UAE companies claim four spots among top ten listed firms in the Middle East

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Forbes Middle East has revealed its flagship ranking of the Middle East’s top 100 listed companies for 2023, highlighting the region’s biggest public companies.

The UAE’s International Holding Company (IHC) jumped from 12th place in 2022 to the fifth spot this year. In January 2023, it announced that it was investing $400 million into Adani Enterprises’ Further Public Offering through its subsidiary Green Transmission Investment Holding RSC Limited.

The other UAE companies in the top ten are First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Taqa at eighth, ninth and tenth spots respectively.

Aramco, Saudi Basic (Sabic), Qatar’s QNB Group and Saudi National Bank make up the top four—all maintaining their ranks from 2022. Al Rajhi Bank and Saudi Electricity, at number six and seven, complete the top ten list.

To construct the list, Forbes Middle East compiled data from listed stock exchanges in the Arab world and ranked companies based on their reported sales, assets, and profits in 2022 and market value as of April 30, 2023. Companies that hadn’t disclosed their 2022 full-year audited financial statements as of April 25, 2023, were excluded. currency exchange rates were taken as of April 30, 2023.

GCC nations dominate 91 per cent of the list, with Saudi Arabia being the most represented with 33 entries, followed by the UAE with 28 and Qatar with 16. For the fourth consecutive year, these three countries comprise over 70 per cent of the ranking.

Despite the fallout from the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, the banking and financial services sector still reigns, with 42 entries holding a total of $3 trillion in assets and generating $45.4 billion in net income. However, the energy sector — led by Aramco — generated the bulk of the profits, hitting $162.4 billion in 2022.

The 2023 ranking includes six new entities: Dukhan Bank, Multiply Group, Americana Restaurants, Saudi Aramco Base Oil Company (Luberef), Marafiq, and Emirates Steel Arkan Group. Whereas four companies returned to the list: National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya), Kuwait Projects Company (Holding)-KIPCO, and Dar Al Arkan.

In 2023, the aggregate market value of the 100 listees decreased marginally by 5 per cent, from $4 trillion in 2022 to $3.8 trillion. However, the aggregate sales value for these 100 companies has jumped 38.5 per cent to $1.1 trillion, with profits surging by 37.7 per cent to hit $277.7 billion. The value of their aggregate assets has also risen by 9.5 per cent to $4.6 trillion as of 2022 end.