The Top 500 companies in Latin America

Latin Trade, July, 2005 by Greg Brown

It takes a lot to run a big company: Lots of cash, lots of brains, lots of energy, and more than a little luck Here we present the biggest Latin America has to offer. Our new, improved ranking moves the bar up to 500 (!) companies and includes both privately held and publicly traded companies, as well as the largest state-run companies.

But we didn't stop at merely big. In our Forecast 100--a LATIN TRADE exclusive--you'll find which among the publicly traded companies is the best run, too. Driven in part by China's spectacular demand for raw materials, Latin America's biggest publicly traded companies are seeing a bonanza year: up 27% in sales, and 62% on net income.

The good times will continue, according to our forecast of the 100 companies tracked by global banks, but at a slowing pace into 2005 and 2006.

FORECAST 100

SALES

2004       27.3%
2005F       9.7%
2006F       1.9%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

NET INCOME

2004       61.7%
2005F      21.5%
2006F       5.1%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

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Where They Stand

Latin America's 500 largest companies are fairly reliable indicators of their home countries' strengths--and weaknesses--as global economies. While Mexican companies on the whole outweigh the Brazilians in terms of revenues, Brazil is growing faster. Chalk that up to Mexico's dependence on the slow-growing United States. Foreign trade is helping Brazil grow too, but it's wide-open Chile that's blazing ahead.

The next closest of the "small" economies is Venezuela, but subtract oil and there's not much left to talk about. Colombia's boom is evident, though Argentina's much-hyped recovery isn't showing up among its largest companies. Consumer demand is back but it isn't necessarily Argentina, Inc. that's reaping the windfall.

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BY COUNTRY

Number of companies by country

Brazil rules the roost on big companies, not surprising since Brazil alone is as big a consumer market as any in the world. Accordingly, five of the 10 fastest-growing on our list of the Top 500 are Brazilian. Among sectors, oil companies are the obvious leaders thanks to the global spike in crude prices. Despite this trend, Argentina's oil major Repsol YPF managed to slip on revenues in 2004 (net income was up 4.3%) to join our laggards list at No. 6.