For the sixteenth year in a row, Prudentia and Nasdaq Riga publish TOP101 most valuable companies in Latvia. Even though Covid-19 pandemic consequences and limitations proceed to be present, companies are adopting to the situation and continue to operate and to develop further. Currently, there is a positive global trend in the financial markets which is reflected in the value growth of the companies.
In 2020, Latvian GDP has declined by 3.9% which is the first time since 2011, when GDP reduction has been observed in Latvia.
Despite the decrease in GDP and due to the consequences of the positive financial market sentiment, the TOP101 total value has increased from 16.4 to 22.5 billion euros, resulting in a 37.5% increase compared to the last year's total value of TOP101 companies. This is the biggest increase during the entire TOP101 publication history.
Latvian TOP101 leadership is taken over by industry “Manufacturing: industrial products”, which accounts for 16.1% of TOP101 value. This year it has overtaken the previous year's leading industry “Trade, consumer goods” by 1.3%, which share fell from 18.3% to 14.8%. Also, in 2020 there has been a trend of diversification of Latvian companies - 13 new entrants from sectors such “IT and telecommunication services”, “Manufacturing” and “Trade” made contribution to the Latvian TOP101 industries’ diversification.
Compared to the last years’ TOP101 we can see an increase of local private capital companies’ share in TOP101 by 5.6%. The share of state-owned companies has decreased the most - by 3.8% compared to last year, accounting for 26.9% of the total value of TOP101 companies. At the same time, the share of the value of foreign capital companies has slightly decreased from 49.5% to 47.7%. It means that there is a development of local private capital-owned companies, or that their represented industries have greater potential future growth opportunities compared to the state-owned or foreign capital companies.
Latvian most valuable companies TOP101 entrance threshold continues to grow for the second year in a row. In 2020 it has seen the increase by 47.6% compared to last year's entry barrier. The increase of TOP101 threshold confirms that the business environment in Latvia, the understanding of the companies’ value, and the willingness to develop and grow in foreign markets are increasing, as a result there is expected to be more and more fierce competition to enter the Latvian TOP101 list.