Biggest companies in South Africa
While not coming anywhere near global giants such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JP Morgan Chase and General Electric, 20 prominent South African companies have made Forbes’ list of 2000 biggest companies in the world.
According to the list, the Standard Bank Group is the highest-ranking South African company, placing as the 231st biggest company in the world.
The second biggest South African company listed is petroleum giant, Sasol, which ranks 320th overall.
International network operator, MTN Group, is the third biggest company in South Africa according to the Forbes list, ranking 345th, overall.
South African brewery, SABMiller actually ranks higher than Standard Bank as 188th biggest overall; however, the company is listed as a United Kingdom company as it headquartered in London, UK.
Only 5 South African companies (including SABMiller and FirstRand group) made it into the top 500 of the rankings, with an additional 3 SA companies (AngloGold Ashanti, Steinhoff International and Bidvest Group) making the top 1000.
SA media powerhouse, Naspers, missed the top 1000, ranking 1053rd overall.
While not listed itself, Vodacom‘s parent company, Vodafone ranked within the top 50, placing 33rd overall.
Biggest companies in South Africa
| Rank | Company | Sales ($bn) |
Profit ($bn) |
Assets ($bn) |
Market Value ($bn) |
| 188 | SABMiller* | 16.7 | 4.3 | 55.0 | 84.1 |
| 231 | Standard Bank Group | 21 | 1.9 | 182.0 | 19.9 |
| 320 | Sasol | 20.8 | 2.9 | 24.7 | 29.4 |
| 345 | MTN Group | 16.5 | 2.5 | 21.4 | 34.5 |
| 397 | FirstRand | 8.4 | 1.6 | 94.1 | 18.0 |
| 574 | Sanlam | 10.8 | 0.7 | 52.3 | 10.7 |
| 936 | AngloGold Ashanti | 6.1 | 0.8 | 12.6 | 9.5 |
| 966 | Steinhoff International | 9.9 | 0.7 | 16.2 | 5.0 |
| 987 | Bidvest Group | 16.4 | 0.5 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| 1053 | Naspers | 5.1 | 0.4 | 10.5 | 27.7 |
| 1151 | Shoprite Holdings | 10.1 | 0.4 | 3.7 | 10.2 |
| 1239 | Remgro | 1.7 | 1.1 | 7.1 | 9.9 |
| 1356 | MMI Holdings | 6.2 | 0.3 | 36.8 | 4.0 |
| 1429 | Exxaro Resources | 1.5 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 6.4 |
| 1431 | Impala Platinum Holdings | 3.4 | 0.5 | 8.9 | 9.3 |
| 1435 | Gold Fields | 3.4 | 0.7 | 11.2 | 5.9 |
| 1658 | Imperial Holdings | 9.9 | 0.4 | 5.5 | 4.2 |
| 1711 | Aspen Pharmacare Holdings | 1.9 | 0.4 | 3.8 | 9.7 |
| 1716 | RMB Holdings | 0.6 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 6.1 |
| 1948 | Assore | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 5.2 |
* Listed as United Kingdom company
Methodology
Forbes’ 2000 biggest companies listing is formulated by analyzing 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, and the final top 2000 list is compiled based on a final, aggregated score.
Each of the 2000 lists has a minimum cutoff value in order for a company to qualify: sales of $3.89 billion; profits of $232.2 million; assets of $ 7.85 billion; and market value of $4.25 billion.
“A company needs to qualify for at least one of the lists in order to be eligible for the final Global 2000 ranking. This year 3,400 companies were needed to fill out the four lists of 2000, each company qualifying for at least one of the lists,” Forbes said.
See the full list of 2000 biggest companies on Forbes.
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