Which are the best Companies in North Africa?
For over 16 years, African Business has produced an annual ranking of Africa’s top 250 companies. It uses the best companies listed on national and regional stock exchanges across Africa. In this article, we focus on the top 20 companies from North Africa in the 2022 rankings.
The Casablanca Stock Exchange in Morocco is the second largest component of the Top 250 list, with 31 companies forming a combined market capitalization of $64.8 billion, or 9.3% of the total. The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) has fallen back and has only 30 companies in the ranking, with a combined market capitalization of $28.6 billion, down from 44 in 2021 (market capitalization of $37.8 billion).
The EGX30 stock index rose 13.4% during the period, outpacing the 11.5% increase in the MASI Free Float Index in Casablanca, but the Egyptian pound depreciated more against the U.S. dollar than against the dirham.
The IMF highlights Egypt’s growth prospects and there has been a wave of foreign investment in recent years. However, as the world’s largest importer of wheat, the country has been hit hard by rising commodity prices as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Annual inflation rose above 12% in March and the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell nearly 10%.In April, ADQ Holding, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, bought stakes in five EGX-listed companies included in our listing – Commercial International Bank (CIB), Fawry, Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling Company, Misr Fertilizers Production Co. (MOPCO) and Abou Qir Fertilizers & Chemicals – in transactions worth around $1.8 billion. The move was described by Bloomberg as an effort to help support Egypt’s economy.
Maroc Télécom, the top in North Africa
The largest North African company on the list is Maroc Telecom, which has dropped out of the top 10 after its value fell from $13.5bn to $11.8bn and its position dropped from 8th to 13th place. Attijariwafa Bank also dropped from 15th place in 2021 to 19th, although its market capitalisation rose from $9.9bn to $10.3bn, demonstrating the climate of competitive growth among Africa’s largest companies. Many of the other Moroccan companies remained stable in the rankings.
A newcomer to the list is Casablanca-based construction company Travaux Généraux de Construction, ranked 172nd, with a market capitalisation of $522 million. The company was founded in 1991 and builds residential, hotel, commercial and industrial properties. It raised an additional Dh600 million ($61 million) by issuing and selling 4.4 million shares in December 2021.
Egypt’s largest listed company, CIB, with a market capitalisation of Dh5bn (down from Dh5.4bn), dropped from 30th to 37th. The biggest newcomer to the list, at 91st with a market capitalisation of $1.6bn, is Egypt’s e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments, which went public in October 2021. Raising $372m and 61 times oversubscribed, it was the largest IPO on the EGX since 2015 and paves the way for more privatisations.
Consumer goods company Société de Fabrication des Boissons de Tunisie (SFBT) is the largest listed company on the Tunisian stock exchange, although it has slipped down the list from 67th to 95th place. Market capitalisation fell to $1.4bn from $1.8bn a year earlier, reflecting both the fall of the Tunisian dinar against the dollar and a market whose main index, the TUNINDEX, remained almost unchanged over the year.
