Despite the spill over impacts of the pandemic, the on-going Russia-Ukraine war and uncertainty in global market dynamics, the world’s largest companies are strategically growing sales and turnover.

According to the recently released Forbes Global 2000 report which ranks the largest public companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets, and market value, 13 of 17 companies from Africa in the global 2000 report are from South Africa.

South Africa’s company, Nasper Limited - a global internet group headquartered in Cape Town, has been ranked the largest company in Africa both in sales volume and profit in 2022. According to the Forbes report, Nespers, Standard Bank Group and FirstRand have been ranked the top three largest public companies in Africa.

There are 58 countries represented on the 2022 Forbes' list. The United States has the most with 590 companies, followed by China/Hong Kong (351) and Japan (196). Globally, Berkshire Hathaway took the No. 1 spot for the first time, overtaking the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which dropped to No. 2 after nine consecutive years at the top of the list.

How the largest public companies in Africa rank?

In the overall ranking combining the four metrics (sales, profit, assets and market value), South Africa dominated the list with 13 companies, followed by Morocco with 2 companies, Nigeria and Egypt with one company each.

In Africa, financial institutions and telecommunication/technology companies dominated the list. For instance, In South Africa, Naspers, Standard Bank Group, First Rand, Absa Group and MTN Group are the top 5 largest companies in Africa. Other companies from South Africa include Sanlam, Sasol, Sibanye Stillwater, Impala Platinum Holdings, Old Mutual, Nedbank, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings and Gold Fields.

In Morocco, Attijariwafa Bank and Banque Centrale Populaire are the two public companies that made the global 200 list.

In Nigeria, only Dangote Cement made the list, while Commercial International Bank is the only public company from Egypt.

Other Insights

As a group, the companies on the Forbes’ 2022 “Global 2000” account for $47.6 trillion in revenues, $5.0 trillion in profits, $233.7 trillion in assets and $76.5 trillion in market capitalisation.

The latest-12-months’ financial data available to as of April 22, 2022 were extracted to calculate the metrics used for the ranking. According to Forbes, Market turbulence pushed down the minimum market value to be considered for the 2022 list to $7.6 billion compared to $8.26 billion in 2021, but the minimum for all other metrics is up over last year.

Big oil rebounded rapidly from last year’s low ranks, boosted by rising oil prices. ExxonMobil is No. 15 this year, up from No. 317 in 2021 and Shell is No. 16, up from No. 324. Both companies saw profits swing back into positive territory after last year’s losses.

Topic: Largest Companies

The Global 2000: South Africa dominates the largest companies in Africa