New Brand Finance data shows the Middle East's top 150 brands hold steady at $280.3 billion in 2026
LONDON, 28 April 2026 - The Middle East’s most valuable brands continue to demonstrate strong resilience despite geopolitical tensions, oil price fluctuations, supply chain disruptions, and broader macroeconomic pressures, according to the Middle East 150 2026 report from Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy.
Rather than being driven by a single factor, this resilience reflects a combination of scale, sector positioning, and strategic agility, allowing the region’s leading brands to protect value during downturns and accelerate recovery as conditions improve.
Aramco retains its position as the Middle East’s most valuable brand for the seventh consecutive year, recording a 14% increase in brand value to USD47.3 billion. Its continued strength reflects the benefits of scale, strategic investment, and the ability to evolve beyond traditional oil production. Key milestones in 2025 included progress towards its gas production growth target, global retail expansion, advancement of its petrochemical's strategy, and further innovation in carbon capture.
ADNOC (brand value up 11% to USD21.1 billion) also retains its position as the region’s second most valuable brand for the seventh consecutive year, underscoring the resilience of the UAE’s key sectors and the strength of its national energy champion. The brand continues to reinforce its leadership through a combination of large-scale investments, technological innovations, and sustainability driven growth.
stc (brand value up 9% to USD17.6 billion) holds its position as the third most valuable brand in the region in 2026. Its growth reflects the sustained execution of its Masterbrand strategy, which has successfully extended the brand beyond traditional telecommunications into high-growth adjacencies, including fintech, cybersecurity, cloud, and IT services.
Savio D’Souza, Managing Director Middle East and Africa, Brand Finance, commented:
“The 2026 results send a clear message: the Middle East’s leading brands are not simply weathering uncertainty; they are built to navigate it. With total brand value reaching USD245.3 billion, the data reflects a region defined by structural strength, strategic discipline, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. The brands performing best are those combining scale, sector resilience, and long-term investment with the agility to respond decisively during periods of volatility.”
Four banking brands, QNB, Al Rajhi Bank, SNB, Emirates NBD and FAB, rank among the region’s top 10 most valuable brands, highlighting the continued strength and resilience of Middle Eastern banking brands despite a more challenging global operating environment. Their performance reflects a combination of strong capitalisation, diversified income streams, digital transformation, international expansion, and sustained customer trust.
Across the group, these banks continue to benefit from rising lending activity, stronger fee generation, improving profitability, and greater operational efficiency. They are also strengthening their competitive positions through investment in digital banking, AI-driven capabilities, fintech partnerships, tokenisation, and broader regional expansion. As a result, the banking sector remains one of the Middle East’s most valuable and stable sectors, providing a strong foundation for overall brand value growth across the region.
Saudi Energy, which rebranded from Saudi Electricity Company in February 2026, has been identified as a brand to watch. The brand's value grew 25% to USD2.4 billion, reflecting strong underlying business performance as Saudi Arabia's national electricity provider. The rebrand repositions the organisation beyond its traditional utility identity, towards a broader role as a national energy systems enabler supporting the Kingdom's long-term economic transformation.
Despite shifting economic conditions and evolving market dynamics, the Middle East's leading brands recorded only limited movement in 2026, underscoring the resilience of the region's most prominent corporate names. The total brand value of the Middle East's top 150 brands now stands at USD280.3 billion, reflecting steady performance amid a complex macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop.
The healthcare sector is emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments in Brand Finance’s Middle East rankings, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC) (brand value at USD1.7 billion) recognised as the region’s leading healthcare brand by brand value.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
