The fall in stock market prices since the start of the war in Ukraine has upended the ranking of the 100 most valuable listed companies. Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco has displaced Apple into second place in the first half of the year, according to a study by auditing and consulting firm EY, reports Handelsblatt. The stock market turmoil hit technology companies particularly hard, while energy companies experienced a renaissance. For the first time since EY surveys began in 2006, German companies are no longer represented in the top 100.
With a market value of $2.3 trillion (about €2.2 trillion) on June 30, 2022, Saudi Aramco was the most valuable company in the world, according to the data. Tech giant Apple, which topped the top 100 at the end of 2021, came in second with $2.2 trillion.
The price slide in the world’s stock markets wiped out trillions in value in the first half of 2022. The market capitalization – the value of the shares traded on the stock exchange – of the 100 most expensive companies alone fell by 17%, or $6.1 trillion, to about $29.8 trillion in the first six months, according to the data. The market value of long-favored tech companies fell 28% compared to the end of 2021 (cut-off date: 12/31/2021). Oil and gas companies in the top 100 companies increased their market value by 19%, bucking the trend.
American companies dominate
“Recently, investors are more focused on profitability than growth,” explained Henrik Ahlers, CEO of EY Germany. “Money is no longer so loose, demands on target companies and their financial ratios are increasing.”
According to the data, US companies still dominate the ranking. Rounding out the top ten as of the reporting date are Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Tesla, investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, health insurer Unitedhealth, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods group Johnson & Johnson and Facebook group Meta .
The most valuable European company at the end of the first half of the year was Swiss food group Nestlé in 20th place. The most valuable German company was software provider SAP in 113th place, Deutsche Telekom in 120th place.
Ahlers expects that the digitization push caused by the Corona pandemic will have a decisive impact on the economy and stock markets in the coming years. Europe and Germany are weak in this respect. Of the 23 tech companies currently in the top 100, 17 are based in North America, four in Asia and only two in Europe.
The digitization trend in particular has caused Europe’s weight in global stock markets to shrink in recent years. Before the financial crisis at the end of 2007, 46 of the world’s 100 most valuable companies came from Europe. Germany’s weight has decreased significantly: at the end of 2007, seven German companies were still among the 100 most valuable – at the end of 2021, there were only two companies – more recently, no company entered the first category.
Source: Capital
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