Changes in the world’s Top 100 Companies in the past five years: PwC latest survey

Apple - photo AFP

The publication points that the US now boasts nearly half of the world’s 100 most valuable companies with 47 companies compared to 42 five years ago, and 33 in 2008.

The average market cap of the world's biggest companies has doubled to $150 billion in the last five years, and the threshold for entering the Top 100 now stands at $81 billion, up 50 per cent from the doldrums of 2009.

Also according to the study, between 2009 and 2014, the total market capitalisation of the world’s top 100 companies ballooned by more than six trillion dollars, an average increase of $60 billion.

The PwC study also found that 68 companies from 2009 survived in the list today; two companies, Facebook (#29) and Agricultural Bank of China (#48), entered the Global Top 100 by IPO while AbbVie (#100) entered the Global Top 100 though a spin-off.

Clifford Tompsett, capital markets partner at PwC, said “What is truly remarkable is that the US has underlined its domination of the ranking as almost half the top 100 global companies are now American.”

The market cap of the most valuable company as of March 31, 2014, being Apple with a market cap of $469 billion, is still below the peak of $559 billion achieved by Apple a year earlier but still well above the top ranked company at March 31, 2009 – Exxon Mobil with a market cap of $337 billion, according to PwC.

Eurozone companies in the index held their position at 18 companies.  The UK now has eight companies in the Top 100 compared with nine in 2009, and ten in 2008.

The biggest fallers were the BRIC countries with companies from China and Hong Kong falling from 11 to eight and the other BRIC nations falling from six to three.  

This reflects current investor sentiment towards those markets and the fact that these companies have still to emerge beyond their domestic markets with a global presence, PwC says.

“Without financial clout and innovative drive, other companies in other regions will have their work cut out to compete with the US giants. This also explains why the large BRIC companies have slipped in our global rankings.  However, the anticipated IPO of Alibaba later this year could see the return of Chinese companies challenging this US dominance,” said Tompsett.

The technology sector has put down a marker during the last five years, rising from sixth to second highest by market cap when the index is broken down into business sectors.  In 2009, nine tech firms were worth a combined $997 billion. In 2014, the market cap of the 13 tech companies surveyed has rocketed to $2.5 million, PwC added.