BHP Billiton

Mining and metals firm BHP Billiton leads the way with market capitalisation of $71.5 billion, although this figure represents a big fall on last year’s $99.4 billion. BHP Billiton is the world’s largest diversified natural resources company. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and has 40,990 employees working in over 100 operations in 25 countries. The company occupies significant positions in major commodity businesses, including aluminium, energy coal and metallurgical coal, copper, manganese, iron ore, uranium, nickel, silver and titanium minerals, and have substantial interests in oil, gas, liquefied natural gas and diamonds. BHP Billiton was created through the Dual Listed Companies (DLC) merger of BHP Limited (now BHP Billiton Limited) and Billiton Plc (now BHP Billiton Plc), which was concluded on 29 June 2001. BHP Billiton Limited and BHP Billiton Plc continue to exist as separate companies, but operate on a combined basis as BHP Billiton.

Anglo American

Anglo American is another mining and metals firm leading the way in Africa, with market capitalisation of $54 billion, again down from $77.2 billion the year before. Three of Anglo American’s mining businesses are based in South Africa: Platinum, Kumba Iron Ore and Thermal Coal, with the former two also appearing in the top ten list of companies in Africa. The company holds advantageous positions in the most structurally attractive commodities, but have taken steps to concentrate on their core mining portfolio. This has involved a series of divestments, including the demerger of the Mondi Group and the sale of our shareholdings in AngloGold Ashanti, Highveld Steel and Vanadium, Namakwa Sands, Tongaat Hulett and Hulamin.

SABMiller

The South African Breweries (Pty) Ltd. (SAB), South Africa’s leading producer and distributor of lager and soft drinks, was one of the few companies to not see its value plummet between 2010 and 2011, holding firm at $35 billion. It exports brands for distribution across Namibia and its soft drinks division is South Africa’s leading producer of products for The Coca-Cola Company. The company also has hotel and gaming interests through its associate Tsogo Sun Holdings Ltd, the largest hotel and gaming group in South Africa.

Sasol

Despite a modest fall in value to $32 billion, Sasol Ltd retains fourth spot in the list. The company is involved in mining, energy, chemicals and synfuels. In particular, they produce petrol and diesel profitably from coal and natural gas using Fischer-Tropsch process. The company has factories at Sasolburg and Secunda and has taken a stake in projects under construction in Qatar (Oryx GTL), Iran (Arya Polymers) and Nigeria (Escravos GTL). Sasol Limited, the holding company of the Sasol group, is jointly listed on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges.

MTN Group

Valued at $29.5 billion, MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group offering voice and data communications products and services in 21 countries, connecting over 120 million people across Africa and the Middle East. It also has internet service provider businesses in 13 countries. Its 35,000 employees communicate in 5 official languages and represent 35 nationalities. It has made investments in fibre optic cables as well as growing access to broadband capacity on undersea cables. MTN predominantly uses independently owned outlets to distribute its products and services, but also has its own branded stores.

Kumba Iron Ore

Kumba, a member of the Anglo American plc Group, is a leading supplier of seaborne iron ore. In 2010 Kumba exported over 36.1Mt of superior iron ore to customers in a range of geographical locations around the globe including China, Japan, Korea and a number of countries in Europe and the Middle East. Its market capitalisation stood at $19.4 billion in 2011. It is the fourth largest iron ore producer in the world and the largest in Africa.

Standard Bank Group

One of South Africa’s largest financial services groups, Standard Bank operates in 30 countries around the world, including 18 in Africa. It is valued at $16.4 billion. The bank was formed in 1862 as a South African subsidiary of the British overseas bank Standard Bank, under the name Standard Bank of South Africa. Standard Bank Group is listed on the JSE Limited and the Namibian Stock Exchange. Normalised headline earnings for 2011 were R13,600 billion ($1.9 billion), total assets were over 1.497 billion rand (approximately $185 billion) and the bank employed approximately 52 000 people across all geographies. Standard Bank has 1,222 branches, including loan centres, and 7,945 ATMs on the African continent.

Anglo American Platinum

Another branch of the Anglo American Plc Group, Anglo American Platinum has a market cap of $14.3 billion. It is the world’s leading primary producer of platinum group metals (PGMs) and accounts for about 40 per cent of the world’s newly mined platinum. The Company is listed on the JSE Limited and has its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

FirstRand

FirstRand, with a market capitalisation of $14 billion, provides banking and insurance products and services to retail, commercial, corporate and public sector customers in South Africa and several African countries. The group has its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, with subsidiaries in five neighbouring Southern African countries, as well as in Australia and India. It is rated as one of the five largest banking groups in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The First Rand Group was established in 1998, from a business that started in the 1970s as an investment bank.

Itissalat Al Maghrib

Itissalat Al Maghrib (formerly known as Maroc Telecom Itissalat Al Maghrib) is a Morocco-based company primarily engaged in the provision of telecommunications services. Its portfolio of products includes fixed line telephones, mobile telephones, as well as Internet services. It offers solutions for individual customers, professionals and businesses. Maroc Telecom operates through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including Gabon Telecom, Onatel SA, Casanet, Mauritel, and Sotelma, among others. It has a value of $13.8 billion.

The post Africa’s Top 10 Companies appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Although its company value reduces from USD12.2billion, Dangote Cements retains this post as the leading quoted West African country with a market capitalisation of USD10.5billion. Ghana’s Anglo Gold Ashanti and Nigerian Breweries came in second and third with USD5.45billion and USD439billion respectively.

Top West African spots were taken by Nigerian companies like Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Zenith Bank PLC, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, First Bank Nigeria PLC and Stanbic IBTC bank.
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote Flour Mills and two other quoted companies of Dangote companies made it to the top 25.

Meanwhile, South Africa continues to lead other African Country businesses as it gains the top nine posts as among the top 250 companies. BHP Billiton mining company remains the leading Africa company with USD71.5billion followed by Anglo American and SABMiller with USD54billion and USD35billion respectively. Morocco’s Maroc Telecom came in 10th position.

Dangote group is presently indicating interest to diversify its business into infrastructure, mining and petrochemicals.

The post Africa’s Top 250 Companies: Dangote Leads In West Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa | .