Tar67 top500 by The Africa Report

soUTH AfricA Birth pains of a new left

AfricA-AsiA Go East, young man!

NigeriA polls The men behind the money

N ° 6 7 • f e b r u a r y 2 015

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TOP

500 companies Corporate boom falters as commodity woes bite Energy, tourism and agribusiness stay robust

groupe jeune afrique

soUTHerN AfricA ediTioN

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 35 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

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SOUTH AFRICA Birth pains of a new left

AFRICA-ASIA Go East, young man!

w w w.the af ric arepor t.com

NIGERIA POLLS The men behind the money

N ° 67 • FE BR UA RY 2015

TOP 500 companies

AFRICA-ASIA Go East, young man!

EXCLUSIVE

RANKING

w w w.the af ric arepor t.com

CONTENTS

RWANDA Kagame faced with stark choices

N ° 67 • FE BR UA RY 2015

Nigeria The

men behind the money

TOP

500

The inside story on the shadowy campaign funders who spend billions on their candidate in the hope of post-electoral rewards

companies Corporate boom falters as commodity woes bite Energy, tourism and agribusiness stay robust

THE AFRICA REPORT # 67 - FEBRUARY 2015

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

COVER CREDITS: INTERNATIONAL & WEST AFRICA: AP/SIPA - EAST & SOUTHERN AFRICA: FOTOLIA; SVEN TORFINN/PANOS/REA; AIRBUS; DUFOUR MARCO/TOTAL; GWENN DUBOURTHOUMIEU FOR JA; JACQUES TORREGANO FOR JA; SUNDAY ALAMBA/AP/SIPA

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE SOUTHERN AFRICA EDITION

INTERNATIONAL & WEST AFRICA EDITION

COUNTRY FOCUS

04 EDITORIAL Paris-Africa rally 06 LETTERS

47 RWANDA The job crunch The government is betting on services, but can it deliver jobs?

08 THE QUESTION

BRIEFING

52 PEOPLE TO WATCH Movers and shakers

10 SIGNPOSTS 12 INTERNATIONAL

54 AGRICULTURE Harvest of thorns

16 PEOPLE 18 CALENDAR

56 TELECOMS The government’s 4G push 58 NIGERIA IN RWANDA From Lagos to Kigali

FRONTLINE

62 INTERVIEW Francis Gatare, CEO, Rwanda Dev. Board

20 AFRICA-ASIA Go East, young man! The eastern exodus of Africans to China and beyond is creating new opportunities. In the process, it is changing both the Africans who stay and the Chinese who host them

BUSINESS 64 TOP 500 COMPANIES An exclusive ranking Africa’s corporate titans battle it out in our annual list by turnover

26 OPINION Yoon Jung Park, Convenor, Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Network

68 RANKINGS Top 500 companies 80 TELECOMS Voice-to-data revolution

POLITICS

82 AGRIBUSINESS Hard side to soft commodities

28 NIGERIA The men behind the money Elections demand big bucks, and many in industry stand to gain. But despite the televised giving sprees, Jonathan may still find he’s scraping the bottom of the (oil) barrel

84 TRANSPORT A smoother ride beckons

34 SOUTH AFRICA The birth of a new left 36 INTERVIEW Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu general secretary 38 INTERVIEW Rached Ghannouchi, head of Tunisia’s Ennahdha party 42 OPINION East Africa’s Faustian counter-terrorism pact 44 OBITUARY An homage to KB Mensah, our former Ghana correspondent THE AFRICA REPORT

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86 MINING Digging for a silver lining 88 OIL AND GAS The price rollercoaster

ART & LIFE TOP

500 companies

90 LITERATURE Artists of the floating word The freedom to write beyond the national audience 94 BRIEFS Angolan death metal; Tunisian art 96 TRAVEL More bang for your baa! 98 A DAY IN THE LIFE Aim high, then fly

EDITORIAL

THE AFRICA REPORT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

BY PATRICK SMITH

57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL – 75016 PARIS – FRANCE TEL: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAX: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

The Paris-Africa rally

mid the billions of bytes expended on the Charlie Hebdo assassinations and the subsequent mass demonstrations in January, one of the most succinct yet powerful statements came from a lone banner waver outside the French embassy in Abidjan. Joining the throng of those showing solidarity with the French people and 17 victims of three days of attacks, he held aloft a banner: “Je suis Charlie – N’oubliez pas les victimes de Boko Haram”. If the murders in Paris can prompt national unity demonstrations of four million across France, what should follow from the death of more than 10,000 people caught up in the insurgency in northern Nigeria over the past three years? Five African presidents – Senegal’s Macky Sall, Mali’s Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba, Togo’s Faure Gnassingbé and Benin’s Thomas Boni Yayi – marched in solidarity alongside France’s François Hollande. Where then is the solidarity with the victims of atrocities in Nigeria or indeed in Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia or the Central African Republic? Of equal importance, where is the campaign to promote unity above the claims of ethnic and religious identity? As the demonstrators in France headed homewards, world-weary cynics were forecasting that such shows of support would be short-lived. That may be, but that doesn’t negate the value of people of all faiths and ethnicities coming together. It should help counter extremists trying to deepen social division. The extreme right in Europe – the inaptly named Party for Freedom in Holland, Golden Dawn in Greece and Front National in

CHA I R M A N A ND F O UND E R BÉCHIR BEN YAHMED P UB L I S HE R DANIELLE BEN YAHMED publisher@theafricareport.com E X E CUT I VE P UB L I S HE R JÉRÔME MILLAN

France – are already mobilising support. In Africa, militias and politicians are turning up the volume of ethnic and religious recruitment. If ever there was a time for a unity march against terror, it is now in Nigeria in the election season. One of the first post-independent states in Africa to explode into civil war, Nigeria had a peace settlement of ‘no victor, no vanquished’ that became a model across the continent. Similarly, Nigeria’s religious pluralism that sees so many families coming together from Islam and myriad Christian faiths has set If ever there a pattern. Tragically, the insurgency in the was a time north and much of the for a unity political reaction to it is march undermining all that. Brave voices – such against as Emir of Kano Lamido terror, Sanusi and Bishop of Sokoto Matthew it is now Hassan Kukah – callin Nigeria ing for the marginalisation of the insurgents should be amplified a thousandfold. Why should they not lead a march with African leaders and activists of all faiths joining them in a call for unity? And in Kenya, the need for a united response is becoming more pressing,too. With the historical foundation of the African humanist philosophy of ubuntu – ‘I am because we are’ – such initiatives could develop a much stronger social base. If four million Europeans can brave a northern-hemisphere winter to march for unity, the possibilities for change in the continent that produced Nelson Mandela should give us all pause for thought. ●

M A R K E T I NG & D E VE L O P M E NT ALISON KINGSLEY-HALL E D I T O R I N CHI E F PATRICK SMITH M A NA G I NG E D I T O R NICHOLAS NORBROOK editorial@theafricareport.com A S S I S TA NT E D I T O R CHARLIE HAMILTON E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA NT OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI R E G I O NA L E D I T O R PARSELELO KANTAI (East Africa) A RT & L I F E E D I T O R ROSE SKELTON S UB - E D I T O R S ALISON CULLIFORD MARSHALL VAN VALEN P R O O F R E A D I NG KATHLEEN GRAY A RT D I R E CT O R MARC TRENSON DESIGN VALÉRIE OLIVIER CHRISTOPHE CHAUVIN JEAN-PHILIPPE GAUTHIER P R O D UCT I O N PHILIPPE MARTIN CHRISTIAN KASONGO R E S E A R CH SYLVIE FOURNIER P HO T O G R A P HY CLAIRE VATTEBLED O NL I NE PRINCE OFORI-ATTA SALES SANDRA DROUET SOLÈNE DEFRANCQ Tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com CONTACT FOR SUBSCRIPTION: Webscribe Ltd Unit 8 The Old Silk Mill Brook Street, Tring Hertfordshire HP23 5EF United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 Email: subs@webscribe.co.uk 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 - $60 - £35 TO ORDER ONLINE: www.theafricareportstore.com D I F CO M INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATION AGENCY 57-BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL 75016 PARIS - FRANCE Tel: (33) 1 44 30 19-60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com A D VE RT I S I NG D I R E CT O R NATHALIE GUILLERY WITH JEANNY CHABON R E G I O NA L M A NA G E R S FADOUA YAQOBI LILIA BENACEUR ELODIE BOUSSONNIERE US R E P R E S E NTATI VE AZIZA ALBOU a.albou@groupeja.com

editorial@theafricareport.com THE AFRICA REPORT

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PRINTER: SIEP 77 - FRANCE N° DE COMMISSION PARITAIRE : 0715 I 86885 Dépôt légal à parution / ISSN 1950-4810 THE AFRICA REPORT is published by GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

I am A. Kabato Bentu Barley Farmer Beriti Ethiopia

We have learnt that Africa can help us. GROWING TOGETHER.

EINEKEN has had a close relationship with Africa for more than one hundred years. In this time, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learnt the importance of partnering for growth. To this end, we are committed to sourcing 60% of our agricultural raw materials from farmers in Africa by 2020. Today, collaborative projects are flourishing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Egypt, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa and Ethiopia. We launched our barley project in Ethiopia in 2013 together with the Dutch Government, our NGO partner Eucord, Ethiopiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). An extensive programme has been put in place: from testing, then selecting the most appropriate barley varieties for the

Ethiopian soil and climate to training smallholder barley farmers. Today, improved seeds are already being used to deliver better quality barley, higher yields and increased household income. So far more than 6,000 farmers have reaped the benefits of our project; we aim to reach 20,000 by 2017. This successful collaboration between community and our company is also beneficial for us. It is helping to create a sustainable source of raw materials, a shorter supply chain, a reduction in transport and importation costs and a lower carbon footprint. We are truly growing together. Many people still believe that Africa needs help. We have learnt that Africa can help us.

LETTERS For all your comments, suggestions and queries, please write to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil - Paris 75016 - France. or editorial@theafricareport.com

QUIZ

14 Que

stions from

How we Test yo ll have yo u correctl ur knowled been follow Pleas y will receivge in our qu ing the ne e ws fro by 9 Ja send your e a year’s iz. The firs t five m across free an nuary 2015 swers by em digital subs people to Africa thi . You s can als ail to quiz@ cription to answer all year? What questio is the o enter The Afr theafr Hicham nick ns ica online ica El Ala name for Mo ham at ww report.c Report. oui Moulay book me d VI of , cousin om w.the Dia of africa tacked ry of a BanMoroc co, King who repor ished a) The the monar Prince se t.com chy Scarlet atb) The Pimpern? . Red el

QUIZ ANSWERS

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How old wer gau e prior gethesizeofthe figures to use Who was a) 14 yeaits GDP reb Nigeria’s eco d to asing the first rs scor b) 24 in Apr nomy yea a) Ger ein the 201 African play il 2014? vais Kou c) 34 yea rs 4World er to (Côte rs d’Ivoire assi “Gervin Cup finals? b) And Which ) ho” country Which c) Wil ré Ayew (Gh introdu pointme“zebra syst lobb fried yist iden Bony ana) em” ced (Côte ministe nts inwhich of politica the when t Ellen Joh did Liberia d’Ivoire seekin nso ’s What a) Bot rs must hav malegovern l apa) Ton ) g US help n Sirleaf Prespropor swana e a fem y ment bud to figh engage b) Tun tion b) Ros Blair ale dep t Ebo isia a) 10% get is spent of Egypt’s a uty? la? c) Egy c) K. RivaWhitaker on fuel state pt b) 25% subsidi Levinso es? n c) 45% How long has Pre been sidentP Wh ich in a) 100 aul Biya years power? Uga nda eran b) 8 yea n stru fell out may ggl mo c) 32 years wit election unt a cha h the chi e vetrs llen ef and ge at a) Ken s? the nex Which b) Mu Lukyamuzi t hoozi c) Am France countr y agr Kai in the ama Mb nerugaba capital build an anti eed to let abazi a) Nig ? -terror er base In whi b) Cha d BBC ch African c) Mal cou i a) Rwa a ‘broadc aster ntr y is the b) Mau nda non gra ta’? c) Mo ritius Which rocco of the was summit not invi se heads of ted to Which a) Pres in Washin the US- state of the ident gton? Africa trie se b) Pres Abdelaz of the s is not par East African c) Pres ident Cather iz Boutefli Willing t cou of the “Co ka nident a) Rwa ”? Yahya ine Samba-P alition Jammeh b) Uga nda anza nda c) Tan How ma zania mits has ny Chinaa) 1 Beijing Africa sum organi b) 3 sed? c) 5

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8 Answers: 1 b) The Red Prince. 9 2 c) 10 rooms. 3. b) 24 years. 4. c) K. Riva Levinson. 5. c) Wilfried Bony (Côte d’Ivoire). 6. b) 25%. 7. c) Amama Mbabazi. 8. a) Rwanda. 9. c) Tanzania. 10. a) Botswana. 11. c) 32 years. 12. b) Chad. 13. b) President Catherine Samba-Panza. 14. c) 5.

IS GUELLEH READY TO STAND DOWN? Is a succession crisis really brewing in Djibouti [‘Djibouti: Playing the great game’, TAR66 Dec-Jan 2015]? President Guelleh has promised to stand down before, but any suggestion he is ready to leave should be treated with scepticism. It is also unlikely, too, that domestic pressure on his regime in 2016 will mount to the levels of 2011, during the Arab Spring. It is necessary to distinguish between the interests of states with military bases in Djibouti – focused on piracy, terrorism and access to strategic waterways – and Ethiopia, which is heavily reliant on Djibouti for its imports and exports. It cannot afford any instability in Djibouti. Aly Verjee Rift Valley Institute, London & Nairobi via email

A DICTATOR WITH HIS BACK AGAINST THE WALL

c) The

Africa’s erground a air-conditi his Nka President rooms did oned Jaco a) 1 roo ndla residen b Zum South a add ce? to b) 5 roo m c) 10 rooms ms

IMAGE

Thanks to everyone who entered our quiz in the Dec 2014-Jan 2015 issue. The winners of a free one-year digital subscription to The Africa Report are: Simon Mwaniki, Pieter Roos, Ayenew Wolde.

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FILLING THE TEACHER GAP I read with great interest your article on the excellent efforts of South Africa and other countries to fill the teacher gap by using e-learning [‘Teacher training ramps up’, TAR64 October 2014]. As founder of the annual eLearning Africa conference, I am very familiar with the consequences the shortage of qualified educators poses to education. Whilst ICTs are a powerful tool, qualified teachers still form the essential core of successful education. eLearning Africa aims to create a “network of individuals who continue to make a difference in the world and support the learners they meet”, and ICT is the enabling factor that binds this network together. Rebecca Stromeyer Founder, eLearning Africa via email

After the official position taken by France and the US on the issue of respecting the constitution, [in the Republic of Congo] you would have to be blind to believe that Denis Sassou Nguesso would risk announcing a change in the constitution [‘Country profiles,’ TAR66 Dec-Jan 2015]. Denis Sassou Nguesso is a dictator but that does not mean he is foolish. His back is against the wall and he knows it. That is why he’s trying desperately to find a consensus that will allow him to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. To agree to begin a dialogue or to accept a consensus with him now would be absolute nonsense. He has to complete his term of office in 2016 and leave. Bienvenu Mabilemono via email

Correction A graphic on p.105 of TAR66 [Dec 2014-Jan 2015] contained errors in its listing of the Fitch long-term foreign currency creditworthiness of Morocco and Namibia as BBB. The correct rating is BBB-. The graphic should also have made clear that the ratings are an assessment of a sovereign’s capacity and willingness to honour its existing and future long-term foreign currency obligations. We apologise for these mistakes.

HOW TO GET YOUR COPY OF THE AFRICA REPORT On sale at your usual outlet. If you experience problems obtaining your copy, please contact your local distributor, as shown below. GHANA: GTM HUDU ENTERPRISE, Tia Mohammed Hudu, +233 (0)209 007, tiahudu@yahoo.com – KENYA: NATION MEDIA GROUP, Antony Mutunga, +254 (0)72 15, amutunga@ke.nationmedia.com – NIGERIA: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Solomon Otinwa, +234 (0)709 8123 459, newsstand2008@gmail. com – SIERRA LEONE: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@gmail.com – SOUTHERN AFRICA: RNA DISTRIBUTION, Butch Courtney, +27 (0)11 602 9800 • butchc@mad.co.za – TANZANIA: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Emmanuel J Lyimo, +255 716 500 500, elyimo@tz.nationmedia.com – UGANDA: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Stephen Eselu, +256 (0)702 178 198, seselu@ug.nationmedia.com – UNITED KINGDOM: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag.co.uk – UNITED STATES & CANADA: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – ZIMBABWE: MUNN MARKETING (PVT) LTD, Nick Ncube, +263 (0)4 662755, nickncube@munnmarketing.co.zw For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX MCB Group p 2; HEINEKEN p 5; VODACOM p 7; SAHAM INSURANCE p 9; FITCH RATINGS p 13; NESTLÉ CWA p 15; THE AFRICA CEO FORUM p 19; AFRICAN UNION p 25; MIX TELEMATICS p 25; ADEXEN p 33; CWC - NOG 2015 p 33; SUN INTERNATIONAL p 37; AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL p 40; BLOOMBERG TV AFRICA p 41; FANAF p 45; EMRC AGRIBUSINESS p 45; ESRI p 46; RSSB p 50; RDB p 53; IFDC p 55; CALDAS p 56; GPO PARTNERS p 56; AKAGERA AVIATION p 57; SP SOCIETE PETROLIERE p 59; KBS p 61; NIGERIA INFO p 63; TAR SUBSCRIPTION p 63; GROUPEMENT INFORMATIQUE p 75; FEXTON AIF 2015 p 77; TERRAPINN - PEWA p 77; GLOBAL MEDIA ALLIANCE p 83; IMAGE & STRATEGIE p 83; EKO HOTELS & SUITES p 85; AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL p 89; C2I EASYHALLS p 89; IPSASB p 89; WHARTON CLUB OF AFRICA p 89; LIQUID TELECOM p 99; NECOTRANS p 100 THE AFRICA REPORT

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THE QUESTION To respond to this month’s Question, visit www.theafricareport.com. You can also find The Africa Report on Facebook and on Twitter @theafricareport. Comments, suggestions and queries can also be sent to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil, Paris 75016, France or editorial@theafricareport.com

YOUR VIEWS:

The Ebola crisis has led to difficult decisions for Africa’s footballing elite. Some players were advised to miss the tournament while others face quarantine from their teammates on their return to their home clubs.

Should players abandon their national teams over Ebola?

Yes SAMMY FRIMPONG Editor, Goal.com Ghana

There is a reason why the Africa Cup of Nations is CAF’s flagship football event, and part of that appeal lies in the ability of the competition to draw the continent’s best footballers from around the globe. Already, there have been indications that not all players flying in for the showpiece from outside Africa are comfortable with CAF’s refusal to place the tournament on hold. Football is a contact sport, with lots of tight exchanges, shirt-swapping, handshakes and hugging between players right from before kick-off till they retire to their hotel suites. During a competition that lasts all of three weeks, who is to tell who might be carrying what? Should CAF’s precautionary measures even succeed in offering some protection, there remains a challenge that the players would have to deal with even after the AFCON ends. Take, for instance, Alhassane Bangoura, Spanish outfit Rayo Vallecano’s Guinean winger who begged off one of his country’s AFCON 2015 qualifiers simply because, in his own words, ‘his [club] colleagues were scared’ that he might contract the deadly hemorrhagic fever while on international duty. CAF, by overriding such genuine concerns are, in effect, biting the very hand that butters the AFCON’s bread. Perhaps it is time that hand – namely, Africa’s foreign-based stars – struck back. ●

No KAY SARPONG FIFAlicensed football agent

It is more than reasonable that foreign-based players don’t want to put themselves at risk with a disease that has claimed the lives of thousands. Equally, football clubs have every right to protect the prized assets that they have expended resources on. However the situation has become bigger than the disease itself and threatens to deface the continent as a whole. The Africa Cup of Nations presents a prime opportunity for Africa to stand united against Ebola. The treatment of Africans by Africans has been deplorable in some cases. Africans being subjected to chants of “Ebola” by fellow Africans is never okay. European-based players can offer a very powerful message about the need to stick together. From a safety perspective government bodies have done extremely well to raise awareness and implement preventative measures to contain the disease. Security and safety is surely a priority for Equatorial Guinea and all CAF delegates – with security of players being the top priority. An AFCON tournament without the stars of Europe would be considered a failure. They are the players that many come to see and for many offer hope. This tournament will be the first time West Africa has opened its doors to the world since the Ebola outbreak first began. A tournament without these players would be more of a submission to Ebola rather than a fight against it. ●

No matter what, you should not turn your back on your country. It is high time that African footballers recognise the need and importance of patriotism! Ebola should not be a reason to abandon your country. Yolanda Okiere This is a tough one for the players. But imagine going back to your club and being quarantined for 21 days? It’s embarrassing and downright humiliating. Halima Gelete I would play for my club and earn a better pay and come back to my country later when the Ebola menace is no more. Clement Loshangole The big loyalty must be to the country but we should know that it [their club] is how players earn their money. Majed Mohmed Your club will look after you in hard times. Your country will not. Kehinde Oduntan That’s discriminating. I would pay full allegiance to my country of birth, irrespective of my club’s sentiments. After all, there are millions of clubs in the world that I can play for but I am only eligible to play for my own country at international level! Pho Gimith Njie

THE AFRICA REPORT

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TOP

500 companies

African corporates are reaching a new stage in their maturity. Financial markets are growing, and intra-African deals are rising in value and volume. While miners were hit by lower commodity prices in 2013, agribusiness was one of the sectors with the greatest growth in turnover By Nicholas Norbrook

BUSINESS

FOTOLIA; SVEN TORFINN/PANOS/REA; AIRBUS; DUFOUR MARCO/TOTAL; GWENN DUBOURTHOUMIEU FOR JA; JACQUES TORREGANO FOR JA

“

don’t see any real businessmen in international bandwidth – vital infrastrucAfrica,” says the chief executive of ture for technology companies. While most a large, Singapore-registered agbusinesspeople interviewed for a recent ribusinesscompanyactiveinAfrica. PwC poll put infrastructure near the top of “Most use government connections their list of business concerns in Africa, the to corner markets. They are monopolists.” past decade has seen a great deal of cash The businessman in question, who perhaps poured into roads, ports, power and rail wisely seeks anonymity, is not looking hard transport, with much more still to come. enough. “That’s certainly not our experiThe money put into power production ence!” says Shabbir Norath, head of corin particular will be essential if Africa is to porate finance for South Africa’s Nedbank unleash a long-prayed-for manufacturing Capital. “It’s a very competitive marketplace revolution. Emmanuel Katongole, the chief out there, with a new generation of busiexecutive of CIPLA Quality Chemical Inness leaders.” He points to a company like dustries in Uganda, which manufactures Dangote Cement (#75), which anti-retrovirals and anti-malarial may have had a simplistic strategy drugs, says that governments have originally. “You can’t put them in a role in fostering this revolution that kind of category today, where by using the power of the public they are competing in multiple purse to guarantee orders for namarkets,” he explains. tional companies. While government connections may have been essential in the PRAGMATIC APPROACH The value of past, nearly two decades of solid One country that appears to be merger and macroeconomic fundamentals winning the infrastructure battle acquisitions is Côte d’Ivoire. “They don’t make on the continent has allowed a in Africa the perfect the enemy of the good,” fresh wave of African businesses fell 25% says Andrew Alli, chief executive to emerge. As Nigeria’s 2014 reto $19.1bn basing of national economic statof the Africa Finance Corporain the first nine months istics revealed, telecoms and retion. “Quite often governments of 2014 lated services are fertile ground fight with their bankers to try to compared for growth. Those sectors create shave a few basis points off a loan, to the same delaying projects for up to a year new entrepreneurial niches. For period without realising that the costs of Austin Okere, chief executive of in 2013 the Computer Warehouse Group that delay may be much greater (CMG): “This is giving us new than the savings gained.” SOURCE: MERGERMARKET business models, in e-commerce Policy-makers are just as keen for example, that just weren’t there before.” to see jobs produced as roads completed. CMG is an example of the greater agility The ranking of Africa’s Top 500 companand inventiveness of new African companies we publish here, which collates data ies. Once a provider of computer hardware, from 2013, shows a 1.1% reduction in CMG has embarked on an IBM-style transturnover. Although stasis in a continent formation and is now focused on providing with a fast-growing population is not likely software and business services. As graduto be positive, the sector breakdowns are ates return from stints abroad and younger more heartening for officials worried about generations get involved in the running employment. The agribusiness and tourism of African companies, there will be more sectors, which both can create a significant firms in this mould. number of jobs, are the two biggest risers, And, tellingly, these opportunities were with 31% and 24% turnover increases, reonly unlocked with the arrival of substantial spectively (see graph).

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

Sector by sector Transport $33.5bn Other*** $33.2bn Telecoms $73.4bn Mining $58.1bn

-6.5%

-6.2%

Financial services $34.9bn +2.9%

-2.9%

4.60% 4.79% 4.56%

9.07%

10.07%

7.98%

Total 2013 turnover

11.09%

$728,743,412

4.31%

% change Diversified $69.2bn

9.5%

+15%

Agribusiness** $66.1bn +27.6%

-1.09%

6.11%

Oil & Gas

+3.7%

Construction $31.2bn -16.7% Retail

$44.5bn

3.60%

$177.2bn

Manufacturing* -5.3% $80.9bn

Utilities

24.32%

$26.2bn

* Includes paper, steelmaking, electrical equipment, textiles, automobile, chemicals & plastics

-20.4% -14.3%

**Includes food & drink, agro-food industry *** Includes media, healthcare, services, tourism

Top climbers

% turnover change

Company

Country

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co. (#73) ________________

Egypt, diversified _____________________ 132.7%

Botswana Insurance Holdings (#270) _________

Botswana, insurance

Poulina Group Holding (#114) __________________ Auto Hall (#334) ___________________________________ Office National Des Aéroports (#363) _________

121% Tunisia, diversified _____________________ 60.2% Morocco, automobile __________________ 57.5% Morocco, air transport _________________ 53.7%

Company

DEALS GAIN MOMENTUM

__________________

Biggest fallers

% turnover change

Country

Pioneer Foods Group (#97) ___________________

South Africa, agribusiness __________ -26.2%

Bytes Technology Group (#258) _____________

South Africa, media __________________ -30.1%

Rainbow Chicken (#195) ______________________

South Africa, agribusiness __________ -34.9%

Oando (#56) _____________________________________

Nigeria, petroleum services _________ -35.7%

Kenolkobil (#127) ______________________________

Kenya, petroleum ________________________ -44% SOURCE: JEUNE AFRIQUE TOP 500 COMPANIES

By region

North Africa

2013 total turnover

$216.5bn 1.85%

Methodology

2013 total profits

$61.5bn

51%

East Africa $4.1bn

14.5%

55.2%

$0.6bn

Southern Africa

Central Africa

$14.5bn

$14.3bn

$0.2bn

$421.7bn 44.2%

However, Africa’s domestic engine is revving up. In Mergermarket’s survey of merger and acquisitions in Africa, the total value of deals continent-wide for the first nine months of 2014 fell 25% to $19.1bn compared with the same period in 2013. However, intra-African deals quadrupled over that period, reaching $13.5bn. South Africa and Nigeria represented nearly 60% of intra-African dealmaking. There are other avenues for deals. The June 2014 purchase by US private equity group KKR of a stake in Ethiopian flower company Afriflora for $200m is a case in point. The value of private

$10.1bn

turnover change since 2008

West Africa

The agribusiness sector is attracting foreign attention, too. In July 2014, French company Danone bought 40% of Brookside Dairy of Kenya. The Nairobi-headquartered company is now set to expand into the East African region. Danone also completed the purchase of an additional 21.75% stake in Morocco’s Centrale Laitière (#156) in November 2014. Certainly, 2014 was a difficult year for the global economy. The fall in many commodity prices that started last year is set to carry on into 2015. Will Nigerian domestic oil companies like Oando (#56), Seplat (#172) and Conoil (#154) – which have made some big bets by buying onshore assets from departing oil majors – be viable in a world of $50 oil or will there be consolidation? Elsewhere in the natural resources sector, iron ore miners began freezing some of their African projects in 2014.

$29.7bn

Of 9,335 African companies in our database, 8,181 received a detailed questionnaire. After cross-checks and verification, we established a ranking of Africa’s top 1,560 companies. The first 500 are published. To allow for comparison, we apply the same rules to all our data: 1) All financial data must have a clearly defined source, generally communicated to us by the companies themselves, and must refer to the year

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

OPINION

equity exits rose 75% year-onyear to hit $654m in the first nine months of 2014, despite there only being eight deals. The oversubscription for the Carlyle Group’s $698m sub-Saharan Africa private equity fund may suggest that pension funds are finally getting interested in the continent. RECORD BOND LAUNCH

For companies with solid projects, there is no shortage of money. Morocco’s phosphates miner Office Chérifien des Phosphates (#24) raised $1.55bn in its debut bond launch in May 2014, a record for an African company. Where Africa’s financial markets fall down, however, is in providing for small and medium-sized companies, which are not part of our Top 500 list but are an essential part of the business ecosystem. As Nigerian corporates wheel and deal, the country is also proving tobeamagnet for Africancompanies. “It’s a very big market,” says Morgan Nzwere, group chief executive of Zimbabwe’s Seed Co. It is setting up a new maize seed conditioning plant there. “In terms of seed, it could be up to 120,000tn a month. At the moment, we are selling almost nothing.” There is also a ‘buyer beware’ sign on many Nigerian assets. South Africa’s Tiger Brands (#60) has booked losses of $81m so far after its purchase in 2012 of Dangote Flour Mills. Rising consumer power in markets beyond Nigeria is still a clear driver of corporate activity. South Africa’s Steinhoff (#7), for example, bought Africa’s largest discount retailer Pepkor for $5.7bn in November 2014. ●

Beata Kasale Publisher, The Voice newspaper, Botswana

How struggling made us strong

2013 (in some cases 2013/2014); 2) If data is presented in the local currency, we convert it into US dollar amounts according to the rate prevailing on 31 December 2013; 3) We include all companies that fall under legal jurisdiction of at least one of the 54 countries in Africa, which is why a holding company and a subsidiary can both feature in the list; and 4) Where we cannot obtain up-to-date figures, we use those of the previous year (marked with an asterisk and italics). After two years of silence, a company is struck off the rankings. ● THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

espite juggling motherhood and careers, African women are rising. In Botswana, women are dubbed ‘shields of the nation’ due to their ability to multitask and muddle through looking after the family and still compete with their male counterparts at work. Nonetheless, politics is dominated by men. In the October 2014 vote held in Botswana, only four women were elected into parliament. An additional woman was specially elected, making five out of a legislature of 45. Likewise, when it comes to women in the workplace, they are seen and not heard. In Botswana, the 1970s brought a boom in single parenthood, where women were left holding the babies. That altered the role women played in raising children – some of whom are today’s leaders – in the absence of fathers. This situation forged a burning desire in women to succeed so as to put bread on the The 1970s table for their children. Some Batswana women have since risen to leadership boom in positions. Unity Dow, who is now a member of parliament, single became Botswana’s first female judge at the age of 37 in parenthood 1998. Linah Mohohlo is now the governor of the Bank of Botswana, and Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme is attorney forged general. But they are only a handful, and the gap between a desire women and men in management positions remains large. In the media, I have been a publisher and co-owner of in women The Voice newspaper for the past 21 years. Many times, to succeed people have asked how I came to be in that position. I grew a thick skin when conducting my day-to-day business and never for a moment put my gender first. But a look around most media houses today paints a different picture. Women are confined to clerical positions, marketing jobs and roles as lifestyle editors. They are missing from the political beat, sports desks and analysis sections.

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

At The Voice, although not by design, women occupy the top positions. Emang Bokhutlo, The Voice’s editor, started off as a journalist in her mid-20s. She says that the job was so demanding that she put off having children until she was in her late 30s. Now she has to deal with headlines and deadlines as well as taking her children to school and other activities. “It is fulfilling to have a career and be a mother, but it is daunting while you are editing a story and suddenly you have to pause to attend to the needs of growing children who also demand their share of your time,” Bokhutlo says. While some have part-time jobs, most women do not have a choice but to work full time, as they are single parents. Those who are married are also forced by financial constraints to work in order to pay mortgages and school fees, among other expenses. It is a catch-22 situation. For most African women, being in a full-time job is not a choice: it is a matter of destitution or survival. Women clearly can do the top jobs in business – so let us not leave 50% of Africa’s talent by the wayside. Give them the structures to have children and still participate in the labour force, and Africa will see miracles. ●

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

“

If you don’t have [the ambition to] get bigger in your DNA, then you need to quit.” Brian Joffe Founder & Chief Executive of The Bidvest Group (#4)

- Sonatrach

Petroleum

Algeria

67 827 760

-2.4

5 236 140

- Sonangol

Petroleum

Angola

40 070 039

18.93

3 089 782

- Sasol

Chemicals

South Africa

17 256 809

-13.56

2 587 726

+1 The Bidvest Group

Diversified

South Africa

14 604 111

-7.17

480 990

+1 Eskom

Utilities

South Africa

13 280 971

-12.53

674 873

-2 MTN Group

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

12 994 324

-18.37 2 894 080

+3 Steinhoff International Holdings

Wood and paper

South Africa

10 994 267

16.01

755 888

-1 Sanlam

Insurance

South Africa

9 710 400

-6.96

869 557

-1 ShopRite Holdings

Retail

South Africa

8 829 544

-9.42

344 177

-1 Imperial Holdings

Transport

South Africa

8 794 766

-7.65

350 907

238 000

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 1-50 Rank ’13

Company

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

- Bidvest Foods

Agribusiness

South Africa

7 873 040

-1 Vodacom Group

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

7 207 687

-1 Massmart Holdings

Retail

South Africa

6 903 228

-4.52

127 768

Diversified

South Africa

6 597 360

399 840

+7 Société Nationale d’Investissement*

Diversified

Morocco

6 321 380

-1 Barloworld

Diversified

South Africa

6 197 710

-10.16

153 748

- The Bidvest Group South Africa

-12.50 1 301 098

+2 De Beers Consolidated Mines*

Mining

South Africa

6 074 000

-5 Pick n Pay Stores Holdings

Retail

South Africa

6 060 613

-13.78

55 359 621 561

+1 Naspers

Media

South Africa

5 971 706

0.87

-3 Samir

Refining

Morocco

5 943 233

-8.80

38 701

-3 Sappi

Wood and paper

South Africa

5 925 000

-6.65

-161 000

-8 Vodacom South Africa

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

5 883 931

-14.79

1 737 019

+6 Datatec

Media

South Africa

5 688 054

8.41

55 780

-1 Office Chérifien des Phosphates

Mining

Morocco

5 676 198

-1.63 1 043 833

-9 AngloGold Ashanti

Mining

South Africa

5 497 000

-17.11 -2 230 000

-5 Transnet

Transport

South Africa

5 388 891

-8.88

492 279

-2 Suez Canal Authority

Ports

Egypt

5 300 000

-1 Kumba Iron Ore

Mining

South Africa

5 184 687

+4 Aveng

Diversified

South Africa

5 041 697

4.66

-36 271

+1 Anglo American Platinum Corp.

Mining

South Africa

4 988 861

-1.87

-130 424 NA

-3.17 1 932 560

-7 SABMiller South Africa

Food and drink

South Africa

4 951 000

-10.63

+2 MTN Nigeria

ICT/Telecoms

Nigeria

4 584 737

0.56

-3 SPAR Group

Retail

South Africa

4 550 160

-11.34

113 336 72 695

+3 Total South Africa*

Petroleum Services

South Africa

3 930 475

+4 Naftal*

Petroleum Services

Algeria

3 848 022

-4 MTN South Africa

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

3 780 106

-22.41

+3 Middle East Oil Refineries

Petroleum Services

Egypt

3 571 000

-6.64

94 000

+8 Groupe Maroc Telecom

ICT/Telecoms

Morocco

3 453 925

670 008

+6 Global Telecom Holding

ICT/Telecoms

Egypt

3 447 000

-4.96 -2 914 000

+3 Liberty Group

Insurance

South Africa

3 406 446

-5.88

+6 Woolworths Holdings

Retail

South Africa

3 369 985

-0.73

251 138

+2 Old Mutual Life Assurance Co.

Insurance

South Africa

3 293 349

-8.73

437 158

-1 Transnet Freight Rail

Rail Transport

South Africa

3 275 927

346 623

+7 Cevital

Agribusiness

Algeria

3 260 446

3.42

381 882

-9 Murray & Roberts Holdings

Construction

South Africa

3 256 706

-21.93

139 982

Refining

Côte d'Ivoire

3 233 200

304

+9 South African Airways*

Air Transport

South Africa

3 192 686

-137 614

-10 Telkom

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

3 147 407

-19.34

375 374

-8 ArcelorMittal South Africa

Metals

South Africa

3 086 479

-18.87

-204 394

+3 JD Group

Retail

South Africa

3 066 392

2.93

163 173

+36 Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage*

425 544

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

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N ° 67

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F E B R UA R Y 2 015

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

Oando (#56)’s turnover slipped 12% in the first nine months of 2014 to $1.88bn, compared to $2.15bn over the same period in 2013.

+5 Mediclinic Corp.

Healthcare

South Africa

2 903 124

0.32

341 387

+8 Sonelgaz

Utilities

Algeria

2 880 425

19.91

-469 571

-7 Impala Platinum Holdings

Mining

South Africa

2 859 046

-12.06

227 718

Petroleum Services

Nigeria

2 766 722

-35.68

8 591

-5 Edgars Consolidated Stores

Retail

South Africa

2 740 237

-12.95

-239 047

-4 Network Healthcare Holdings

Healthcare

South Africa

2 646 655

-10.77

485 901

-2 Allied Electronics Corp.

Electrical Equipment

South Africa

2 643 894

-9.40

41 602

Agribusiness

South Africa

2 576 559

-3.96

242 532

-2 Masscash

Retail

South Africa

2 500 342

-7.31

-1 Maroc Telecom

ICT/Telecoms

Morocco

2 497 653

-5.43

640 801

Diff.

Rank ’12



Rank ’13

RANKINGS 51-100

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Company

Sector

Country

-1 Ezz Steel Co.

Metals

Egypt

3 045 165

-3.41

76 172

Mining

South Africa

2 915 824

-45.57

-329 935

-26 Gold Fields

-21 Oando

- Tiger Brands

Diversified

Egypt

2 316 138

+33 Mobinil

- EgyptAir Holdings*

ICT/Telecoms

Egypt

2 267 875

37.74

156 249

+18 Wilson Bayly Holmes – Ovcon

Construction

South Africa

2 263 235

7.35

64 251

+2 MMI Holdings

Insurance

South Africa

2 218 541

0.73

252 375 13 801

-3 Elsewedy Cables

Electrical Equipment

Egypt

2 159 307

-6.56

+3 Afriquia SMDC*

Petroleum Services

Morocco

2 133 912

+6 Flour Mills of Nigeria

Agribusiness

Nigeria

2 042 678

5.87

33 012

-7 PetroSA

Petroleum

South Africa

2 018 173

-12.95

-156 957

Air Transport

Ethiopia

1 988 052

8.23

106 069

+8 Al Ezz Dekheila Steel Co.

Metals

Egypt

1 974 682

6.29

172

+99 Egypt Kuwait Holding Co.

Diversified

Egypt

1 966 628

132.74

150 514

-9 Santam

Insurance

South Africa

1 964 071

-14.01

111 670

+3 Dangote Cement*

Construction

Nigeria

1 907 121

970 853 -41 537

+10 Ethiopian Airlines

+3 Société Nationale de Raffinage*

Refining

Cameroon

1 891 675

+7 Masswarehouse

Retail

South Africa

1 873 070

3.43

-12 Blue Label Telecoms

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

1 847 039

-17.42

45 177 334 542

+6 Aspen Pharmacare Holdings

Pharmaceuticals

South Africa

1 838 122

2.26

-6 Kansanshi Mining

Mining

Zambia

1 832 300

-7.45

Petroleum

Ghana

1 812 801

6.13

301 936 55 989

+12 Total Gabon

+4 Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures*

Petroleum

Cameroon

1 796 862

+5 Optimum Telecom Algeria

ICT/Telecoms

Algeria

1 796 323

-2.45

125

Petroleum Services

Kenya

1 761 191

41.54

14 947

- EgyptAir Airlines*

Air Transport

Egypt

1 747 660

- Société Tunisienne des Industries de Raffinage*

Refining

Tunisia

1 744 049

-15 Nampak

Packaging

South Africa

1 741 741

-16.19

128 996

+4 Royal Air Maroc*

Air Transport

Morocco

1 727 381

-5 138

Utilities

Tunisia

1 721 483

1 703 414

-1.59

202 871

89 102 90

+41 Total Kenya

+13 Société Tunisienne de l’Électricité et du Gaz*

+1 Discovery Health

Insurance

South Africa

+3 Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières*

Petroleum

Tunisia

1 701 738

349 697

+4 Distell Group*

Food and drink

South Africa

1 670 222

114 387

-16 Clicks Group

Retail

South Africa

1 662 518

-13.13

71 549

111

+17 Nigerian Breweries

Food and drink

Nigeria

1 651 973

2.32

264 944

110

+15 Safaricom

ICT/Telecoms

Kenya

1 647 820

14.49

262 170

Agribusiness

Morocco

1 626 335

Agribusiness

South Africa

1 617 662

-26.22

55 071

-8 Massdiscounters

Retail

South Africa

1 593 705

-8.64

+4 Telecom Egypt

ICT/Telecoms

Egypt

1 592 346

-0.32

423 391

Egypt

1 576 971

-21.02

99 103 100

+2 Société Marocaine des Tabacs* -28 Pioneer Foods Group

-27 The Arab Contractors

Construction

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

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N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 101-150 Rank ’13

Company

101 105

+4 Remgro

-26 Foschini

102

$110.5m

Kenya Airways (#130) posted a $110.5m operating loss for the half year ending September 2014, blaming regional insecurity and Ebola concerns

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Diversified

South Africa

1 567 563

-1.68

421 450

Retail

South Africa

1 557 748

-18.81

190 847

103 104

+1 Omnia Holdings

Chemicals

South Africa

1 547 857

-2.99

94 438

104 100

-4 Lonmin

Mining

South Africa

1 520 000

-5.82

198 000

105

-16 AECI

Chemicals

South Africa

1 517 678

-13.64

90 345

106

-19 Harmony Gold Mining Co.

Mining

South Africa

1 513 870

-15.29

-51 694

107

116

+9 Alexandria Mineral Oils Co.*

Petroleum

Egypt

1 503 226

108

-13 Tongaat Hulett Group

Agribusiness

South Africa

1 496 163

-11.65

116 810

109

-60 Grindrod

Sea Transport

South Africa

1 491 025

-53.58

120 147

110

117

+7 Sonatel

ICT/Telecoms

Senegal

1 484 011

11.41

381 166

Diversified

South Africa

1 465 128

12.86

128 710

Petroleum Services

Nigeria

1 464 702

5.22

32 804

111 122 112

112

+11 Kap International Holdings - Total Nigeria

113 143

+30 Group Five Holdings

Construction

South Africa

1 460 333

41.11

41 843

114 166

+52 Poulina Group Holding

Diversified

Tunisia

1 389 894

60.16

42 399

ICT/Telecoms

Nigeria

1 388 830

-6.37

129 499

Mining

South Africa

1 349 477

-15.86

326 381

Petroleum Services

Morocco

1 336 927

Financial Services

Nigeria

1 316 193

Construction

Nigeria

1 308 334

1.58

48 298

Retail

South Africa

1 306 144

-19.20

146 322

Automobile

Egypt

1 305 212

-1.13

26 368

South Africa

1 291 674

-10.35

841 949

115

107

116 101 117

115

118

119

124

-8 Airtel Nigeria -15 Assore -2 Vivo Energy Maroc* - Novignis* +5 Julius Berger Nigeria

120

-21 Mr Price Group

121

119

-2 Ghabbour Auto

122 109

-13 Exxaro Resources

Mining

123 126

+3 Ynna Holding*

Diversified

Morocco

1 278 864

Mining

Zambia

1 271 400

-89 000

124

125 106 126 120 127

128 108

- Konkola Copper Mines -19 Transnet Rail Engineering

Rail Transport

South Africa

1 271 206

-17.40

16 279

Agribusiness

South Africa

1 255 698

-4.23

106 481

-60 KenolKobil

Petroleum

Kenya

1 249 340

-43.96

6 360

-20 Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière

Mining

Mauritania

1 231 655

9.28

574 940

-6 Illovo Sugar

-2 Allied Technologies*

Electrical Equipment

South Africa

1 230 159

+5 Kenya Airways

Air Transport

Kenya

1 207 443

5.47

-38 521

131 130

-1 Marjane Holding*

Retail

Morocco

1 183 239

132 136

+4 Douja Promotion

Real Estate

Morocco

1 142 977

2.32

206 303

129

127

130 135

Mining

Ghana

1 142 365

134 158

+24 Saham Holding

Diversified

Morocco

1 140 000

28.37

135 123

-12 Life Healthcare Group

Healthcare

South Africa

1 127 454

-12.51

196 588

136 145

+9 Adcorp Holdings

Services

South Africa

1 123 590

10.67

15 231

Automobile

South Africa

1 115 551

-19.20

77 694

133

137

113

138 134 139 150

- Gold Fields Ghana*

-24 Super Group

Retail

South Africa

1 108 318

-3.71

229 051

+11 Cosider

-4 Truworths International

Construction

Algeria

1 096 201

16.05

232 480

140

171

+31 Société Africaine de Raffinage*

Refining

Senegal

1 089 420

4 072

141

114

-27 Reunert

Electrical Equipment

South Africa

1 080 577

-21.36

92 611

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

1 078 015

118 363

Insurance

South Africa

1 077 188

-7.38

Petroleum Services

Morocco

1 070 989

142 139 143 132 144 140 145 184 146 154 147

142

148

128

149 144 150

131

-3 Groupe SIFCA* -11 Mutual & Federal Insurance -4 Total Maroc* +39 Groupe Chimique Tunisien*

Chemicals

Tunisia

1 065 772

+8 Société Gabonaise de Raffinage*

Refining

Gabon

1 033 433

18 558

-5 CMH Group

Automobile

South Africa

1 031 148

-2.45

16 130

Tourism

South Africa

1 030 540

-14.81

71 305

Mining

South Africa

1 026 919

-11 429

Tourism

South Africa

1 025 018

-12.21

187 830

-20 Sun International -5 Palabora Mining Co.* -19 Tsogo Sun Holdings

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

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F E B R UA R Y 2 015

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

Diff.

Rank ’12

Rank ’13

RANKINGS 151-200

Egypt’s Orascom Construction Industries (#169) tumbled down this year’s ranking from 28th position in 2013 to 169th, the worst slip in the Top 500

Company

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

151 160

+9 Saham Finances

Insurance

Morocco

1 021 701

15.84

71 959

152

157

+5 Invicta Holdings

Automobile

South Africa

996 221

11.88

67 584

153

154 148

- Tullow Ghana* -6 Conoil

Petroleum

Ghana

995 600

Petroleum Services

Nigeria

981 153

2.37

18 881

155

121

-34 Shell Gabon*

Petroleum

Gabon

966 810

156

179

+23 Centrale Laitière

Food and drink

Morocco

956 306

19.81

32 715

157

175

+18 Wataniya Telecom Algérie*

ICT/Telecoms

Algeria

956 000

98 700

158

-88 African Rainbow Minerals

Mining

South Africa

952 381

-55.44

313 113

159

141

160 146

-18 Eqstra Holdings

Automobile

South Africa

949 906

-11.30

23 895

-14 Transnet National Ports Authority

Transport

South Africa

944 098

-3.78

301 308

+3 GML

Diversified

Mauritius

925 707

5.99

33 459

162

118

-44 Aurecon Heritage Companies

Construction

South Africa

920 100

-30.58

163

151

-12 Al Ezz Rolling Mills

Metals

Egypt

917 266

-0.79

164 152

-12 Volta River Authority*

Utilities

Ghana

916 703

-47 145

165 153

-12 Société Nationale Burkinabé d’Hydrocarbures*

Petroleum Services

Burkina Faso

913 515

19 116

166 149

-17 Massbuild

Construction

South Africa

912 359

-4.85

-30 Stefanutti Stocks Holdings

Construction

South Africa

904 251

-18.40

11 312

-12 AFGRI*

Agribusiness

South Africa

891 308

23 093

Construction

Egypt

888 507

-83.24

-283 489 NA

161 164

167

137

168 156 169

-141 Orascom Construction Industries

ICT/Telecoms

Tunisia

882 756

-10 Grinaker-LTA*

Construction

South Africa

881 294

172 229

+57 Seplat Petroleum Development Co.

Petroleum

Nigeria

880 227

39.94

550 268

173 138

-35 Anglovaal Industries

Agribusiness

South Africa

877 582

-19.20

103 368

174 162

-12 Société Nat. de Distribution des Pétroles AGIL*

Petroleum Services

Tunisia

877 505

12 211

Agribusiness

Egypt

874 935

1.28

107 830

170

171

161

175 168

- Tunisie Telecom

-7 Eastern Co.

Mining

Ghana

861 785

177 198

+21 Mondi Group South Africa

Wood and paper

South Africa

858 998

18.11

178 165

-13 RMI Holdings

229 242

176

179

173

180 188

- Newmont Ghana Gold*

Insurance

South Africa

849 660

-2.34

-6 Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania*

Diversified

Tanzania

836 098

68 123

+8 Lyonnaise des Eaux de Casablanca

Utilities

Morocco

823 610

7.25

35 779

181 196

+15 Air Algérie*

Air Transport

Algeria

821 312

182 226

+44 Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooué

Mining

Gabon

819 231

29.80

69 041

Agribusiness

Nigeria

818 467

9.75

136 888

Mining

Ghana

816 264

-22 905

-22 Transnet Port Terminals

Transport

South Africa

812 532

-7.11

13 233

-39 Astral Foods

Food and drink

South Africa

811 483

-15.60

23 230 120 494

183 192

+9 Nestlé Nigeria

- Tarkwa Mines

184

185 163 186

147

187 159

-28 Hosken Consolidated Investments

Diversified

South Africa

798 053

-9.98

188 155

-33 Powertech

Electrical Equipment

South Africa

797 681

-11.39

189 167

-22 Pretoria Portland Cement Co.

Construction

South Africa

791 683

-8.53

88 631

190 180

-10 Société Tunisienne de l’Air*

Air Transport

Tunisia

791 274

-86 776

Textiles

Egypt

789 601

1.30

52 788

Petroleum

Nigeria

787 371

35.43

30 111

-17 MTN Ghana

ICT/Telecoms

Ghana

787 209

-2.63

194 181

-13 Aveng Mining*

Mining

South Africa

787 038

195 129

-66 Rainbow Chicken

Agribusiness

South Africa

775 269

-34.91

-350

196 169

-27 Clover Holdings

Agribusiness

South Africa

761 263

-10.56

22 835

+6 Econet Wireless

ICT/Telecoms

Zimbabwe

752 678

8.32

119 397

Utilities

Côte d'Ivoire

748 961

14.79

16 652

ICT/Telecoms

Morocco

747 180

Diversified

Algeria

742 088

-12.60

191 185 192 248 193

176

197 203 198

216

199

191

200

170

-6 Oriental Weavers for Carpets +56 Forte Oil

+18 Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Électricité -8 INWI* -30 Groupe CFAO Algérie

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

201

202

177

203 189 204

178

205 200 206

197

207

187

208 201

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 201-250 Rank ’13



Company

- ATM Mobilis*

Profit after tax in the third quarter of 2014 for Dangote Sugar Refinery (#232) declined by 10% to $13.2m

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

ICT/Telecoms

Algeria

738 680

150 240

-25 Rand Water

Utilities

South Africa

737 916

-8.41

94 893

-14 Tunisiana*

ICT/Telecoms

Tunisia

737 594

-26 Mondi Packaging South Africa

Packaging

South Africa

732 831

-8.81

37 852

-5 Compagnie Sucrière Marocaine de Raffinage

Agribusiness

Morocco

722 629

1.83

76 035

-9 Suez Cement Co.

Construction

Egypt

722 103

-1.36

76 980

Metals

South Africa

719 713

-6.63

-128 040

Automobile

Morocco

702 741

700 070

14.24

6 608

-20 Hulamin -7 Renault Maroc*

209 235

+26 Label’Vie

Retail

Morocco

210 194

-16 Talaat Moustafa Group

Real Estate

Egypt

694 781

-5.89

83 687

Insurance

Morocco

693 933

2.13

94 302

211 207

-4 Wafa Assurance

212 199

-13 Egyptian Aluminium Products Co.

Metals

Egypt

687 504

-4.31

178 906

213 195

-18 Total Sénégal

Petroleum Services

Senegal

684 063

-7.21

4 324

Metals

South Africa

676 640

Media

South Africa

673 011

-14.31

62 064

Food and drink

Kenya

672 715

4.63

74 288

Food and drink

Nigeria

671 593

-9.76

58 877

Services

South Africa

671 131

-21 038

Insurance

Nigeria

670 458

3.47

84 801

Food and drink

Cameroon

661 511

1.99

54 143

Energy

Egypt

660 447

80 179

214 208 215 183 216 222 217 193

-6 Aveng Trident Steel* -32 South African Broadcasting Corp. +6 East African Breweries Group -24 Guinness Nigeria

218

210

-8 South African Post Office*

219

- African Reinsurance Corp.

220

218

221

222

214

-8 Médi Télécom*

ICT/Telecoms

Morocco

659 179

223 230

+7 Innscor Africa

Tourism

Zimbabwe

656 332

4.67

48 599

-2 SA des Brasseries du Cameroun - Petrojet

224 249

+25 Pharmacie Centrale de Tunisie*

Pharmaceuticals

Tunisia

654 421

225 250

+25 Orange Côte d’Ivoire

ICT/Telecoms

Côte d'Ivoire

652 797

12.48

226 221 227 190

Automobile

Morocco

647 172

-37 Cashbuild

-5 Société Maroc. de Constructions Automobiles*

Construction

South Africa

645 577

-14.08

25 652 17 840

-16 Salam Gaz

Petroleum Services

Morocco

642 664

-3.34

229 257

+28 Ireland Blyth

Diversified

Mauritius

635 591

14.49

26 174

230 242

+12 Air Mauritius

Air Transport

Mauritius

635 457

6.06

11 657

228

212

Petroleum Services

Niger

635 357

12 447

-26 Dangote Sugar Refinery

Agribusiness

Nigeria

634 395

-7.10

66 702

233 204

-29 Pinnacle Technology Holdings

Electrical Equipment

South Africa

627 961

-8.81

31 005

234 267

+33 Trencor

Sea Transport

South Africa

627 368

16.95

460 482

235 225

-10 Delta Corp.

107 193

231 224 232 206

-7 Société Nigérienne de Produits Pétroliers*

Food and drink

Zimbabwe

625 517

-0.91

236 232

-4 Maurel & Prom Gabon*

Petroleum

Gabon

622 439

237 234

-3 Polyserve Group*

Chemicals

Egypt

621 036

111 468

Financial Services

South Africa

615 278

12.50

603 282

Construction

Morocco

610 724

2.11

168 980

Construction

Nigeria

607 610

8.10

173 518

-3 Compagnie Marocaine des Hydrocarbures*

Petroleum

Morocco

607 027

+9 Eterna Oil & Gas

Chemicals

Nigeria

604 526

5.54

4 325 100 004

238 263 239 243 240 253 241 238 242

251

+25 RMB Holdings +4 Lafarge Ciments +13 Lafarge Cement WAPCO

+18 Catoca Sociedade Mineira

Mining

Angola

602 460

9.46

244

213

-31 Raubex

Construction

South Africa

602 141

-9.31

36 145

245

211

-34 Bell Equipment

Automobile

South Africa

601 579

-9.95

19 588

246 220

-26 Basil Read Holdings

Construction

South Africa

600 196

-7.27

26 796

247 254

+7 Tanzania Breweries

Food and drink

Tanzania

597 587

6.34

125 719

243 261

248 202

-46 Jorf Lasfar Energy Co.

249 244

-5 Libya Oil Maroc*

- Zalagh Holding*

250

Utilities

Morocco

597 003

-14.44

47 768

Petroleum Services

Morocco

596 272

Agribusiness

Morocco

593 000

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

Diff.

Rank ’12

Rank ’13

RANKINGS 251-300

“

Company

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Telecoms

Sudan

590 395

252 237

-15 Petroleos de Moçambique

Petroleum Services

Mozambique

589 209

-3 152

253 205

-48 Business Connexion Group

Media

South Africa

587 702

-14.44

22 181

254 285

+31 Holding Marocaine Commerciale et Financière Diversified

Morocco

584 745

23.60

255 240

-15 RMA Watanya

Morocco

583 750

-3.21

73 920

251 245

256

247

257 268

-6 Sudanese Telecom Co.*

Unless and until government focuses on getting the economy to work, business is going to continue going down.” Willard Zireva CEO of OK Zimbabwe (#296)

-9 Holding d’Aménagement Al Omrane*

Insurance

-45 774

Real Estate

Morocco

582 309

+11 Sonatel Mobiles*

ICT/Telecoms

Senegal

578 668

38 004

-84 Bytes Technology Group

25 990

Media

South Africa

576 626

-30.12

259 252

-7 CTP Holdings

Media

South Africa

569 693

0.34

47 867

260 256

-4 Société Nationale de Sidérurgie

Metals

Morocco

559 913

0.53

25 533

258

174

261 246

-15 Total Petroleum Ghana

Petroleum Services

Ghana

559 616

-14.12

14 755

262 228

-34 Johannesburg Water Co.

Utilities

South Africa

559 011

-11.17

77 304

-48 African Oxygen

Chemicals

South Africa

554 540

-15.32

29 227

264 295

+31 Moolmans*

Mining

South Africa

553 754

265 334

+69 Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa*

Mining

Tunisia

553 196

-6 Sania Cie*

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

552 603

25 145

+4 Total Côte d’Ivoire

Petroleum Services

Côte d'Ivoire

552 583

7.38

15 017

Real Estate

South Africa

550 446

-11.68

-67 497

Electrical Equipment

Algeria

549 000

19 810

Insurance

Botswana

545 782

120.99

54 835 49 571

263

215

266 260 267 271 268 231 269

-37 Growthpoint Properties - Condor Electronics

270 439 +169 Botswana Insurance Holdings 271 258

-13 Kenya Power and Lighting

Utilities

Kenya

545 766

-1.64

272 259

-13 Puma Energy Zambia

Petroleum

Zambia

540 688

-2.53

12 250

-32 Abu Qir Fertilizers & Chemical Industries

Chemicals

Egypt

538 062

-10.19

201 348

274 307

+33 Société Nationale d’Opérations Pétrolières

Petroleum

Côte d'Ivoire

534 660

57 964

275 277

+2 Soc. de Fabrication des Boissons de Tunisie

Food and drink

Tunisia

525 118

6.73

75 612

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

522 097

1 542

ICT/Telecoms

Côte d'Ivoire

521 696

7.37

Food and drink

Côte d'Ivoire

520 214

2 902

273

276

241

277 281

- SDTM-CI* +4 MTN Côte d’Ivoire

278 492 +214 Société Africaine de Cacao (SACO)* 279 264

-15 Adcock Ingram Holdings

Pharmaceuticals

South Africa

518 425

-4.33

55 963

280 283

+3 Alliances Développement Immobilier

Real Estate

Morocco

516 022

8.68

87 713

Diversified

South Africa

514 848

-19.20

11 190

512 803

4.55

21 660 6 605

281 223

-58 Mvelaserve

282 280

-2 Comair

Air Transport

South Africa

283 288

+5 Total Tunisie*

Petroleum Services

Tunisia

512 665

284 275

-9 MRS Oil*

Petroleum Services

Nigeria

509 458

1 335

Retail

South Africa

502 818

-17.73

80 177

285 236

-49 Lewis Group

Agribusiness

Morocco

497 910

1.24

15 118

287 233

-54 Metair Investments

Automobile

South Africa

497 651

-19.90

32 499

288 276

-12 Pétrole du Maghreb*

Petroleum Services

Morocco

495 623

289 294

+5 MTN Cameroun

ICT/Telecoms

Cameroon

495 421

10.31

290 272

-18 Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium Corp.

Metals

South Africa

494 278

-3.65

-36 081

291 278

-13 Groupe Loukil*

Diversified

Tunisia

491 944

27 080

Petroleum

Algeria

487 954

99 284

286 279

292 284

-7 Lesieur Cristal

-8 Entreprise Nationale de Travaux aux Puits*

293 340

+47 Mobil Oil Nigeria

Petroleum

Nigeria

484 276

-6.20

21 407

294 304

+10 EOH Holdings

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

484 185

12.81

31 545

295 299

+4 UAC of Nigeria

Diversified

Nigeria

484 094

8.80

60 903

296 282

-14 OK Zimbabwe

Retail

Zimbabwe

483 660

0.84

9 685

297 286

-11 Raya Holding

Electrical Equipment

Egypt

482 271

2.06

7 929

Agribusiness

Mali

480 471

28 282

298

299 321 300

318

- CMDT* +22 Orange Mali

ICT/Telecoms

Mali

479 473

19.27

123 480

+18 Seven-Up Bottling Co.

Food and drink

Nigeria

479 014

16.97

39 573

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

301 262 302

303 290 304 182 305 265

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 301-350 Rank ’13

Company

-39 Oceana Group - Zimplats Holdings -13 Juhayna Food Industries -122 Produce Buying Co. -40 Golden Star Resources

After launching in 1998, the number of MTN Uganda (#329) subscribers hit 110 million in August 2014

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Sector

Country

Agribusiness

South Africa

475 748

-13.12

Mining

Zimbabwe

471 647

68 254

Food and drink

Egypt

471 033

3.61

46 932

Agribusiness

Ghana

469 738

-22.89

-2 690

Mining

Ghana

467 796

-13.54

-298 514

49 922

306 308

+2 Société Magasin Général

Retail

Tunisia

465 755

8.95

-2 903

307 298

-9 Office National des Chemins de Fer du Maroc

Rail Transport

Morocco

456 549

2.52

17 899

+5 Groupe Managem

Mining

Morocco

456 428

9.28

48 981

309 289

-20 PZ Cussons Nigeria*

Chemicals

Nigeria

455 882

34 001

310 273

-37 Choppies Enterprises

Retail

Botswana

453 767

-11.09

17 266

311 291

-20 Ghana Oil Co.

Petroleum Services

Ghana

452 737

0.51

6 975

Agribusiness

Algeria

451 558

128 045

308

312

313

- Fertial

313 347

+34 Compagnie Générale Immobilière

Real Estate

Morocco

451 150

26.76

44 337

314 337

+23 Saham Assurance Maroc (Ex-CNIA SAADA Ass.)

Insurance

Morocco

449 655

17.47

34 952

Insurance

Côte d'Ivoire

443 641

18 542

Pharmaceuticals

Algeria

441 393

32 752

Insurance

Morocco

441 129

6.82

Petroleum

Egypt

440 626

24.99

185 733

315

316 301 317

314

- Saham Assurances (Ex-Colina Participations) -15 Biopharm* -3 Axa Assurance Maroc

318 349

+31 Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Co.

319 350

+31 Nakumatt Holdings*

Retail

Kenya

440 040

3 613

320 305

-15 Ciments du Maroc

Construction

Morocco

439 298

2.51

99 147

+8 Food and Allied Group of Companies

321 329 322 368

Food and drink

Mauritius

438 453

12.03

11 842

+46 Société des Mines de Loulo

Mining

Mali

436 950

194 190

323 266

-57 Distribution & Warehousing Network

Retail

South Africa

436 810

-19.20

15 159

324 352

+28 Orascom Telecom Media and Technologies

ICT/Telecoms

Egypt

434 282

25.91

103 454

325 306

-19 Afriquia Gaz

Gas

Morocco

431 589

0.82

48 281

Petroleum

Côte d'Ivoire

430 844

6 117

429 397

-4.16

1 866 24 723

326

- Vivo Energy Côte d’Ivoire

327 296

-31 Northam Platinum

Mining

South Africa

328 309

-19 Ceca Gadis*

Retail

Gabon

426 120

329 331

+2 MTN Uganda

ICT/Telecoms

Uganda

425 258

9.51

-60 Iliad Africa

Construction

South Africa

424 978

-19.72

-62 746 NA

330 270 331

311

-20 Total Burkina*

Petroleum Services

Burkina Faso

424 669

332

312

-20 Aveng Manufacturing*

Construction

South Africa

422 149

333 323

-10 Vivo Energy Mauritius

Petroleum Services

Mauritius

419 684

5.12

7 109

334

419

+85 Auto Hall

Automobile

Morocco

417 919

57.45

26 309

335

317

-18 Unimer

Food and drink

Morocco

409 838

0.04

7 371

336 344

+8 Ciel Group

Diversified

Mauritius

407 792

9.62

337 342

+5 Groupe CFAO Congo

Diversified

Rep. of Congo

406 364

8.17

338 322

-16 Engen DRC

Petroleum Services

Dem. Rep. Congo

405 287

1.06

9 615

-20 Orange Cameroun*

ICT/Telecoms

Cameroon

404 406

Côte d'Ivoire

403 932

9 578

339

319

340

341

315

342

343 300 344

- Soc. Int. d’Expertise et de Gestion Immobilière Real Estate -26 Mustek - South Deep Gold Mine -43 Zurich Insurance Co. South Africa - Algérie Poste*

Media

South Africa

400 114

-3.04

8 357

Mining

South Africa

389 073

-19 697 -15 625

Insurance

South Africa

388 856

-12.37

Services

Algeria

388 120

386 754

13 687

345 333

-12 Tradex*

Petroleum Services

Cameroon

346 302

-44 Bamburi Cement

Construction

Kenya

386 440

-10.99

41 835

347 330

-17 Meikles Africa

Diversified

Zimbabwe

384 308

-1.79

37 179

348 335

-13 Groupe Eurofind Afrique*

Diversified

Côte d'Ivoire

383 114

349 336

-13 Société Burkinabé des Fibres Textiles*

Agribusiness

Burkina Faso

382 911

10 420

Uganda

376 643

32 630

350

- Umeme

Utilities

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

•

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

351 326 352

316

353 343

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 351-400 Rank ’13



Company

356 348

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Sector

Country

-25 Holcim

Construction

Morocco

376 429

-4.48

45 631

-36 Hudaco Industries

Automobile

South Africa

375 299

-8.79

29 036

-10 Coopérative Copag Taroudant*

354 469 +115 Société des Mines de Gounkoto 355

Nigeria-based Honeywell Flour Mills (#371) saw profit before tax climb by 3% to $7.58m for the half-year period end 30 September 2014

- Databank Agrifund Manager -8 Unilever Nigeria

Food and drink

Morocco

372 158

Mining

Mali

371 361

200 444

Insurance

Ghana

371 250

Chemicals

Nigeria

369 025

3.97

29 562 NA

357 370

+13 Société d’Énergie et d’Eau du Gabon

Utilities

Gabon

365 820

3.73

358 378

+20 North Mara Gold Mine

Mining

Tanzania

365 393

17.66

359 287

-72 Times Media Group

Media

South Africa

364 711

-21.61

952

360 345 361

415

-15 Alf Sahel*

Food and drink

Morocco

364 672

+54 Vivo Energy Senegal*

Petroleum Services

Senegal

362 896

4 358

362 346

-16 North Africa Bottling Co.*

Food and drink

Morocco

359 446

363 458

+95 Office National des Aéroports

Air Transport

Morocco

358 727

53.67

69 526

364 328

-36 Airtel Congo RDC

ICT/Telecoms

Dem. Rep. Congo

357 136

-8.95

-130 226

365 341

-24 Nsia Participations SA

Diversified

Côte d'Ivoire

348 570

-7.37

18 870

366 339

-27 Somague Angola

Construction

Angola

346 691

-8.41

367 460

+93 Coronation Fund Managers

Financial Services

South Africa

346 052

48.70

138 516

368 332

-36 Redefine Properties

Real Estate

South Africa

345 039

-10.97

367 189

369 457

+88 National Foods Holdings

Food and drink

Zimbabwe

343 518

46.80

16 783

370 338

-32 Country Bird Holdings

Agribusiness

South Africa

341 423

-10.47

-13 611

371 393

+22 Honeywell Flour Mills

Agribusiness

Nigeria

338 768

15.98

20 612

372 373

+1 Côte d’Ivoire Telecom

ICT/Telecoms

Côte d'Ivoire

337 021

373 355

-18 Redal*

Utilities

Morocco

336 609

374 357

-17 Centrale Automobile Chérifienne*

Automobile

Morocco

336 567

NA -181 941

Mining

Dem. Rep. Congo

336 188

376 381

+5 Maghrébail

Financial Services

Morocco

335 167

9.53

8 065

377 385

+8 Merafe Resources

Mining

South Africa

332 913

11.16

20 051

378 361

-17 Société Marocaine de Carburants – ZIZ*

Petroleum Services

Morocco

331 930

379 364

-15 Cairo Poultry

Food and drink

Egypt

331 568

1.51

33 324 133 907

375 489

+114 Générale des Carrières et des Mines

-70 Société des Mines de Tongon

Mining

Côte d'Ivoire

329 448

381 459

+78 Société Nationale d’Assurances

Insurance

Algeria

328 144

40.85

382 369

-13 Alexandria Portland Cement

Construction

Egypt

327 130

2.24

34 337

Food and drink

Mozambique

326 790

7.29

47 270

Construction

Angola

326 592

16 899

380

310

383 382 384

-1 Cervejas de Moçambique - Soares da Costa Angola

385 440

+55 Industries Chimiques du Sénégal*

Mining

Senegal

326 482

7 505

386 365

-21 PALMCI*

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

324 894

48 560 5 616

387 391

+4 Seardel Investment Corp.

Textiles

South Africa

322 454

8.89

388 396

+8 Société des Télécommunications du Mali

ICT/Telecoms

Mali

321 459

11.91

319 395

-19.20

42 265 3 505

389 324

-65 Bidvest Namibia

Diversified

Namibia

390 363

-27 BSI Steel

Metals

South Africa

318 638

-3.58

391 372

-19 Maghreb Steel*

Metals

Morocco

318 494

-18 Industrial Promotion Services West Africa*

Diversified

Côte d'Ivoire

316 493

NA 14 243

392

374

Agribusiness

Algeria

315 761

394 325

-69 Mauritanian Copper Mines

Mining

Mauritania

314 800

-20.18

395 384

-11 Namibian Power Corp.

Utilities

Namibia

314 697

4.38

53 832

396 351

-45 Société Africaine de Plantations d’Hévéas

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

312 798

-10.03

27 551

397 375

-22 Copragri SA*

Agribusiness

Morocco

312 748

398 376

-22 Star Oil Mauritanie*

Petroleum Services

Mauritania

312 000

11 000

399 388

-11 Zambia Sugar

Agribusiness

Zambia

310 914

4.73

53 131

400 402

+2 Société Centrale de Boissons Gazeuses

Food and drink

Morocco

310 024

9.29

2 800

393 390

-3 Groupe Industriel des Productions Laitières

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

•

N ° 67

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F E B R UA R Y 2 015

Any innovative programme in nutrition, water or rural development in mind?

The 2016 Nestlé Creating Shared Value Prize RURAL DEVELOPMENT Sustainable agriculture, developS ment of local value chains and m extension services; etc. e WATER W Improving access to clean water; protection and conservation of water resources; water, sanitation and hygiene; etc.

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BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

Diff.

Rank ’12

RANKINGS 401-450 Rank ’13

“

Company

This brand has consistently proved that consumers with money to spend, continue to do so.” Kevin Hedderwick CEO of Famous Brands (#437)

Sector

Country

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

401 353

-48 Royal Bafokeng Platinum

Mining

South Africa

309 505

-8.32

402 379

-23 Petromin Oils*

Petroleum Services

Morocco

309 232

403 362

-41 Total Mauritius

Petroleum Services

Mauritius

309 155

-6.53

4 667

Diversified

Cameroon

308 905

7.65

405 377

-28 Santova Logistics

Transport

South Africa

306 689

-1.40

5 096

406 427

+21 Copperbelt Energy Corp.

Utilities

Zambia

306 512

18.73

82 188

Construction

Mauritius

305 194

20 991

Food and drink

Côte d'Ivoire

304 242

7.88

35 572

Diversified

Morocco

302 312

13.39

20 677

404 397

407

408 464 409

418

-7 Groupe CFAO Cameroun

42 631

- Gamma Group +56 Solibra +9 Delta Holding

410 383

-27 Sopriam*

Automobile

Morocco

301 878

411 360

-51 Transnet Pipelines

Petroleum

South Africa

296 453

-11.06

111 098

412 398

-14 Engen Botswana

Petroleum Services

Botswana

295 280

3.58

14 666

413 356

-57 Peermont Global

Tourism

South Africa

293 083

-12.93

Diversified

Mauritius

292 933

109 221 35 577

414

- ENL Group

415 394

-21 Compagnie du Komo*

Diversified

Gabon

289 038

416 395

-21 Jan De Nul (Pacific)*

Petroleum

Mauritius

288 581

417 399

-18 Soc. Ivoirienne de Promotion de Supermarchés* Retail

Côte d'Ivoire

284 643

1 545

418 424

+6 Buzwagi Gold Mine

Mining

Tanzania

284 190

9.32

419 400

-19 Société Centrale de Réassurance*

Insurance

Morocco

284 074

36 764

420 434

+14 Groupe Benamor

Food and drink

Algeria

282 346

12.20

8 264

421 403

-18 SNMVT – Monoprix*

Retail

Tunisia

281 756

7 737

422 404

-18 Namibia Breweries*

Food and drink

Namibia

281 192

8 606 32 773

423 401

-22 Brasseries du Maroc

Food and drink

Morocco

280 286

-1.27

424 327

-97 Bulyanhulu Gold Mine

Mining

Tanzania

279 421

-28.96

425 386

-39 Maridive and Oil Services

Petroleum Services

Egypt

278 971

-6.41

1 649

426 408

-18 Amendis*

Utilities

Morocco

278 151

Agribusiness

Senegal

274 364

7 560

427

428

410

- Les Grands Moulins de Dakar*

Textiles

Mauritius

273 989

16 354

-137 Al Ezz Flat Steel

Metals

Egypt

272 577

-39.41

-19 Univers Acier*

Metals

Morocco

271 936

431 406

-25 Airtel Gabon

ICT/Telecoms

Gabon

271 433

-2.73

27 696

432 468

+36 Groupe Metidji

429 292 430

411

433 432

-18 Ciel Textile*

Food and drink

Algeria

271 311

18.68

21 276

-1 Mauritius Telecom

ICT/Telecoms

Mauritius

271 160

6.91

45 678

-9 Airtel Tanzania

ICT/Telecoms

Tanzania

270 755

4.26

-49 626

-22 Cipla Medpro*

Pharmaceuticals

South Africa

270 659

19 837

436 405

-31 Egyptian International Tourism Co.

Tourism

Egypt

269 562

-3.55

21 176

437 389

-48 Famous Brands

Tourism

South Africa

269 033

-9.25

38 236

-22 Société des Brasseries du Gabon*

Food and drink

Gabon

268 267

-16 Misr Life Insurance Co.

Insurance

Egypt

267 903

2.70

5 077

+30 Press Corporation

Diversified

Malawi

267 235

17.15

40 805

-54 Sefalana Holding Co.

Food and drink

Botswana

266 760

-10.41

14 150

-25 Sococim Industries*

Construction

Senegal

266 223

27 122 15 001

434 425 435

438

413

416

439 423 440

470

441 387 442

417

443 446 444

+3 One Tech Holding - Abosso Goldfields*

Electrical Equipment

Tunisia

265 867

9.71

Mining

Ghana

264 687

-2 091

445 420

-25 AICO Africa*

Agribusiness

Zimbabwe

263 922

446 421

-25 Compagnie de Distribution de Côte d’Ivoire*

Retail

Côte d'Ivoire

263 059

-871

Insurance

Algeria

258 813

33 672

-89 Royal Swaziland Sugar Corp.

Agribusiness

Swaziland

258 567

-22.51

34 307

-35 Al Arafa for Invmt. in Garments Manufacturing

Textiles

Egypt

258 088

-4.32

4 464

-14 Groupe CFAO Côte d’Ivoire

Diversified

Côte d'Ivoire

257 465

3.45

447

448 359 449

414

450 436

- Compagnie Centrale de Réassurance

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

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N ° 67

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F E B R UA R Y 2 015

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

451 430 452 461

Diff.

Rank ’12

Rank ’13

RANKINGS 451-500

13,000

Company

-21 Cooper Maroc Pharmaceuticals +9 Airtel Zambia

The number of farmers Nestlé Côte d’Ivoire (#472) trained on good agricultural practices in 2014, out of the 30,000 targeted by 2020

Turnover (2013)

Turnover change

Net profits

Sector

Country

Pharmaceuticals

Morocco

257 239

1.02

ICT/Telecoms

Zambia

255 462

9.82

50 498

+21 Indianoil Mauritius

Petroleum Services

Mauritius

250 955

11.15

3 830

454 428

-26 New Mauritius Hotels

Tourism

Mauritius

249 578

-2.92

12 887

455 380

-75 Astrapak

Wood and paper

South Africa

249 458

-19.03

-6 692

456 437

-19 Outspan Ivoire*

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

248 400

502

457 438

-19 Zambeef*

Agribusiness

Zambia

248 180

2 659

458 462

+4 Office National des Télécommunications

40 924

453

459

474

- Sonabel

ICT/Telecoms

Burkina Faso

246 625

6.02

Utilities

Burkina Faso

245 376

244 769

105 025

460 443

-17 Helwan Fertilizer Co.*

Chemicals

Egypt

461 392

-69 Village Main Reef

Mining

South Africa

242 778

-17.65

-84 691

462 445

-17 Société Nationale des Autoroutes du Maroc*

Construction

Morocco

242 537

-21 256

463 426

-37 Golden Pyramids Plaza Co.

Tourism

Egypt

241 396

-7.02

95 554

464 450

-14 Groupe Ingelec*

Electrical Equipment

Morocco

240 995

465 451

-14 Dimagaz*

Utilities

Morocco

239 568

466 454

-12 Nouvelair Tunisie

Air Transport

Tunisia

238 980

0.37

2 348

467 407

-60 BAI Co.

Insurance

Mauritius

238 187

-14.44

9 863

468 431

-37 MTN Sudan

ICT/Telecoms

Sudan

237 619

-6.54

469 455

-14 Société d’Exploitation des Ports – Marsa Maroc* Transport

Morocco

236 014

470 456

-14 Société Les Grands Travaux Routiers*

Construction

Morocco

235 481

471 486

+15 Pioneers Holding

Financial Services

Egypt

234 708

9.36

22 852

Agribusiness

Côte d'Ivoire

231 713

1 188

Retail

Morocco

231 202

24 533

472

473 465

- Nestlé Côte d’Ivoire -8 Groupe Acima*

474

- Compagnie Algérienne des Assurances

Insurance

Algeria

230 771

475

- Corlay Cameroun*

Petroleum Services

Cameroon

229 966

722

476

- Groupe Industrielle Sim

Agribusiness

Algeria

229 320

18 091

- Moov Côte d’Ivoire

ICT/Telecoms

Côte d'Ivoire

227 321

Automobile

Morocco

225 044

Food and drink

Burkina Faso

224 346

-3 Orascom for Hotels and Development*

Tourism

Egypt

223 833

-56 535

-5 British American Tobacco Kenya

Agribusiness

Kenya

223 460

-0.58

42 416

ICT/Telecoms

Burkina Faso

223 018

41 875

477

478

475

479

480 477 481

476

482

-3 Coficab Maroc* - Brasseries du Burkina

- Airtel Burkina Faso

483 485

+2 Illovo Malawi

Agribusiness

Malawi

222 911

3.40

72 542

484 478

-6 Sechaba Brewery Holding*

Food and drink

Botswana

221 358

40 884

485 429

-56 Capital Property Fund

Real Estate

South Africa

219 291

-14.21

364 283

486 448

-38 Egyptian Iron & Steel Co.

Metals

Egypt

217 437

-10.19

-124 092

Financial Services

Morocco

217 275

29 294

ICT/Telecoms

South Africa

217 010

-4.04

8 466

Petroleum Services

Algeria

216 835

-1.30

5 465

Petroleum

Côte d'Ivoire

216 672

-44.29

-12 271

487 482 488

472

489 480 490 444 491

492 495

-5 Eqdom* -16 Datacentrix Holdings -9 Entreprise Nationale de Géophysique -46 Société Multinationale de Bitumes - EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering* +3 Lecico Egypt

Air Transport

Egypt

215 479

Construction

Egypt

214 645

5.40

-2 576

493 452

-41 Upper Egypt Flour Mills

Food and drink

Egypt

214 346

-10.19

10 447

494 479

-15 Groupe CFAO Maroc

Diversified

Morocco

213 683

-3.32

495 487

-8 Global Engines*

Automobile

Morocco

211 345

496 488

-8 RADEEMA*

Utilities

Morocco

210 515

8 193

Utilities

South Africa

209 834

-14.44

64 967

Mining

South Africa

207 857

29 804

497 442 498 490

-55 Umgeni Water-Amanzi -8 DRDGold*

499

- Kloof-Driefontein Complex

Mining

South Africa

206 841

42 811

500

- Airtel Niger

ICT/Telecoms

Niger

206 546

42 504

2013 results in thousands of US dollars; *in italics 2012 results; NA: not available

THE AFRICA REPORT

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BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

TELECOMS

The number of mobile subscribers continues to grow, and operators are outsourcing their towers to focus on providing better service

South Africa

12 Vodacom Group

South Africa

7.2

22 Vodacom South Africa

South Africa

5.9

32 MTN Nigeria

Nigeria

4.6

36 MTN South Africa

South Africa

3.8

38 Groupe Maroc Telecom

Morocco

3.5

39 Global Telecom Holding

Egypt

3.4

48 Telkom

South Africa

3.1

62 Maroc Telecom

Morocco

2.5

64 Mobinil

Egypt

2.3 2013 results

Econet Wireless (#197) are quickly rolling out fibre-optic networks to meet bulging demand. Obtaining frequencies for 3G and 4G data services continues to be a hardfought battle – particularly the spectrum freed up in the ‘digital dividend’ when countries switch from analogue to digital television. Africa’s largest telecoms company, South Africa’s MTN Group (#6) saw the turnover of its Nigeria operation (#32) overtake that of its South Africa operation (#36) in our Top 500 list for the first time since 2009. Nigeria represented 37% of MTN Group’s overall revenue for the first half of 2014, compared to 26% for its South African operation. During

this period, the Nigerian operation grew by 21.5%, while the South African one contracted by 3.4%. In a sign of how central the Nigerian operation has become to the group, the former chief executive of MTN’s Nigeria and Ghana operations, Ahmad Farroukh, was appointed chief executive of MTN South Africa in August 2014. But growth comes with its own challenges. Since MTN was named the ‘dominant’ operator for voice services by Nigeria’s regulators in April 2013, it has been subject to a number of new tariff regulations. Nigeria has experienced a recent wave of operators selling off their mobile phone towers in an effort to focus on customer ser-

Charting the fortunes of MTN's turnover (company turnover in thousands of US$) 18,000,000

17,254,208 17,000,000

15,918,896

6,000,000

16,000,000

14,969,793

15,000,000

MTN’s companies (in thousands of US$)

5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,,000,000

14,000,000 Ghana Côte d’Ivoire

Nigeria South Africa

13,000,000

1,000,000 0 2009

12,994,324

n.c. 2009

2010

2011

2012

2011

2013

2012 THE AFRICA REPORT

2013 •

N ° 67

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12,000,000 F E B R UA R Y 2 015

SOURCE: JEUNE AFRIQUE TOP 500 COMPANIES

15,092,695

BULGING DEMAND

Operators are still adjusting their strategies to cope with how cheaper smartphones are shifting their revenue further away from voice and towards data services. Alongside more investment by operators in their own fibre-optic networks, companies such as Liquid Telecom, owned by Strive Masiyiwa’s

Country

6 MTN Group

Cheaper phones trigger voice-to-data revolution

mid the rumble of mergers, regulation and competition for spectrum to meet the demand for mobile internet, the telecoms sector lost a little of its weight in this year’s Top 500 African companies ranking. There are now 46 telecoms and information, communications and technology companies in the Top 500, up from 34 last year. These companies – the majority of which are mobile phone operators – recorded a total turnover of $73.8bn, down from $77.6bn the previous year. By June 2014, there were 329 million unique mobile phone subscribers in Africa – 38% of the continent’s population, according to the GSM Association. Between 2008 and 2013, Africa’s mobile operators invested $45bn in expanding their networks during a period when their revenue grew at an average of 7% per year. The GSM Association estimates that they will invest another $97bn by 2020. At that time, there will be an estimated 525m smartphones in use in Africa, up from 72m at the end of 2013.

Company

Turnover in $bn

Top 10 Telecom companies Rank in Top 500

TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

vice. The big winner in 2014 was London-based firm IHS, which bought 9,000 towers from MTN Nigeria in September and 2,100 towers from Etisalat Nigeria in August. In November, Airtel Nigeria announced the sale of its 4,800 towers to American Tower Corporation. This leaves Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest mobile operator in terms of subscriber base, as the only major player not to have made the outsourcing move. ETISALAT DEAL

The impact of the purchase by United Arab Emirates-based group Etisalat of a 53% stake in Maroc Telecom (#38) in May does not yet show up in our rank-

ings. However, early signs show that the deal has been a profitable one for Etisalat, which had 71.1 million subscribers in Africa in September 2014. The group’s overall revenue during the third quarter of 2014 was up 38% on the same period in 2013 – but take Maroc Telecom out of the equation and it would have been an increase of just 6%. Maroc Telecom’s pan-African network, including operations across Francophone Africa, also helped increase the region’s profitability for Etisalat. Competition concerns could overshadow some long-awaited tie-ups in South Africa. MTN South Africa has been in discussions since March 2014 with Telkom (#48) over a deal that

2.7%

Profits for the telecoms sector dipped from $6.9bn in 2009 to $6.7bn in 2013 SOURCE: JEUNE AFRIQUE TOP 500 COMPANIES

would see Telkom share MTN’s mobile network in exchange for some spectrum, but not important 4G frequencies. The deal has faced opposition from operator Cell C, which is majority owned by Saudi group, Saudi Oger. The sale of fixed-line operator Neotel to Vodacom South Africa (#22) also hinges on a transfer of spectrum. The deal is not yet finalised and could face its own problems after MTN lodged a complaint at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and the Competition Commission in November, arguing that any of Neotel’s spectrum should be re-auctioned rather than passed directly to Vodacom. ● Gemma Ware

SIKARIN FON THANACHAIARY/WEF

INTERVIEW

Austin Okere Chief executive, Computer Warehouse Group, Nigeria

Nigeria’s last-mile challenges TAR: How has access to data networks changed habits in Nigeria? Businesses have been changed. We have seen a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises come online. But, of course, it is not just the businesses. The people that want to buy online have to have access. People are able to use their smartphones to connect to buy stuff from the internet. We started in 1999 with about 400,000 landlines, and today we are at about 138 million mobile subscribers. About 50% of people that access the internet use a smartphone to do so. Are data costs roughly comparable now between Europe and Nigeria? Where it is available. In places where competition is fierce – in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt – providers have been forced to cut prices and do promos. But I don’t think that it reflects the price. Move to Aba, and you will be paying three to four times that. If we take what the situation was about two to three years ago, it was cheaper to transmit data from Europe to Nigeria than from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Now there is a lot of bandwidth THE AFRICA REPORT

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on the shores, but less than 20% of that bandwidth has been moved inland because of a lack of last-mile infrastructure. How is that being fixed? The Nigerian Communications Commission is putting a tender out for infrastructure companies to take the bandwidth to the six political zones of the country plus Lagos, to become wholesale last-mile providers and then to use the cab-rank rule to sell to retailers. How has your new data centre changed things in Nigeria? The data centre space has not taken off as people had expected. We would call ourselves a late entrant because we were mainly using our data centre to provide wide-area network facilities for major league banks to connect their branches. But when fibre became pervasive this became priced out of the market, so we converted our beefed-up data centre to host the servers for our software service business and expanded it so that we can have a total of about 75

racks. We are seeing a lot of companies who have become interested. For example, one of the two global credit companies processes all its African card transactions from our data centre. Some major oil and gas companies are also using it and some technology companies. We also use it as a teleport service, going into partnership with SES Astra, the leading provider of free-to-air television services. We are pioneering the first free-to-air service in Nigeria and have already started. We hope to grow to 100 channels by the end of this year. This is really to meet the switch from analogue to digital in Nigeria. We have 22m households who receive analogue signal, while paying TV like Multichoice only caters for 1m of the market. The switch to digital shouldn’t disenfranchise households from receiving television signals, so we have talked to the National Broadcasting Commission to say we are partnering with SES to provide free-to-air to the majority of households and over time we are going to provide a bouquet of premium services that we will charge for. ● Interview by Nicholas Norbrook

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

AGRIBUSINESS The hard edges of soft commodities Volatile prices and quota decisions in Europe and China make the future unpredictable for African firms competing in the global market

Company

Country

Turnover in $bn

Top 10 Agribusiness companies Rank in Top 500

11 Bidvest Foods

South Africa

7.9

44 Cevital

Algeria

3.3

60 Tiger Brands

South Africa

2.6

69 Flour Mills of Nigeria

Nigeria

96 Société Marocaine des Tabacs*

Morocco

2 1.6

97 Pioneer Foods Group

South Africa

1.6

108 Tongaat Hulett Group

South Africa

1.5

126 Illovo Sugar

South Africa

1.3

142 Groupe SIFCA*

Côte d'Ivoire

1.1

168 AFGRI*

South Africa

0.9

2013 results; *in italics 2012 results

in 2014. It blamed the results on Namibian fishing quotas. The firm hired Barclays and Investec to examine a separate listing of its food services division on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange but unexpectedly dropped the plans in November 2014, saying it would not be in shareholders’ best interests. In 2011, it also abandoned plans for a listing of the foods division on the London Stock Exchange. TIGER LOSES ITS BITE DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

frica’s agribusiness sector remains one of unfulfilled promise. Turnover continues to be buoyant, but firms are still struggling to break into lucrative global value chains. Outside of South Africa, the continent has yet to create many strong companies, despite Africa’s many advantages in the sector. The 42 agribusiness firms included in this year’s Top 500 earned $38bn in 2013, with South Africa’s Bidvest Foods (#11) the standout sector leader in terms of revenue – $7.9bn – but pushed into second place in terms of profits by Algeria’s Cevital (#44), which banked $381.9m compared to Bidvest’s $238m. The last year has been one of consolidation for many of Africa’s

Sugar prices are still in the doldrums with little hope of a recovery

1/3

China has slashed its cotton import quota for 2015 by a third to 894,000tn

agribusiness firms, with slow but steadyprogressbeinghamperedby volatile commodity prices. Sugar prices continued to struggle in 2014followingadismal2013,when prices fell for a third consecutive year owing to cheap exports from Brazil and Southeast Asia. Zambia, Zimbabweand Uganda are also braced for continued price pressure ahead of sugar production quotas ending in the EU in 2017. Some analysts argue that this could ultimately lead to the EU becoming a net exporter of white sugar, with the capability to export around 2m tonnes per annum. The Bidvest Group (#4), which owns Bidvest Foods, is no longer going to spin off its food business after announcing disappointing first-quarter earnings for the group

In Algeria, Cevital is expanding its reach and announced in December 2014 that it will purchase a 15% stake in drinks manufacturer NCA-Rouiba worth around €4m ($4.7m), the largest ever block share purchase in the history of the Algerian stock market. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Tiger Brands (#60) seems to have lost its appetite for acquisitions following its 2012 purchase of Nigeria’s Dangote Flour Mills. Since buying a majority stake in the firm, Tiger has written off the $73m premium paid for the company plus a further $9m against the value of the company’s assets. It has shuttered two of the flour firms mills and is running at 40% of capacity. West Africa’s cotton producers will likely see prices tumble further after Beijing’s decision to slash imports by a third in 2015, while rubber, palm oil and coffee are also set to suffer from a glut of production – something that might hit Ivorian company Groupe SIFCA (#142)’s performance. ●

THE AFRICA REPORT

Charlie Hamilton •

N ° 67

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F E B R UA R Y 2 015

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BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

TRANSPORT A smoother ride beckons by air, land or sea Growing economies and infrastructure rollouts are supporting the transportation sector, with airlines and logisticians jostling for position

urnover for the transport companies in our Top 500 companies reached $33.5bn in this year. This represented a meagre turnover growth of 2.9%, however. Companies in the air transport sector are primed to record still lower turnover in the 2014financialyearowingtotheimpact of Ebola and other problems that affected the tourism industry. But it’s not all bad news: sea and land transport companies are set to profit from new port, railway and highway projects under development in East and West Africa. Companies in the transport sector recorded some of the broadest swings in this Top 500. South Africa’s Grindrod (#109) dropped 60 places as its turnover dropped by 53.6% in 2013, but a large part of that reduction in turnover is due to

150 Ethiopian Airlines expects to double its fleet of jetliners to 150 planes by 2025 SOURCE: ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Ethiopian Airlines

99,543

South African Airways

87,480

Kenya Airways

73,010

Royal Air Maroc

50,544

EgyptAir

42,948

Tunisair

25,464

Libyan Airlines

23,684

ASKY Airlines

19,934

Arik Air

18,102

RwandAir

16,637

Company

Country

Turnover in $bn

Top 10 transport companies Rank in Top 500

10 Imperial Holdings

South Africa

26 Transnet

South Africa

8.8 5.4

27 Suez Canal Authority

Egypt

5.3

43 Transnet Freight Rail

South Africa

3.3

47 South African Airways*

South Africa

3.2

71 Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopia

85 EgyptAir Airlines*

Egypt

88 Royal Air Maroc

Morocco

1.7

South Africa

1.5

South Africa

1.3

109 Grindrod 125 Transnet Rail Engineering

2 1.7

2013 results; *in italics 2012 results

the weakening of the South African rand compared to the US dollar, the currency used to calculate our rankings. On the other hand, Morocco’s Office National des Aéroports (#363) rose 95 places with a 53.7% growth in turnover in 2013 as traffic numbers rose by 9.2% across the country’s airports. BIGGER FOOTPRINTS

South Africa is home to most of the continent’s largest transportation companies, and many of them are spreading out into other African countries. Logistics firm Imperial Holdings (#10) bought a 49% stake in Nigeria’s MDS in May 2013 to gain a foothold in that market. State-owned logistics and freight company Transnet (#26) plans to use a joint venture signed with China’s CSR Zhuzhou Electric Lo-

Top 10 inter-African airlines ranked by seating capacity (23-29 June 2014)

comotive in December 2014 to explore for opportunities in the rest of Africa. Santova Logistics (#405) recorded a stronger performance in 2014 than it did in 2013 due to the growing strength of its business on the continent. The company is now focusing on acquisition opportunities in East and West Africa. Most African airlines are facing financial difficulties. While South African Airways (#47) has the highest turnover among Africa’s airlines, it continues to struggle and is dependent on government bailouts and loan guarantees. It is focused on cutting costs in its longhaul operations and expanding its African networks to compete with the likes of Ethiopian Airlines (#71). “Ethiopian should surpass SAA in terms of passengers carried to become number one in Africa”, says Brendand Sobie, chief analyst of CAPA - Centre for Aviation. “It already has a larger fleet than SAA and the largest in Africa.” In 2015, the company will receive at least eight new aircraft and plans to launch a new airline in a joint venture with the government of South Sudan. EgyptAir (#85), too, is in cost-cutting mode and announced in 2014 that it may reduce its international capacity by about 10%. The state-owned company says thattourismshouldpickupin2015 and it could not come too soon, as the airline lost nearly $1.5bn between the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011 and mid-2014. ● Marshall Van Valen

SOURCE: CAPA & OAG THE AFRICA REPORT

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ADVERTORIAL

Fitch Ratings’ Africa Connection ion By Fabrice Toka, Office Head, Business & Relationship Management, Sub-Saharan Africa

itch Ratings’ connection with Africa goes back over 20 years. In 1994 we were the first international credit rating agency to establish an office in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in Johannesburg, and also the first to rate South Africa.

Fast forward to 2015 and our African rating universe now covers over 170 issuers with international and national scale ratings across a diverse range of sovereigns, local governments, financial institutions, corporates, project finance and structured finance. This spans 21 sovereigns including new ratings for Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia last year, major banks like Standard Bank, Ecobank, Attijariwafa Bank and First Bank of Nigeria, large and household corporate names such as Eskom, MTN and OCP, regional institutions such as the African Development Bank and water projects in South Africa. Africa is a fast-growing market. Attracting investment, both locally and internationally, is an essential part of Africa’s broader development strategy. Fitch’s intimate understanding of African economies provides investors with the context and insight necessary to help make credit decisions. From an investor point of view, ratings provide a commonly understood benchmark and an objective opinion on creditworthiness. Furthermore, some institutional investors have policies in place that do not allow them to invest in non-rated securities.

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BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

MINING

Company

Country

17 De Beers Consolidated Mines*

South Africa

24 Office Chérifien des Phosphates Morocco

Digging for a silver lining From gold to platinum and iron ore, low commodity prices are undermining the profitability of Africa’s metal producers

Turnover in $bn

Rank in Top 500

Top 10 mining companies

6.1 5.7

25 AngloGold Ashanti

South Africa

5.5

28 Kumba Iron Ore

South Africa

5.2

30 Anglo American Platinum Corp.

South Africa

52 Gold Fields

South Africa

2.9

55 Impala Platinum Holdings

South Africa

2.9

80 Kansanshi Mining

Zambia

1.8

104 Lonmin

South Africa

1.5

106 Harmony Gold Mining Co.

South Africa

1.5

2013 results; *in italics 2012 results

PIPE DREAM

Gold Fields (#52) and Harmony Gold (#106), AngloGold’s South African rivals, are in better shape. Gold Fields has benefited from lower operating costs, with a reported break-even point of $1,050/oz in 2014, and its executives say that

VINCENT FOURNIER/JA

hina’s slowdown, and growth concerns elsewhere, have driven down many commodity prices and contributed to the poor performance of mining companies in this year’s Top 500 ranking. The firms in our survey recorded a drop in turnover of 6.2% from 2012 to 2013, reaching $58.1bn. China’s continued growth slowdown in 2014 and the strengthening of the US dollar brought another year of weak performances that are set to continue in most mining sub-sectors throughout 2015. Gold prices dropped from more than $1,600/oz in January 2013 to $1,200/oz in January 2015, leaving companies scrambling. Chief amongst them is AngloGold Ashanti (#25), which was looking for a plan to reduce its $3bn in debt in September 2014. Shareholders rejected a plan for a split into two companies, and the company plan now is to sell off some of its assets and look for partners to take on stakes in some projects, like the Obuasi mine in Ghana. Chief executiveSrinivasanVenkatakrishnan’s goal is to reduce AngloGold’s debt by $1bn over the next three yearsbyincreasingproductionand cutting production costs.

If diamonds shine in Gaborone, phosphates are Morocco’s best friend

SOURCE: DEBEERS DIAMOND INSIGHT REPORT 2014

145 m carats Global rough diamond production in 2013, a fall of 17% since 2005

they plan to acquire a new mining propertyin2015duetothetroubles faced by other companies. “There were several key themes in 2014, one being iron ore falling off a cliff. That has profoundly affected Anglo American, Kumba Iron Ore and others, obviously African Minerals,” explains Jeremy Wrathall, head of global natural resources at financial services company Investec. “It also had a profound effect on all of the so-called new African iron ore hubs – particularly Sierra Leone and Guinea. It is in a way a pipe dream now because all those guys are highcost producers,” says Wrathall. The arrival of low-cost production from Brazil and Australia continues to keep prices low.

Iron ore prices dropped about 40% in 2014 and caused instability, with smaller companies in the exploration and early production phasesfacingdifficulty.SierraLeonefocused London Mining went into administrationinOctober2014and the Timis Corporation took over its Marampa mine. Kumba Iron Ore (#28), owned by Anglo American, reported in November 2014 that it expects its yearly earnings to drop by at least R3bn ($255.9m). The downward price trend has not delayed its expansion plans, however. It targets production at its Sishen project of 37m tonnes per annum by 2016. South Africa’s platinum industry was weakened by a five-month strike in 2014. Throughout that

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TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES BUSINESS

period, the platinum price continued to drop, shedding 20% of its value between March 2013 and November 2014. South Africa and Russia, the world’s two largest producers, are organising an industry conference in 2015 to bolster its prospectsanddebatehowtomaintain price stability. Shaken by the strike, Anglo American Platinum (#30) decided to embark on a campaign to shed its less profitable mines and focus on properties that require less labour. The company is currently trying to offload four of its mines. There are continued signs of difficulty ahead for the firm. Anglo American chief executive Mark Cutifani says the company’s goal is to make its mines profitable with a platinum price at $1,500/oz, but the price was hovering around $1,200/oz in December 2014. “We think the platinum industry is facing severe headwinds going forward, with the amount of recycled material that is coming onto the market and the costs of mining in South Africa just going through the roof,” says Investec’s Wrathall. LONMIN CUTS BACK

Platinum miner Lonmin (#104) is also feeling the pain and reported a pre-tax loss of $326m for its year to end 30 September 2014. As a result, Lonmin cut back its 2014 investment budget by $150m and announced that it expected stagnant production of about 750,000oz between 2014 and 2017. Asteadilydroppingcopperprice since 2011 and higher mining royalties in Zambia have dampened prospects for First Quantum’s Kansanshi Mining (#80). First Quantum suspended plans for $1bn in investment in Zambia in mid-2014 as it awaited the government’s tax deliberations. Diamond mining is one of the few sub-sectors to benefit from higher prices. In late 2014, De Beers (#17) told consumers to expect carats to become more costly because there are no major world-class discoveries and demand for jewellery continues to rise among the growing middle classes of China and India. ● Marshall Van Valen THE AFRICA REPORT

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PROFILE

Office Chérifien des Phosphates Phosphate producer, Morocco

Fertile ground for growth

ith exclusive access OCP’s fertiliser sales rose 63% in the to the largest phosphate third quarter of 2014 compared to the resources on the planet, same period in 2013, representing 1.5m state-owned Office tonnes sold. The company’s management Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP, #24) says that the vertical integration strategy is a leading exporter of fertiliser, producing of selling both phosphates and fertiliser 18.5m tonnes per year of phosphates. is what is driving results. The company’s management hopes to consolidate OCP’s leadership position with OCP’s investment programme a Dh140bn ($15bn) investment programme. should help if prices continue to drop. Though its 150 international clients For example, in April 2014 the company are based in the developed world, OCP inaugurated a 235km slurry pipeline is turning its focus to emerging markets, that runs from the mines around Khouribga including Africa. In March 2014, the group to the port of Jorf Lasfar. “The slurry announced a partnership with Gabon’s pipeline is helping us progressively reduce government to exchange phosphates our transportation costs, and the ongoing for gas at a shared cost of $2bn. The progress of our investment plan is company says that new plants in Morocco strengthening our cost advantages as and Gabon will generate 2m tonnes we realise economies of scale and increase of fertiliser, an amount that could cover our production volume,” says Terrab. at least 30% of the continent’s needs. At full capacity, the pipeline should save In February 2014 OCP announced plans the company $100m per year. to build a plant dedicated to Africa-focused The group is aiming for annual exports in the port of Jorf Lasfar. The production of 38m tonnes by 2025, thanks project costs $600m, entirely financed to the pipeline and the opening of a fifth with the company’s own funds. OCP says that OCP raised $1.55bn in its debut it doubled the volume international bond issue in May – of its exports to Africa from September 2013 a record for an African company to September 2014. OCP is counting on the local market for mine. Alongside these goals, OCP wants growth too. The government’s agricultural to raise its market share for fertilisers from plan, called Maroc Vert (Green Morocco), 22% now to 40% in five years. calls for fertiliser use to increase from Global investors have endorsed OCP’s 900,000tn in 2013 to 2m tonnes in 2020. plans. In May, the company raised $1.25bn in 10-year bonds at 5.75% and $300m OCP has maintained its profitability, of 30-year paper at 7.37%. This was OCP’s even as phosphate rock prices dropped debut international bond, and the first from about $200/tn in late 2011 to around time an African company has raised money $100/tn in 2014. “We succeeded in at this level. optimising our fertiliser sales and have OCP is also expanding its reach witnessed an increase in our turnover. We overseas. In June 2014, it announced have substantially improved our phosphate that it would spend $65m for a 10% stake fertiliser market share these past years, in Fertilizantes Heringer, Brazil’s thirdand the investments we made to improve largest seller of fertiliser. OCP said the our efficiency and our production capacity money raised by the deal would allow will only confirm our position in the global the Brazilian company to increase its phosphates market,” says Mostafa Terrab, production capacity. Last year, OCP also president and chief executive of OCP. signed a sale agreement with PostashCorp Appointed in 2006, Terrab has overseen to export to the North American market. ● OCP’s modernisation and expansion. Nadia Rabbaa in Casablanca

F E B R UA R Y 2 015

BUSINESS TOP 500 AFRICAN COMPANIES

OIL & GAS Up and down the price roller coaster

Country

1 Sonatrach

Algeria

67.8

2 Sonangol

Angola

40.1

20 Samir

Morocco

5.9

34 Total South Africa*

South Africa

3.9

35 Naftal*

Algeria

3.8

37 Middle East Oil Refineries

Egypt

3.6

46 Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage* Côte d'Ivoire

High prices boosted new acquisitions in Nigeria in 2014, but the subsequent fall could freeze many African investment projects he days of high oil prices maybeover.Aftershedding more than 50%, the price of a barrel of oil briefly dropped below $50 in early January 2015. Such a move will have serious consequencesforinvestment.Two factors will keep the pressure on: the decision by Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production levels, and the strengthening US dollar. Marginal plays, such as shale reserves in North Africa, will be hit. This will complicate life for the lead company in our ranking of Africa’s Top 500 companies, Sonatrach (#1). Production levels at the Algerian state-owned oil company have stagnated in recent years, but there was interest in the country’s licensing round in late 2014. Sonatrach’s new commitments may now be in jeopardy. As indeed may be the $100bn in investment it announced in July 2014 to boost oil and gas production by 15% over the next five years.

Company

Turnover in $bn

Top 10 Oil & Gas companies Rank in Top 500

3.2

54 Sonelgaz

Algeria

2.9

56 Oando

Nigeria

2.8

Morocco

2.1

68 Afriquia SMDC*

2013 results; *in italics 2012 results

Nevertheless, should Russia’s international belligerence continue, the EU market will remain an attractive target for Sonatrach. Of particular concern, however, are the indigenous oil companies that recently emerged to much fanfare in Nigeria. As Western oil majors sold off smaller onshore On 7 January assets in 2014, local players got oil prices their hands on significant acredipped below age, such as the $2.7bn acquisi$50 for the first tion of Shell’s block OML 29 by a time since 2009. consortium including Aiteo and Weak prices Taleveras, and Oando (#56)’s purput increasing chase of ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian pressure on assets for $1.5bn in July 2014. petrochemical firms’ NIGERIAN COMPANIES SWEAT profitability They may have paid over the odds, andsomefirmsmaystruggletopay SOURCE: BLOOMBERG back loans due to lower oil prices. Thoughthecompaniesannounced planstoboostproduction,willthey have the spare cash to do it? If not, 2015 could see a shake-out in the sector, with banks already nervous. National oil companies have struggled with declining demand

49 .92 dollars

from the US, whose own shale oil revolution has helped crash prices. Nigeria stopped sending cargoes to the US altogether in May 2014. Along with other exporters scrambling for new markets in the East, Angola’s state-owned Sonangol (#2) has been most active in courtingChina.InDecember2014,Sonangol announced that the China Development Bank will lend it $2bn over 10 years. The company plans to begin the construction of a refinery with the capacity to produce 200,000 barrels per day at Lobito this year. Refiners such as Morocco’s Société Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie du Raffinage (#20) and Egypt’s Middle East Oil Refineries (#37) are rejoicing at the news of the black gold’s slump. Morocco in particular – with no crude oil production of its own – has had a difficult time dealing with expensive petrol. Margins for refiners in 2015 should be much improved. ● Nicholas Norbrook

The rise of Nigeria’s local oil companies (company turnover in thousands of US$)

5,000,000 4,000,000

Oando Forte oil Seplat

3,000,000

Conoil

Geneva 16-17 March

Consolidation, mergers and aquisitions are key themes of the AFRICA CEO FORUM 2015 www.theafricaceoforum.com

2,000,000 1,000,000 0

2009

2010

2011

2012

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SOURCE: JEUNE AFRIQUE TOP 500 COMPANIES

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PASCAL PERICH FOR TAR

aim high, then fly Jackson Mvunganyi started life in a refugee camp in Uganda. His voice is now heard across the continent as he hosts Up Front from Washington DC

y family is from Rwanda. They moved to Uganda before I was born. They walked hundreds of miles with many others to build a new life in a place they hoped would welcome them. I spent the first few years of my life in a refugee camp. We rarely had enough to eat, and there wasn’t much space to play. Still, I was with my family, and this was enough. When I was old enough to start school my parents sent me to Kampala to live with my older sister. All my life I had been told that Rwanda was the land of milk and honey, a place of endless opportunity. I missed Rwanda even though I had never been there. I finally went to Rwanda when I was 18 to go to college. This was a few years after the genocide. The Rwanda I had learned about no longer existed. No one was singing the songs my parents had taught me. The buildings and trees looked different than I expected. And of course the country was rebuilding. But there were many opportunities. I often listened to the local radio station after class, and I noticed that the newsreaders sometimes mangled certain English words. My English was very good as I had spent much of my childhood reading African literature. One day I went to the radio station and told the producer that I could read better than anyone there. He laughed at me and asked me to leave, but a few days later he invited me to try out for the newsreader position. He gave me the job.

I moved to Washington DC in 2000 to continue my education. I took a bachelor’s degree from American University, and a master’s from the University of Maryland. Shortly after graduation I applied for a job with the Voice of America. When they called me in for an interview I decided to give them my pitch as well. I had an idea for a show that would reach a younger generation of listeners. They hired me and accepted my pitch. A few months after I started, Up Front was born. I interview a variety of people each day. From prominent politicians to writers to artists to everyday Africans who simply want their voices to be heard. The reason I love my job so much is because I’m able to hear from Africans from across the continent. We reach an audience of 50 million in Africa each week, and we are influencing many policy conversations.

when we are leaders Because Up Front is devoted to the concerns of the youth of Africa, each day I hear about the things that ail us, the ways in which our leaders might improve. Each day, too, I have an opportunity to hear about what the future of Africa might be. Once we become the leaders. Because of the show, I often speak to students at universities around the US. And, as you can imagine, a lot of my work happens online, where I gather questions for the show and topics for future conversations. President Obama is one of my followers on Twitter! I hope I can use the show as a platform to continue to lobby on behalf of Africa diaspora causes. I also hope I can inspire young immigrants to aspire for more. I am very proud of the show. I love what I am doing, and I see myself doing this for a while. As for the future...who knows? Anything can happen. ● Interview by Tope Folarin THE AFRICA REPORT

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