The value of Africas biggest companies has fallen again this year. But one company - Naspers - is mainly responsible. The total market capitalisation of the 250 biggest listed companies in Africa stood at $505bn on 31 March 2024, down 9% from the $556bn recorded one year earlier and even lower than the $597bn recorded in March 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This continues the overall trend over the past decade, with the figure declining from the record $948bn set in 2015. Back then, it seemed likely that the $1 trillion barrier was on the verge of being broken.
Africas 250 biggest listed companies are now worth less than the equivalent cohort in March 2020, when uncertainty over how long the economic impact of the pandemic would last shook confidence in global equities. However, the $51bn fall over the past 12 months almost entirely matches the $48.9bn decline in the value of Naspers.
The companys fluctuating share price is mainly the result of its involvement in Hong Kong-listed tech and entertainment company Tencent. It bought a 33% stake in the company in 2016, before Tencents value boomed, but has since sold part of its shareholding as Hong Kong tech share prices have fallen sharply. Naspers local businesses are a relatively limited part of its total operations, so the big fall in its value over the past two years is not a direct reflection of its South African or even African operations.
Naspers is still the biggest listed company in Africa by some distance; but its lead has been greatly reduced. Its market value has fluctuated wildly over the past few years, reaching a peak of $104.2bn in our 2021 survey, dropping to $49.6bn the following year, jumping again to $80.8bn in 2023 before diving again to $31.9bn this year. The Cape Town-headquartered company mainly operates in the technology and multimedia sector, but has interests stretching from publishing to venture capital. It operates around the world and calculates that its products and services are used by about 2bn people.
Its $31.9bn value is sufficient to keep it a long way ahead of the three South African banks that follow it in our rankings: Absa with $18.4bn; FirstRand with $18.3bn; and Standard Bank Group with $16.4bn. The value of the three banks has fluctuated since last year but none have experienced any falls to compare with that of Naspers. The rest of the Top 10 is mainly filled by other South African firms, such as Capitec Bank, telecoms firm Vodacom Group and miners Anglo American Platinum and AngloGold Ashanti.
Vodacoms value declined from $14.3bn in last years survey to $10.8bn this year, resulting in a fall from fourth to seventh position. However, Vodacoms fortunes could be on the verge of improving. It recorded a 27% increase in revenue for the final quarter of 2023 to 38.9bn rand ($2bn), with its acquisition of Vodafone Egypt proving a particular engine of growth.
The only non-South African company in our Top 10 this year is Moroccos Attijariwafa Bank, which moves up from 14th to eighth on the back of a rise in value from $8.3bn to $10.8bn. Although its progress has not been constant, its market capitalisation is on an upward trend; and if the Moroccan and South African economies continue on their current trajectories, Attijariwafa Bank may begin to overtake some of South Africas biggest banks over the next four years. One factor that weakens that assumption is the fact that both Moroccan and South African banks are following the same strategy - expanding their operations outside their domestic markets and into the rest of the continent.
Our rankings feature only listed companies, and therefore exclude parastatals and firms held in private hands. Oil companies Sonatrach of Algeria and Angolas Sonangol would certainly secure a place near the
top of our table if they were to seek a listing on an African stock exchange, as would an initial public offering in South African power company Eskom on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Biggest risersThe companies that have made most progress rising up our rankings this year include Moroccos Banque Centrale Populaire, which moves up from 31st to 20th and from a market capitalisation of $4.5bn to $5.9bn; and South Africa-based Harmony Gold Mining, which jumps 25 places to 24th as a result of its value more than doubling from $2.5bn to $5.2bn. Egypts Talaat Moustafa Group climbs from 146th to 50th following a stunning increase in value from $581m to $2.5bn, in large part because of its February agreement with the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company and Modon Developments to work on the $35bn Ras El Hikma City project.
MTN Nigeria falls spectacularly out of the Top 10, dropping from ninth to 35th position, as a result of a fall from $10.6bn last year to $3.7bn in this years survey. Nigerias biggest telecoms providers value had grown rapidly over the previous two years, but at
