Top 100 Companies Reach New Highs Despite Macroeconomic Pressures

Top 100 Companies Reach New Highs Despite Macroeconomic Pressures
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Despite volatility in the global economy, market capitalization for the Global Top 100 companies is continuing to set records, according to PwC’s latest analysis. Although the growth rate for the Top 100 companies was tempered compared to the prior year, the overall total market cap of these companies still grew by 11% to reach $35.2 trillion compared to $31.8 trillion as of March 2021.

At the industry level, twenty technology companies represent 34% of the Top 100 with a combined market cap of $12.0 trillion. The value of healthcare companies has also shown sustained growth since 2018, increasing by 84% ($1.9 trillion) between 2018 and 2022 and comprising an average of 16 companies throughout the same period. Although the market cap of financial services and energy companies in the Top 100 did not grow as fast as their industry-wide indices in 2022, their market cap increased by 7% and 30% respectively. Representation of financial services companies on the Global Top 100 has steadily decreased over the past five years from 22% in 2018 to 11% in 2022.

“The Top 100 continues to shine a light on the long term trends in the global economy and the key role of capital markets in supporting long term growth. Yes, there is current volatility in the economy but the longer-term story remains clear that market capitalization is still rising strongly for the Top 100, reflecting $35 trillion of value in March 2022 compared to $13 trillion in 2012,“ says Stuart Newman, Global IPO Centre Leader, and Partner at PwC UK.

The US continues to increase its dominant representation in the Global Top 100, representing 63 companies in total and a market cap of 70% as of March 2022 - up 19% in the year to March 2022. In comparison, the value of the companies from China and its regions - representing 13 companies in total - decreased by 23% in 2022. This downward trend is a departure from previous years when changes in market capitalization were broadly aligned with the US. This may indicate a future divergence in capital market growth as the Chinese markets deepen in liquidity and maturity.

Growth in the market capitalization of European companies has also been muted over the past ten years, with just a 1% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and 15 companies represented in the top 100. However, the four UK-based companies in the top 100 notably experienced a $477 billion increase in market capitalization from 2021 (on a like-for-like basis). Companies in other regions represented in the top 100 such as Saudi Arabia (1), India (2), South Korea (1), Australia (2), Canada (2), and Japan (1) have seen compelling growth in value since 2017. The companies in these regions surpassed both Europe and China in 2022 with a combined total market capitalization of $4.0 trillion.