For over 15 years African Business has been running an annual ranking of Africa’s 250 Top Companies, taking the top listed companies from the 17 different stock exchanges across Africa. Southern Africa still dominates the market capitalisation rankings, with 120 companies amidst our Top 250, and valuations worth five times the value of the nearest rival (North Africa) even after the removal of Prosus and Compagnie Financière Richemont, two of its top three rankings. The market capitalisations of its giants are boosted by the extraordinary gains of the JSE. The biggest Mauritian company on the list is bank MCB Group, which boosted its market capitalisation but slid back from #72 to #94 in the overall ranking. Zimbabwe is the regional laggard economically but paradoxically Africa’s top-performing stock exchange. Angola’s GDP contracted by 4.5% in 2020 due to oil price falls and non-performing bank loans soared past 30% of total loans. Growth is not forecast to be strong unless the oil price beats expectations.
SOURCE: AFRICAN BUSINESS