about 85% for the next two years.
Revenue
Al Koot is one of the largest insurers in terms of insurance revenue and S&P expects it will keep its strong position and take advantage of growth opportunities in the Qatari insurance market. S&P expects that Al Koot’s insurance revenue will rise about 10% for 2026-2027 excluding the mandatory health insurance business.
Once the mandatory health insurance scheme gets implemented, S&P expects the entire market's growth rate to improve significantly, possibly exceeding 20%. S&P does not incorporate this in its forecasts because this scheme has been delayed multiple times and there is uncertainty regarding the implementation and final product pricing.
Capital position
S&P also expects that Al Koot will maintain sufficient capital adequacy at the 99.99% confidence level in 2026-2027, supported by profitable earnings. At the end of 2025, it had significant capital buffers above the 99.99% confidence level as per our internal risk-based capital model. The insurer's overall profitability continues to support its business growth, despite relatively high dividend payouts. S&P’s base-case scenario assumes a dividend payout ratio of about 70% of net profits, although Al Koot has flexibility to reduce its dividends in the unlikely event capital adequacy comes under pressure.
Investments
S&P expects Al Koot to maintain a relatively conservative and highly liquid investment portfolio . Over the past few years, the insurer has taken steps to de-risk its investment portfolio by reducing exposure to high-risk assets and decrease the proportion of equities and real estate in its investment portfolio, improving its risk profile. Investment-grade fixed-income securities and deposits form a significant part of Al Koot’s investment portfolio, which also support the company’s high liquidity.
Ratings affirmed
S&P has affirmed Al Koot’s 'A-' issuer credit and insurer financial strength ratings. The outlook is stable, reflecting the global credit rating agency’s view that Al Koot will maintain its very robust capital adequacy buffers while it continues to profitably expand and diversify its business over the next two years.