In February 2024, alrajhi bank led the list of the most valuable banks in MENA, with 96.6 billion U.S. dollars in market value. Saudi National Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank followed with market values of 68.2 billion U.S. dollars and 41.5 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Saudi Arabia accounted for one-third of the list, with ten banks totaling a market value of 279.5 billion U.S. dollars. The U.A.E. ranked second with seven banks valued at 128.7 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Qatar with six banks worth 73.6 billion U.S. dollars.
Shell had the highest annual revenue of all companies based in the United Kingdom in 2025, at approximately 284 billion U.S. dollars. BP had the second-highest annual revenue at over 189 billion dollars, followed by HSBC Holdings, which had a revenue of around 142 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of global employee numbers, however, Compass Group had the highest number among UK-based businesses, at approximately half a million in 2024, followed by Tesco at 336,400 and HSBC at almost 211,000. Big Oil, a banking giant, and Britain's top supermarket chain The two companies listed as having the most revenue in the UK this year are also two of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, alongside Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies. After a huge surge in energy prices in 2022, these companies saw their profits recede slightly in 2023, but clearly remain in strong financial positions as of 2024. HSBC Holdings, meanwhile, was the largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization, and was estimated to have the second-highest number of UK-based customers in 2024. The company with the fourth-highest revenue in this year, Tesco has by some distance the largest grocery-market share in Great Britain, a position it has maintained despite growing competition from discounters like Lidl and Aldi. UK economy health check In the first quarter of 2025, the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent, emerging from a brief slowdown in growth towards the end of 2024. Consumer Price inflation, has, however, started to increase, with the inflation rate reaching 3.5 percent in April, the highest rate since January 2024. Furthermore, the UK labor market is showing signs of weakness, with quite a high number of job losses since the start of the year. Alongside these generally negative signs, business confidence in the UK has been falling, with the main concern of UK firms being that of taxation, as of early 2025.
Among the Russian companies included in the Forbes Global 2000 ranking from 2022, Gazprom had the largest market value, measured at ** billion U.S. dollars. Another energy company, Rosneft, ranked second with a value of ** billion U.S. dollars. Gazprom, the most valuable company in Russia Headquartered in Moscow, Gazprom is responsible for the exploration, production, storage, processing, and exportation of crude oil, natural gas, and gas condensate. The company owns around ** trillion cubic meters of proved and probable natural gas reserves in Russia. Furthermore, it accounts for over two-thirds of gas production domestically. In 2021, Gazprom’s net revenue peaked at ***** trillion Russian rubles, having increased by over ** percent from the previous year. However, fear of profit losses due to Western sanctions imposed on the entity after the Russia-Ukraine war made Gazprom suspend paying out dividends to its shareholders for the first time since 1998. Natural resources are crucial to Russian companies’ success With the largest natural resources value in the world, companies in Russia are highly dependent on commodities such as coal, natural gas, oil, gold, timber, and rare earth metals. Public energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft were the highest earning companies in Russia in 2020. Another energy company, Lukoil, reported the highest revenue of *** billion Russian rubles among private companies in that year. Despite demonstrating lower figures, non-energy companies such as banks and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retailers also made it to the top 10 companies by revenue in Russia.
As in previous years, Mitsubishi made it to the top position in the Forbes Global 2000 ranking of 2019. With a market value of 42.5 billion U.S. dollars, it outstripped its strongest competitor Mitsui & Co., Ltd. by almost 15 billion U.S. dollars.
Japan’s economic drivers sogo shosha
General trading companies in Japan – sogo shosha – are complex and powerful conglomerates exercising a vast range of international business activities. They have greatly contributed to economic growth in Japan and the globalization of business, not least because of their exceptional ability to successfully adapt to changing economic conditions domestically and globally. Sogo shosha typically handle a vast number of products from energy to metals to food and textiles and provide a huge range of services to manufacturers. They often function as financial intermediaries between banks and clients.
Mitsubishi Corporation Mitsubishi emerged from a conglomerate (zaibatsu) founded in 1870 as a steamship company. During the occupation after World War II it was broken up into a vast number of smaller enterprises (keiretsu) engaging in all kinds of industries. Among the largest are MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation. Mitsubishi Corporation is not only the largest trading company Japan, but also one of the largest Japanese companies altogether, with an annual sales revenue of around 7.6 trillion Japanese yen.
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In February 2024, alrajhi bank led the list of the most valuable banks in MENA, with 96.6 billion U.S. dollars in market value. Saudi National Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank followed with market values of 68.2 billion U.S. dollars and 41.5 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Saudi Arabia accounted for one-third of the list, with ten banks totaling a market value of 279.5 billion U.S. dollars. The U.A.E. ranked second with seven banks valued at 128.7 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Qatar with six banks worth 73.6 billion U.S. dollars.