Business

These are the 11 biggest companies in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·7 Jun 2018

Forbes has published its 16th annual Global 2000 list of the largest publicly-traded companies which are located in 60 countries, including South Africa.

Collectively, the companies on this list account for $39.1 trillion in sales, $3.2 trillion in profit, $189 trillion in assets and $56.8 trillion in market value. All metrics are up double-digits year-over-year, with profits up as much as 28%, the report said.

Forbes’ 2000 biggest companies listing is formulated by analysing listed companies from across the world and ranking the top 2000 in four categories: sales, profits, assets and market value.

Each company is given a score based on where they place on each respective list, with the final top 2000 list compiled based on a final, aggregated score.

For the first time since 2015, China and the US split the top 10 evenly this year – though China still leads the rankings with its financial giants, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the China Construction Bank.

This is followed by the USA’s biggest company, JPMorgan Chase and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The Agricultural Bank of China rounds out the top 5.

China is home to 291 Global 2000 companies, while the US is on top with 560, Forbes said.

Japan, the United Kingdom and South Korea also broke into the top five countries with the most companies.

South Africa

The list includes 11 companies from South Africa, led again by Standard Bank, which climbed a number of spots from a ranking of 421 in 2017, to 376.

Standard Bank is followed by number two, FirstRand, which slipped down the rankings, widening the gap between the two local finance houses.

The South African rankings are virtually unchanged, with Sasol retaining its position as the third biggest company in the country, followed by Naspers, Sanlam, MTN and Shoprite, as last year.

Some of the changes include RMB as the only newcomer on the list in 2018, jumping into 10th place. MMI holdings also climbed from 10th in 2017 to 8th in 2018, while Bidcorp has dropped to the bottom of the local listing.

Of the 11 local companies listed, four dropped in the rankings, with the rest climbing.

The biggest companies in South Africa (all values in US$ millions):