The Biggest Companies in South Africa

In this article, we’ll take a look at the biggest South African companies in 2024. Firstly, we will highlight the top 10 biggest companies in South Africa by market capitalisation, before looking at the largest companies in South Africa by revenue.

The Largest Companies in South Africa by Market Cap

In the following sections, we will take a look at the top 10 biggest companies in South Africa by market cap.

1. Naspers

Naspers is currently the largest company in South Africa in terms of market capitalisation.

Naspers invests globally in internet companies around the world through its subsidiary Prosus, which itself is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam. Via Prosus, Naspers holds positions in or wholly owns Tencent, Delivery Hero, OLX, Udemy, Remitly and many other companies. Naspers also wholly owns Media24, Takealot.com and Naspers Foundry.

2. FirstRand

FirstRand Limited is the holding company of FirstRand Bank and is one of the largest financial services providers in South Africa. Besides its domestic market, FirstRand operates in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the UK and India.

3. Standard Bank Group

Standard Bank Group operates in 20 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa and has over 15 million clients. It is Africa’s largest bank in terms of assets, with R1.4 trillion of assets under management globally.

4. Capitec Bank

In fourth place in the list of the 10 biggest companies in South Africa is another bank, Capitec Bank. Founded in 2001, Capitec is the largest retail bank in South Africa in terms of customers, with 20 million active clients.

5. Gold Fields

As well as being one of the largest South African companies, Gold Fields is also one of the largest gold miners in the world. In 2023, it was the fifth largest gold mining company in the world in terms of production. Gold Fields Limited was formed in 1998 after the gold assets of Gencor and Gold Fields of South Africa were combined. It currently operates nine mines in Australia, South Africa, Ghana, Chile and Peru.

6. AngloGold Ashanti

Next up is another gold mining company, AngloGold Ashanti. AngloGold Ashanti was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. In 2023, in terms of production, it was the fourth largest gold mining company in the world, so actually larger than Gold Fields.

7. Vodacom

Vodacom is a mobile communications company, providing services to over 200 million customers throughout Africa. It is 65.1% owned by Vodafone, one of the world’s largest communications companies.

8. Sanlam

Sanlam is a financial services group which operates in 31 countries, mostly in Africa. It offers a range of products including, life insurance, wealth management, investment management and healthcare.

9. Shoprite

Shoprite is Africa’s largest supermarket retailer, with over 3,300 stores around the continent. It is the largest private sector employer in South Africa, employing more than 160,000 people.

10. MTN Group

MTN Group is a mobile telecommunications provider and is Africa’s largest mobile network provider. It provides services to 288 million customers in 18 different countries.

The Biggest Companies in South Africa by Revenue

So, now we’ve seen the top 10 biggest companies in South Africa in terms of market cap, what about in terms of revenue?

The table below shows the five largest companies in South Africa by revenue. For the purposes of this list, we are looking at revenue generated in the year ending 31 December 2023.

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