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These are South Africa’s most valuable brands

Staff Writer

 ·22 Jul 2014

Brand Finance has released its 2014 South Africa 50 report, listing the most valuable brands in the country.

African mobile operator MTN has retained its position as the country’s most valuable brand, increasing its total value to $5.38 billion (R57.13 billion) from $5.17 billion  in 2013 – far above any other SA brand.

South Africa’s largest local network operator, Vodacom, slipped from second position in 2013 to third in 2014, with a total brand value of $1.7 billion (R18 billion) .

Last year’s number three, Sasol, moved up one notch to second, with a total brand value of $1.95 billion (R20.71 billion).

Brand Finance calculates brand value using the Royalty Relief methodology which determines the value a company would be willing to pay to license its brand as if it did not own it.

This approach involves estimating the future revenue attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand.

Telecoms brand value

Top tech brands

MTN is followed by fellow operator, Vodacom.

Telkom, which is actively executing its turnaround strategy, lost $21 million in brand value to $600 million (R6.37 billion), but still managed to climb one place to 19th, overall.

Cell C made its debut on the top 50 list at 47, with a brand value of $175 million (R1.85 billion), well below the only other tech company listed, Altech, which placed at 37th, up from 40th in 2013.

Naspers-owned broadcaster, MultiChoice, ranked 12th overall, climbed 5 places in brand value with a total of $827 million (R8.78 billion), and was one of only 12 companies (including MTN) to actually grow its brand value in the past 12 months.

SA banks brand value

Banks

The South African big four banks placed highly in the rankings, taking up 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th place in the top 10.

Standard Bank retained its place as the country’s most valuable bank brand at $1.59 billion (R16.88 billion), with Absa following at $1.22 billion (R12.96 billion), and Nedbank at $1.19 billion (R12.64 billion) and FNB at $1.05 billion (R11.15 billion) in brand value completing the list.

Capitec increased its positioning by three places since 2013, ranking 42nd overall with a brand value of $226 million (R2.4 billion).

Top 25 brands in South Africa

The full list of 50 companies can be found here: Brand Finance South African 50.

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