Top 100 companies in Arab world revealed

1.1838772-1677945279 — Forbes honours top companies in Arab world during a networking event. Image Credit: Forbes Middle East

Dubai: Forbes Middle East announced on Wednesday its annual ranking of the Arab world’s 100 top companies, with at least 19 organisations based in the UAE making the cut this year.

However, due to the decline in oil prices, coupled with political instability, the financial performance of the region’s businesses suffered a setback, with the total market value for the 100 biggest firms dropping 15.5 per cent to $689 billion between April 1, 2015 and April 6, 2016.

“Political instability and plunging oil prices were the main reason affecting the financial performance,” Forbes said in a statement.

Aggregate sales and profits dropped nearly 3 per cent to $281.5 billion and $58.6 billion, respectively, although total assets posted a 4 per cent increase to $2.6 trillion.

Taking the top spot is Saudi Arabia’s Sabic, which has registered profits worth $5 billion and assets worth $87.5 billion. The petrochemicals giant based in Riyadh has a market value of $60.4 billion and assets worth $87.5 billion. Its sales accounted for $39.5 billion.

Despite the 29.5 per cent slump in the Saudi stock market, companies from Saudi dominated the list, making up more than one-third of the top 100 and five of the ten.

Banks represent half of the list, followed by telecom operators and real estate developers. The majority of the companies who have made it into the top 100 are from Gulf countries.

Etisalat emerged as this year’s biggest Arab telecommunications company, ranking fourth in the overall list. Among the banks, QNB took the crown as the largest, ranking first in terms of assets.

Forbes ranked the companies by analysing data from 1,316 publicly-traded companies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. The companies were rated based on four categories: sales, net profits, assets and market value.

Subsidiaries, as well as companies who have been suspended from trading and those who failed to release audited 2015 financial statements, were excluded from the list.

The top companies were recognised during a networking event hosted by Forbes Middle East. “The main objective of such networking events is our constant effort to support and encourage business leaders. Such events connect companies with decision makers, which will eventually help in success and development of the country,” said Dr. Nasser bin Aqeel Al Tayyar, president and publisher of Arab Publishing House.

Forbes’ Top 100 companies in the Arab region:

Ranking	Company name	Country	Sector
1	SABIC	Saudi Arabia	Petrochemicals
2	QNB	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
3	National Commercial Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
4	Etisalat	U.A.E.	Telecommunications
5	Emirates NBD	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
6	Al Rajhi Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
7	National Bank of Abu Dhabi	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
7	Saudi Telecom	Saudi Arabia	Telecommunications
9	FGB	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
10	Saudi Electricity	Saudi Arabia	Services & Utilities
11	Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
12	National Bank of Kuwait	Kuwait	Banks & Financial Services
13	Samba Financial Group	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
14	Riyad Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
15	Kuwait Finance House	Kuwait	Banks & Financial Services
15	DP World	U.A.E.	Logistics
17	Ooredoo	Qatar	Telecommunications
17	Emaar Properties	U.A.E.	Real Estate & Construction
19	Saudi British Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
20	Banque Saudi Fransi	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
21	Dubai Islamic Bank	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
22	Attijariwafa Bank	Morocco	Banks & Financial Services
23	Arab Bank	Jordan	Banks & Financial Services
24	Arab National Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
25	Mashreq Bank	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
26	Zain	Kuwait	Telecommunications
27	Almarai	Saudi Arabia	Food & Beverages
28	Industries Qatar	Qatar	Industrials
28	Savola Group	Saudi Arabia	Food & Beverages
30	Qatar Islamic Bank	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
31	Saudi Arabian Mining	Saudi Arabia	Industrials
32	Commercial International Bank	Egypt	Banks & Financial Services
33	Ahli United Bank	Bahrain	Banks & Financial Services
34	Bank Audi	Lebanon	Banks & Financial Services
35	Banque Centrale Populaire	Morocco	Banks & Financial Services
36	DAMAC Properties	U.A.E.	Real Estate & Construction
37	Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
38	Commercial Bank of Qatar	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
39	KIPCO	Kuwait	Investments
40	Saudi Hollandi Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
41	Aldar Properties	U.A.E.	Real Estate & Construction
42	BMCE Bank	Morocco	Banks & Financial Services
42	Union National Bank	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
44	Bank Muscat	Oman	Banks & Financial Services
45	BLOM Bank	Lebanon	Banks & Financial Services
46	Barwa	Qatar	Real Estate & Construction
47	Qatar Insurance	Qatar	Insurance
48	du	U.A.E.	Telecommunications
49	Kingdom Holding	Saudi Arabia	Investments
49	Doha Bank	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
51	Ezdan Holding	Qatar	Real Estate & Construction
52	RAKBANK	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
53	Masraf Al Rayan	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
54	Mobily	Saudi Arabia	Telecommunications
55	Nakilat	Qatar	Logistics
55	WOQOD	Qatar	Services & Utilities
57	Bahri	Saudi Arabia	Logistics
58	Alinma Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
59	Petro Rabigh	Saudi Arabia	Petrochemicals
60	Commercial Bank of Dubai	U.A.E.	Banks & Financial Services
61	Saudi Investment Bank	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
62	Arab Banking Corporation	Bahrain	Banks & Financial Services
63	Americana Group	Kuwait	Food & Beverages
64	Al Tayyar Travel Group	Saudi Arabia	Travel & Tourism
65	Bank Albilad	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
66	Al Baraka Banking Group	Bahrain	Banks & Financial Services
67	Jarir Marketing	Saudi Arabia	Retail
68	TAQA	U.A.E.	Petrochemicals
68	Bank AlJazira	Saudi Arabia	Banks & Financial Services
70	Qatar International Islamic Bank	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
71	Housing Bank	Jordan	Banks & Financial Services
72	Saudi Industrial Investment Group	Saudi Arabia	Petrochemicals
72	Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair	Saudi Arabia	Retail
74	MILAHA Maritime & Logistics	Qatar	Logistics
75	Bupa Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Insurance
75	Byblos Bank	Lebanon	Banks & Financial Services
77	TASNEE	Saudi Arabia	Industrials
77	Ahli Bank Qatar	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
79	Qatar Electricity and Water	Qatar	Services & Utilities
80	The Company for Cooperative Insurance	Saudi Arabia	Insurance
81	Agility	Kuwait	Logistics
82	Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding	Qatar	Petrochemicals
83	Jabal Omar Development	Saudi Arabia	Real Estate & Construction
84	United Development Company	Qatar	Real Estate & Construction
85	Global Telecom Holding	Egypt	Telecommunications
86	Telecom Egypt	Egypt	Telecommunications
87	Southern Province Cement	Saudi Arabia	Industrials
88	Bank Of Beirut	Lebanon	Banks & Financial Services
89	Gulf Bank	Kuwait	Banks & Financial Services
90	Arabtec Holding	U.A.E.	Real Estate & Construction
91	Dubai Investments	U.A.E.	Investments
92	Zain KSA	Saudi Arabia	Telecommunications
93	Alba	Bahrain	Industrials
93	Saudi Cement	Saudi Arabia	Industrials
93	Al Khalij Commercial Bank	Qatar	Banks & Financial Services
96	Commercial Bank of Kuwait	Kuwait	Banks & Financial Services
97	Gulf International Services	Qatar	Investments
97	Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait	Kuwait	Banks & Financial Services
99	Saudi Airlines Catering	Saudi Arabia	Services & Utilities
100	Arab Potash	Jordan	Industrials