Jeddah – (IINA) January 30 – Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil producer, is once again the largest business enterprise in the Muslim world, according to business strategy e-magazine Dinar Standard. Its DS100, a ranking of the Top 100 businesses in the 57 member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), is published annually. In 2007, there were 15 Saudi companies on the list. Turkish companies continue to dominate the list with 24 enterprises, followed by 17 from Malaysia, 15 from Saudi Arabia, nine from Indonesia, and seven from the UAE. Other countries represented include Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Bahrain and Algeria. While a majority of the companies on the DS100 are publicly traded, the bulk of the total revenue, more than 65 percent, is attributed to the 27 government-owned companies on the list signifying their powerful roles in the respective economies.
The ranking showcases the continuing growth of the Muslim world economies with $1.08 trillion in total revenues and a healthy 14.6 percent in revenue growth compared to the previous year. Due to rising oil prices, which are hovering around $90 a barrel currently, the 20 integrated oil and gas companies on the list continued their dominance representing 65 percent of the total DS100 company revenues. However, the biggest year-on-year growth in revenues was logged by construction services companies at 74 percent, followed by 43 percent by the transportation services sector, 34 percent by basic materials (chemical, iron, copper, other) sector and 27 percent by the finance sector. The integrated oil and gas companies logged a year-on-year revenue growth of 21 percent.
Overall, the energy sector continues to confirm its dominance based on the fact that nine out of the ten top companies on the list are all state-owned integrated oil and gas companies of which Kuwait Petroleum (No. 3) showed the largest growth, 38 percent, in estimated revenues compared to previous year. “This year’s ranking highlights the anchor role oil revenues are playing in aggressive diversification of OIC member state economies,” said Rafi-uddin Shikoh, editor of Dinar Standard. “We see a higher level of maturity in management practices among the DS100 companies which is leading many to embark on global leadership plans. This is a very healthy trend,” he added.