The combined revenue of the 100 largest companies in Southeast Europe, including 12 from Serbia, fell by 7% in 2020 to 120 billion euros, according to the 14th edition of the SEE TOP 100 list, published today by SeeNews.
Although the decline in revenues of the largest companies in the region was modest, their combined profit fell by a quarter to 3.5 billion euros, wiping out three-year profits, according to the SeeNews rankings.
On this year’s SEE TOP 100 list, among 12 Serbian companies, JP Elektroprivreda Srbije is the best ranked and is in 8th place, with revenues of 2.6 billion euros in 2020.
The list also includes the Oil Industry of Serbia in 22nd place, with revenue of 1.4 billion euros, Delhaize Serbia in 48th place with 964 million euros in revenue, Telekom Srbija in 60th place with 823 million euros in revenue and Tiger Tires at 63rd place with 816 million euros in revenue.
The SEE TOP 100 ranking, the annual ranking of the largest companies in Southeast Europe by total revenues for the fiscal year, for 2020 shows a slight decline in revenues of the largest companies in Southeast Europe, while the automaker Dacia still ranks first for the seventh year in a row, although its revenues were reduced by 26 percent a year and amounted to 3.8 billion euros.
It was pointed out that the oil and automobile industries, which are traditionally at the top of the list, suffered the consequences of the crisis caused by the coronavirus, while retailers announced double-digit revenue growth, which was contributed by the growth of e-commerce.
“For the first time since SeeNews began publishing its list of the largest companies in Southeast Europe fifteen years ago, wholesale and retail companies have overtaken the oil and gas sector, making them leaders in terms of total revenue, profits and number of companies ranked. The strong performance of the sector is the result of a sharp rise in e-commerce due to restrictions on the movement of people associated with the pandemic, easier online payment processes and the development of new financing opportunities,” said SeeNews Editor-in-Chief Nevena Krasteva.
On the other hand, oil and gas companies on the SEE TOP 100 ranking list recorded a drop in their combined revenue by a quarter due to the global economic downturn, low global prices and travel bans, making this sector have the biggest loss on this ranking list.
It is added that, despite millions of euros in aid, the economies in the region decreased by about six percent, while in countries where tourism generates a large part of the gross domestic product, the economic decline was the largest, exceeding 15 percent in Montenegro.
The SEE TOP 100 is the annual ranking of the largest companies in Southeast Europe by total revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and the publication also shows the ranking of the largest banks and largest insurance companies in the region.
The SEE TOP 100 rankings include non-financial companies registered in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Northern Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
Banks, investment intermediaries, insurance companies and real estate investment funds are excluded from the ranking because total income is not an accurate indicator of their performance.
The initial group of companies exceeds 2,900, and the ranking does not include companies that rejected or did not submit financial results until the finalization of the contents of the SEE TOP 100 ranking list, N1 reports.
