The combined value of the top 150 listed companies in the GCC went up by $213 billion in the past one year to reach $916 billion, says a survey.

The annual Gulf Business Top 150 Listed Companies in the GCC survey, conducted for the magazine by Shuaa Capital, ranked the top 150 companies based on their market capitalisation as of August 5, 2008.

Founded in 1996, Gulf Business is the oldest and the most well respected business magazine in the region, with our September edition, which includes our annual rankings of the Top 150 Listed Companies, one of the most widely read and quoted editions of the year,” said
Now in its ninth year,

According to the listing, Sabic remained the region’s most valuable listed company with a market capitalisation of $99 billion, almost three times that of second ranking Saudi Telecom Company (STC), which managed to retain its position for the fourth consecutive year.

Other companies which topped the list included: Al Rajhi Bank (3rd – $32.4 billion); Etisalat (4th - $31.8bn); Industries Qatar (5th – $27.6bn); Zain (6th - $27.2bn); Kuwait Finance House (7th – $21.68bn); National Bank of Kuwait (8th - $18.7bn); Emaar Properties (9th – $17.5bn); and Samba Financial Group (10th - $16.26bn).

The biggest gainer in this year’s rankings was Dubai-based construction and engineering company Arabtec, which scaled 54 positions to secure the 82nd spot as opposed to last year’s 136thhrank. “The company seemed to benefit from a bulging backlog of projects, and a doubling in achieved profitability,” said Walid Shihabi, director – head of research at Shuaa Capital, and author of the report.

The UAE market, as a whole, made some notable gains this year, with the 35 listed companies that qualified representing around 23 per cent of the aggregate, compared to 21 per cent last year. Other UAE companies to gain positions in this year’s survey include leading mortgage finance company Tamweel, and the Abu Dhabi real estate duo Aldar Properties and Surouh Real Estate.    

“In fact, there was a 100 per cent increase in the number of real estate and construction companies securing their place in the top 150 companies, compared with last year,” revealed Vicky Kapur, senior editor, Gulf Business.

“While last year 15 real estate firms made it to the top 150, this year exactly 30 companies are ranked among the top 150 companies,” he said.

“Saudi firms continue to dominate the rankings,” Kapur said. “There are 50 Saudi companies – or one-third – in the Top 150 list,” he disclosed.

Saudi is followed by the UAE with 35 companies. Oman had the lowest number of companies making it to the list with just five listed companies.

The complete rankings and analysis is published in the September edition of Gulf Business magazine. –TradeArabia News Service