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MOTORINDIA
l
June 2012
Emerges world’s most profitable
company
– Forbes ranking
Worried about the global econ-
omy? It’s easy to see why. Europe
shovels stimulus and America grap-
ples for growth. Asia, long a bright
spot, is dimming. Apple alone ac-
counts for much of the S&P’s boom.
Yet the world’s largest companies
still thrive, with double-digit growth
in sales and earnings last year.
In total, the Global 2000 companies
now account for $36 trillion in rev-
enues (up 12 per cent), $2.64 trillion
in profits (up 11 per cent), $149 tril-
lion in assets (up 8 per cent) and $37
trillion in market value (down 0.5 per
cent). These firms also employ 83
million people worldwide. All met-
rics, except for the firms’ values, are
up from a year ago due to slumping
international markets dragging down
their aggregate growth.
Forbes annual ranking of the
world’s biggest companies departs
from lop-sided lists based on a single
metric like sales. Instead the system
of an equal weighting of sales, prof-
its, assets and market value to rank
companies according to their size has
been adopted.
This year’s list again reveals the
dynamism of global business. The
rankings span 66 countries, adding
four countries this year. The US (524
members) and Japan (258 members)
still dominate the list, but with a com-
bined 14 fewer entries. Mainland Chi-
na is closing the gap on the two lead-
ers and sits as the third largest country
in terms of membership with 15 more
members this year. Other countries
adding to their total this year are
South Korea (68 firms), India (61)
and the UK (93). Countries standing
out in terms of growth across all four
metrics are Thailand, the Philippines,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
An analysis of the Global 2000
shows that despite the turmoil in the
financial sector, banks and diversi-
fied financials still dominate the list,
with a combined 478 companies
in the 2000 line-up, thanks in large
measure to their asset totals. The oil
and gas industry, with 131 compa-
nies, scores high in sales and profits,
yet these sectors were not the leaders
in growth over the past year.
Materials, led by metals and min-
ing companies, led all sectors in sales
(up 41 per cent). Big profit growth for
automakers propelled the consumer
durables industry to lead all others in
profit growth (up 95 per cent). Asset
growth of Asia’s heavy equipment
firms account for the capital goods
industry lead in asset growth (up 25
per cent). Investors rushed into res-
taurant stocks as the consumer re-
covery took shape in 2011 to lead all
sectors in market value growth (up 24
per cent).
The list has been broken down into
four regions this year: Asia-Pacific
(733 total members), followed by Eu-
rope, Middle East and Africa-EMEA
(605), the US (524) and the Americas
(145). Only the US grew across all
four metrics from a year ago.
Asia-Pacific, the biggest region in
terms of members, led in sales growth
(up 26 per cent), profit growth (up 29
per cent) and asset growth (up 19 per
cent). The US was the only region to
show a gain in market value from a
year ago with 6 per cent growth to an
aggregate value of $13 trillion, top-
ping among all regions.
w
lubes & fuels
In Forbes ninth annual ranking,
Exxon Mobil, the world’s most
profitable company this year,
takes the No.1 spot as the big-
gest Global 2000 company for
the first time. JPMorgan Chase,
last year’s biggest company,
takes a back seat to Exxon this
year, followed by GE, the Neth-
erlands’ Royal Dutch Shell and
Chinese bank ICBC.