TOP101 of 2017 is the twelfth listing of the most valuable companies in Latvia created by Prudentia and Nasdaq. In the course of twelve years of creating the TOP101 lists, we have analyzed the annual reports of more than 5500 companies, thus giving an insight into the changes of the value of the most valuable companies in Latvia. The total value of the companies represented in the TOP101 of 2017 is 17.6 billion euros, which is a 12.2% growth compared to the TOP101 of 2016. This year shows not only a 33.6% increase from 1.3 billion to 1.7 billion euros of the most valuable TOP101 company Latvenergo, but also the increase of the TOP101 entry threshold which has grown by 12.4% from 41.7 million euros in the previous year to 45.8 million euros this year.
Despite the 12.2% increase of the companies represented in the TOP101, the GDP of Latvia has grown only by 2.5%, so it must be noted that TOP101 reflects not only the changes in the financial indicators of Latvian companies and the economic situation in Latvia, but also the mood of the European financial markets.
It is significant that the increased value of the companies represented in the TOP101 is reflected not only in the increase of the total TOP101 value but also in the allocation of positions. The average value of the ten most valuable companies has increased by 55 million euros, 11th to 20th place- by approx. 27 million euros, 21st to 50th place- by 22 million euros and the 51th - the smallest company represented by the TOP101 - has increased by 9 million euros.
Despite the increased average value of TOP101 companies by position, the segmentation of the TOP101 company value has changed - the value percentage of the ten most valuable companies of TOP101 has dropped from 39.5% in the previous year to 38.3% this year. The value percentage of the most valuable companies has been falling for the 4th year in a row (from 42% in 2014 to 38.3% this year). The company value proportion among the next ten most valuable companies has also dropped from 18.0% to 17.6%, which means that the value of the smaller companies in Latvia is growing - from 21st to 50th position it has increased from 24.9% to 25.9% and from 51st to 101st position - from 17.6% to 18.2%.
Similarly to the previous year the financial services industry is the most valuable industry in TOP101 of 2017. Despite the fact that TOP101 of 2016 made an impression that the transport, transit and logistics industry this year might outpace the financial services, exactly the opposite has happened - the financial services industry has grown by 16.0%, but the value of the transport, transit and logistics companies represented in TOP101 has fallen by 7.1%. As a result, this year the financial services take the top spot, while transport, transit and logistics industry has sank to the third place. The second place is taken by the processing industry: industrial goods have seen the highest monetary growth of 566 million euros compared to the previous year.
The largest contribution to the growth of the value of the processing industry: industial goods by 566 million euros comes from the company Mikrotīkls - its value this year has increased by 270.4 million euros. Mikrotīkls is an outstanding example of a company’s development - the production of innovative, export-oriented products has let the company to grow and boost its value, which has increased more than eleven-fold since Mikrotīkls first appeared in the TOP101 in 2007.
This is the fourth year when the TOP10 most valuable companies in the Baltic States are listed. As before, the representatives of the Baltic TOP10 are mostly financial and energy industry companies. The Baltic TOP10 this year again includes all three energy heavyweights of the Baltic - Eesti Energia, Latvenergo and Lietuvos Energija, each year battling for the title of the most valuable energy company in the Baltic. This year the most valuable is Latvenergo, second place is taken by Eesti Energia, but Lietuvos Energia takes the third place.
The Latvian business environment has proven for a long time that it is able to adapt to complex financial and geopolitical situations. As a result, when we are experiencing a growth of financial markets, geopolitical stabilization and the adaptation of the business environment, we can also observe the growth of the total value of the companies represented in the TOP101.