Agthia entered 2026 with the kind of quarter that quietly settles arguments. Net profit at the Abu Dhabi-listed food and beverage group rose 12.5 per cent year-on-year to Dhs96.9m, revenue climbed 3.3 per cent to Dhs1.3bn, and EBITDA expanded 4.1 per cent to Dhs193.3m — all delivered against a regional backdrop of shipping disruption, route volatility and rising input costs that has tested operators across the Gulf.

Beneath the headline figures, the story is one of portfolio breadth doing its job. The water and food division delivered 14.6 per cent revenue growth, agri-business expanded 13 per cent, and Abu Auf’s 27.3 per cent topline jump within Snacking pointed to a turnaround taking shape. E-commerce, now 7.2 per cent of group underlying sales, grew 22.5 per cent — a quiet but telling indicator of how a traditional staples business is repositioning for a faster, more digital consumer.

Salmeen Alameri, managing director and CEO of Agthia, speaks to Gulf Business about what drove the quarter, how the group is managing through a more complex operating environment, and where he sees the strongest opportunities for the rest of the year.

How does Agthia view its role in supporting food security in the UAE, particularly through its scale, supply chain capabilities, and participation in food security-related programmes?

Agthia is a diversified group operating across four core business units: Agri-Business, Water & Food, Protein & Frozen, and Snacking. Each of these categories plays an important role in the broader food security ecosystem — from hydration and flour to animal feed, protein, dates, everyday food products and consumer staples.

For local champions like Agthia, the role is not only commercial. It is structural. Our responsibility is to build resilience in a way that is also economically sustainable. We do this by scaling local production capacity in essential categories, localising processing and storage where possible, and maintaining the operational readiness required to respond during periods of disruption.

More than half of our business is in the UAE, where we hold leading positions in key essential categories, including the country’s number one brands in water, flour and animal feed. Across the group, we operate 20 manufacturing facilities and employ over 12,000 people across the region, giving us the scale, infrastructure and operational depth to support reliable supply.

Agthia delivered a strong Q1 2026 performance. What were the primary drivers behind this, and how do you view the quality of these earnings?

Our results this quarter were shaped by strong execution in core segments, continued progress across transformation projects, and the group’s ability to respond quickly to a more complex operating environment.

Group net revenue rose 3.3 per cent year-on-year to Dhs1.3bn, EBITDA grew 4.1 per cent to Dhs193.3m, while net profit increased 12.5 per cent to Dhs96.9m — supported by disciplined execution, stronger margin delivery, and improving operating performance across key businesses.

Water and food remained a key growth engine, delivering 14.6 per cent revenue growth, supported by strong momentum in UAE water. Protein and frozen grew 4.1 per cent, driven by the market leadership of Nabil in Jordan and Atyab in Egypt. Agri-business delivered 13 per cent revenue growth, reinforcing its strategic role within Agthia’s diversified portfolio. In snacking, the portfolio reset continues to progress, with Abu Auf delivering 27.3 per cent topline growth and Al Foah demonstrating profitability recovery, reflecting the impact of focused actions to strengthen the category’s performance.

Our digital momentum also strengthened, with our e-commerce hub growing 22.5 per cent and now representing 7.2 per cent of group underlying sales, reflecting our ability to reach consumers through faster, more convenient digital routes to market.

Agthia’s performance reflects the strength of the group’s fundamentals, the relevance of its role in supporting the broader food security ecosystem, and the focus with which it continues to execute against its strategic priorities — creating a more resilient and profitable earnings profile.

Water and food remained a key growth driver in Q1. What factors supported the performance of this segment?

Water and food remained a key engine of growth in Q1, delivering 14.6 per cent revenue growth, supported by the continued strength of Agthia’s core brands, disciplined commercial execution, and sustained demand across essential categories. The performance was led by Al Ain Water, the UAE’s number one water brand, alongside continued momentum in our broader food portfolio, including everyday staples that remain closely linked to household consumption, hospitality, and food security.

The segment also benefited from Agthia’s ability to combine strong legacy brands with innovation and channel expansion. The launch of Al Ain Alkaline Water and the expansion of our frozen range strengthened our market footprint and responded to evolving consumer preferences. Overall, the segment’s performance reflects the strength of our category leadership, our operational scale, and our ability to keep innovating while continuing to serve essential consumer needs across the UAE and the wider region.

How did Agthia maintain operational continuity during the quarter, particularly in a more complex operating environment?

Agthia is built on a foundation of resilience, with the safety of our people and the stability of our operations remaining our first priorities. In response to the current situation, we are managing the impact through a well-prepared supply chain, supported by strategic reserves of key raw materials within geographies or operation bases. These buffers allow us to maintain production continuity and reduce the risk of disruption, even amid some disruptions in shipping routes and regional logistics.

At the same time, our diversified manufacturing footprint across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan enables us to serve key markets more locally and reduce dependency on cross-border movement during periods of volatility. We are also able to adjust production levels where needed to manage inventory efficiently. Supported by a strong financial position, healthy liquidity, and a clear long-term strategy, we remain confident in our ability to navigate cost pressures while continuing to deliver against our ambitions and our commitment to the region.

What role does Agthia’s diversified portfolio play in strengthening the Group’s resilience and supporting long-term growth?

Agthia’s diversified portfolio is one of the strongest foundations of the group’s resilience. With leading brands across water and food, protein and frozen, snacking and agri-business, the group is not dependent on a single category, market, or consumption cycle. This allows us to balance performance across the business, manage shifts in demand more effectively, and continue serving consumers and customers even during periods of market volatility or supply chain pressure.

This diversification also supports long-term growth by giving Agthia multiple platforms to scale. Our portfolio includes everyday essentials, high-growth consumer categories, regional power brands, and businesses directly linked to food security and national supply. Together, they create a stronger, more agile operating model — allowing us to expand across markets, invest in innovation, strengthen category leadership, and deliver sustainable value to our stakeholders.

What are Agthia’s key priorities for the remainder of 2026, and where do you see the strongest opportunities for growth?

For the remainder of 2026, our priority is focused execution across the key platforms that will support Agthia’s next phase of growth — including strengthening our regional manufacturing and distribution capabilities, and driving greater efficiency across our operating model.

At the same time, we are advancing our digital transformation and shared-services roadmap to improve agility, visibility and speed across the Group, from supply chain and procurement to commercial planning and customer engagement.

We also see strong growth opportunities through our innovation pipeline, particularly in products that respond to evolving consumer preferences around health, convenience, hydration, functional benefits and snacking. Our focus is to build on the strength of our leading brands while introducing relevant new propositions across our core categories. While we are not providing formal guidance given current market variables, we remain confident in the fundamentals of the business.

Agthia has a diversified portfolio and strong regional platforms — our priority is to keep executing with discipline, resilience and a long-term view to create sustainable value for all stakeholders.

When World Password Day was first marked over a decade ago, the prescription was simple: longer passwords, more symbols, fewer birthdays. As the digital community observed the day on May 7, that prescription has aged badly.

Across the GCC, cybersecurity leaders are arguing that the password itself is the problem — and that organisations still treating identity as a user-education issue are protecting the wrong perimeter entirely.

“Attackers are not breaking in anymore. They are logging in,” says Meriam ElOuazzani, vice president for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Censys . “Last year, 82 per cent of intrusions involved no malware at all. Credentials were the door, and the door was already unlocked.”

That reframing — from intrusion to authenticated access — sits at the heart of how identity security is being rebuilt across the region. The stakes have moved up the corporate ladder accordingly.

From IT concern to boardroom priority

Across every spokesperson interviewed for this piece, the same theme recurs: identity is no longer an IT department issue. It is a business risk now tracked at board level.

“Identity security is now a core business priority across the Middle East, particularly in sectors such as oil and gas, utilities, and manufacturing,” says Mike Hoffman, field CTO for oil and gas at Dragos.

“Many cyberattacks begin with credential theft, phishing, or password reuse, often allowing attackers to move from IT into OT environments. Because cyber incidents can disrupt operations, impact safety, and cause financial loss, identity security is no longer just an IT issue — it is a business risk that requires executive attention.”

Ezzeldin Hussein, regional senior director, solution engineering for META at SentinelOne, agrees the lens has changed. “Identity and password security have evolved to become a board-level business priority as identity is now the primary attack surface. With cloud adoption, remote work, and expanding digital services, a compromised credential can directly have an effect on revenue, processes, and reputation.”

For Ranjith Kaippada, managing director at Cloud Box Technologies, the case is now about reputation as much as resilience. “Trust has taken a front seat. Even a single credential breach can damage years of reputation that a brand has built. In the UAE, most breaches originate from compromised credentials rather than sophisticated exploits.”

ElOuazzani identifies a structural mismatch behind the urgency. “Cloud acceleration has outpaced identity governance. Organisations expanded fast, often across multiple cloud environments, and the access controls did not keep pace. The exposure is real, and in many cases, it is already inside the environment.”

The passwordless pivot

If there is one consensus this World Password Day, it is that the password’s long tenure is finally drawing to a close. The successor technologies — phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication, FIDO2, biometric passkeys — have matured, and adoption is accelerating.

“Every organisation has suffered from a password breach or phishing attack, and as emerging identity technologies like passkeys and FIDO2 phishing-resistant authentication are now more mature there is a growing movement toward modernisation,” says Chester Wisniewski, director and global field CISO at Sophos. “Traditional MFA methods like time-based codes were often resisted by business leaders as cumbersome, but biometric passkeys are simple to use and gaining momentum.”

His recommendation is the bluntest of the group. “Stop using passwords. They are simply secrets. We are bad at keeping secrets and we are even worse at storing them. Adopt passwordless authentication for both convenience and security, and someday World Password Day can be a thing of the past.”

Jay Reddy, head of growth at ManageEngine, argues that even MFA — once considered the gold standard — is no longer a blanket answer. “MFA is no longer a blanket solution if it can be phished or bypassed. Replacing passwords and vulnerable factors like SMS or email OTPs with phishing-resistant methods such as FIDO2 and passkeys is becoming critical.”

Hussein points to regional infrastructure already supporting the shift. “Businesses are beginning to use identity-first security approaches, such as national digital identity frameworks like UAE PASS, robust verifying methods like FIDO2, and zero-trust principles.”

AI: weapon and shield

Underpinning the urgency is the rapid weaponisation of generative AI. Threat actors are using it to generate convincing phishing campaigns, deepfake personas, and automated credential theft at industrial scale.

“AI is making identity security more important than ever,” says Hoffman. “Threat actors are increasingly leveraging AI-generated personas, fake LinkedIn profiles, and sophisticated social engineering techniques to gain initial access into IT and OT environments. With the rise of generative AI, these tactics are becoming increasingly scalable and convincing.”

Hussein describes a dual-use dynamic. “AI will play two roles — defenders will use it to correlate endpoint, identity, and cloud signals in real time, while attackers will use it to automate phishing, deepfakes, and credential theft.”

Reddy adds the labour-market angle. “AI cuts both ways. It has made it easier for cybercrime to scale, while also increasing reliance on AI within security platforms to keep pace — especially with the documented cybersecurity skills shortage across the GCC.”

For Kaippada, the future lies in adaptive systems that mirror the sophistication of the attackers. “Adaptive identification, which uses behavioural biometrics and contextual cues to evaluate risk in real time, is the way of the future. AI-to-AI authentication — in which machines are used to check other machines — is one change that goes unnoticed.”

The machine identity explosion

Perhaps the most under-discussed shift is the explosion of non-human identities. Every API key, service account, automated workflow, and now AI agent represents a credential — and most organisations have no idea how many are active in their environments.

“Service accounts and application automation have created a proliferation of API keys, often with over-privileged access to company data,” Wisniewski warns. “Modern attackers are targeting these non-human identities and causing massive data breaches. This problem is only likely to get worse with the rapid adoption of agentic AI.”

ElOuazzani sees the same blind spot in client environments. “Most security leaders I speak with cannot tell me how many autonomous agents are active in their environment, let alone what data those agents are touching. That is not a tool problem. That is a structural one.”

Reddy frames it as a question of scale. “As automation scales, agentic AI will increasingly execute tasks independently, expanding the identity surface beyond what traditional governance models were designed to handle.”

What to do to protect yourself

The advice across the group converges on a handful of practical actions.

For Hoffman, it begins with how credentials are constructed in the first place. “Organisations should replace complex passwords with long, memorable passphrases combined with multi-factor authentication. Passphrases are easier for users to remember and harder for attackers to crack.”

For Hussein, it begins with a mindset shift. “Assume that passwords alone are already compromised and act accordingly. Companies should give importance to phishing-resistant verification, use least privilege access, and adopt continuous identity monitoring.”

For ElOuazzani, awareness campaigns are not the answer. “Stop treating this like a user education problem. Every World Password Day, organisations push awareness campaigns, circulate tip sheets, remind employees to use strong passwords. And every year, credentials remain one of the most reliable entry points for attackers. Audit what your organisation’s external infrastructure exposes right now, today, before you send a single internal memo.”

For Reddy, the priority is unifying fragmented identity stacks. “When identities are spread across silos, policy enforcement becomes inconsistent by default. A single, authoritative view of identity enables risk-based access decisions — where access is granted based on context, behaviour, and real-time risk rather than static roles.”

And for Kaippada, the answer is structural. “Stop treating passwords as a primary defence and start treating them as a liability. It is not about stronger passwords — it is about reducing dependence on them altogether to significantly shrink your organisation‘s total attack surface.”

Wisniewski offers the most aspirational close — a future in which the annual ritual itself is obsolete. “Someday World Password Day can be a thing of the past.”

That day is not here yet. But across the GCC, the cybersecurity industry is working — visibly, urgently — to bring it closer.

More than four in five GCC consumers say they are willing to switch brands for better perks, according to the recently published Dragonpass Loyalty Index, in a finding that points to a fundamental redrawing of how loyalty works across the region.

While 88.4 per cent identify as “very” or “somewhat” loyal to brands, 82.6 per cent are ready to defect for a better offer — a paradox that suggests the region’s loyalty market, projected to reach $5.6bn by 2030, is being rewritten in real time.

Dubai has built one of the most credible regulatory frameworks for virtual assets anywhere in the world, but the institutional money the city has been courting has been slower to arrive than many expected. Banking friction, custody concerns and operational readiness still sit between regulated infrastructure and serious capital, and closing that gap is now the central battleground for the next phase of the industry.

That is the space Daman Virtual, the digital asset arm of long-established UAE broker Daman Securities, is built to occupy. With a Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) licence, AED settlement, UAE banking rails and an institutional-first service model, the platform is targeting family offices, corporates and treasury desks rather than retail volume.

Co-founder Ahmed Ismail speaks to Gulf Business about why institutional adoption has lagged, how stablecoin rails are reshaping settlement, and where the real opportunity lies across the GCC and beyond.

Dubai has positioned itself as a regulated crypto hub through the VARA, but institutional adoption globally has still been slower than many expected. What are the biggest barriers you’re seeing among UAE institutions, family offices and corporates when it comes to entering virtual assets?

The barriers are fairly consistent: regulatory clarity in practice, banking friction, and operational readiness.

Institutions do not look at virtual assets in the same way as retail users. They need to know that whatever they are doing can stand up to scrutiny from regulators, banks, auditors, investment committees and boards. For a long time, much of the market infrastructure was either retail-led, offshore, or not built around the standards institutional capital requires.

That is where Dubai has made real progress. VARA has created a framework that institutions can point to when considering this asset class, and that matters. It gives serious market participants a clearer path to engage with virtual assets in a regulated, supervised environment.

But regulation alone is not enough. Institutions also need banking rails, custody arrangements, transaction monitoring, governance, and a clear audit trail around client funds, execution and settlement. Without those pieces, adoption remains difficult.

The other major shift is stablecoin payment rails. The market is moving beyond the idea of virtual assets as purely speculative instruments. Institutions are starting to look at blockchain-based settlement as a way to move value faster, more transparently and with less friction than traditional rails. In many areas of financial markets, settlement can still take days. With stablecoins, value can move almost instantly.

That is where the next phase of adoption will come from: not just buying and selling crypto, but using regulated virtual asset infrastructure for treasury, payments, settlement and cross-border flows. Dubai is well placed to lead that transition.

You’re launching Daman Crypto with AED settlement and UAE banking rails, which is relatively rare in the region. How important is solving fiat on/off-ramp friction, and are local banks becoming more comfortable servicing virtual asset businesses?

It is foundational. Without solving the on-ramp and off-ramp, the rest of the market cannot scale properly.

For institutions, the issue is not simply buying or selling a virtual asset. It is how the full flow works: where the fiat comes from, where it settles, which bank is involved, how compliance is handled, how quickly funds can move, and whether the entire process can stand up to scrutiny from banks, regulators, auditors and investment committees.

Historically, many clients had to route flows offshore or work through fragmented local OTC desks. That added cost, delay, complexity and compliance risk. Global platforms may have liquidity, but they often cannot provide local AED settlement in the way UAE clients require. Informal local desks may appear fast, but they create significant security, counterparty and money laundering risks. They are not a viable route for institutions that need regulated counterparties, bank-grade controls, transaction monitoring, and a proper audit trail around source of funds, execution and settlement.

This is particularly important when you compare traditional banking rails with digital asset settlement. In traditional markets, settlement can often be T+2 or T+3. With stablecoin rails, settlement can happen almost instantly and outside normal banking hours. That difference matters for corporates, family offices and institutions managing liquidity across markets and time zones.

Daman Virtual is built to close that gap. We are focused on regulated virtual asset execution and conversion, with UAE banking rails and AED settlement at the centre of the model. The objective is to combine the speed and efficiency of digital asset rails with the regulatory comfort and banking connectivity institutions require.

On the banking side, comfort is improving, but it remains selective. Banks want to see regulation, governance, transparency, strong AML controls and a serious management team. That selectivity is healthy. It raises the standard of the market and makes it harder for grey-market operators to compete with properly regulated platforms.

A lot of institutional investors remain concerned about volatility, custody risks and regulatory uncertainty in digital assets. How are you addressing those concerns, and what safeguards do you have in place beyond simply being VARA licensed?

We treat those concerns as the baseline, not the exception.

VARA licencing is the foundation, but sophisticated clients understand that a licence is only one part of the equation. What matters is how the platform is operated day to day: segregation of client assets, strong custody arrangements, clear execution controls, transaction monitoring, cybersecurity governance, and a clear audit trail around client funds, execution and settlement.

On volatility, most institutional clients understand market risk. They know that digital assets can move quickly and they price that accordingly. What they are less willing to accept is unnecessary operational risk, counterparty risk, settlement risk or compliance uncertainty.

That is where our focus sits. Daman Virtual has been built around regulated infrastructure, UAE banking rails, strong governance, and an institutional service model. We are not trying to make virtual assets feel casual or speculative. We are trying to make access to this market more familiar, controlled and accountable for clients who already operate in regulated financial markets.

Stablecoin and digital asset settlement also address a very practical problem: speed. In traditional financial markets, capital can remain tied up for days because of settlement cycles and banking cut-off times. Digital asset rails can allow value to move much faster, including outside normal banking hours. For institutions, that can improve liquidity management, reduce friction and make cross-border flows more efficient.

The long-term winners in this industry will not just be the platforms with the best app or the most tokens. They will be the platforms that institutions, banks and regulators are comfortable dealing with over time.

Dubai has attracted major global crypto players, from Binance to Crypto.com. Where does Daman Virtual differentiate itself in an increasingly crowded market, particularly when targeting institutional capital?

The market is crowded at retail level. It is still relatively underdeveloped at the institutional layer, and that is where we operate.

Many global platforms were built first for retail users and are now trying to move upmarket. Daman Virtual has been built for institutional and professional clients from day one. That influences everything: the governance, the service model, the settlement process, the compliance framework, and the way we support clients.

Our differentiation is also local. We are embedded in the UAE financial system through Daman Securities’ long-standing presence in the market. That heritage matters. For institutional clients, trust is not built through marketing alone. It comes from track record, governance, relationships and the ability to operate within the local financial system.

The combination of regulated virtual asset services, AED settlement, UAE banking rails, institutional relationship management and Daman’s broader financial markets pedigree is what makes us different. We are not trying to compete for retail volume or become another global exchange brand. Our focus is narrower and, we believe, more valuable: helping serious clients access virtual assets through a regulated, banked and institutionally familiar platform.

What clients want is not only liquidity. They want speed, settlement certainty, banking connectivity and comfort that the flow is being handled properly. That is where we believe Daman Virtual can carve out a very clear position.

You’ve said your ambitions extend across the GCC. Which markets are the biggest opportunities outside the UAE, and do you expect regulatory fragmentation across the region to slow expansion plans?

The opportunity is less about any single country and more about the corridors that matter most to our clients.

We see strong demand across the GCC and key Asian corridors, particularly where institutions, family offices, corporates and intermediaries are looking for faster, safer and more transparent ways to move value. These are markets where banking friction, settlement delays and cross-border complexity remain real issues, and where regulated virtual asset infrastructure can make a meaningful difference.

For us, the UAE is the natural anchor. It has the regulatory framework, the banking infrastructure, the talent base and the international connectivity to serve as a regional hub for this next phase of financial infrastructure.

Regulatory fragmentation is a reality, and we are pragmatic about that. This is not a market where you can simply copy and paste one model across every jurisdiction. Each market has its own licensing requirements, banking environment, regulatory expectations and pace of adoption.

But fragmentation does not mean the opportunity is limited. In fact, it can work in favour of serious regulated operators. As compliance expectations rise, grey-market activity becomes harder to justify, especially for institutions. That creates demand for platforms that can operate properly, with governance, transaction monitoring, banking connectivity and a clear audit trail.

Our approach is simple: build strongly from the UAE, focus on the GCC and Asian corridors where client demand is strongest, and expand only where the framework supports it. We are not trying to move faster than the regulatory environment allows. In this sector, discipline is a competitive advantage.