The combined sales of half a thousand companies in the Central and Eastern Europe region totaled 740 billion euros last year, an increase of 5.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Coface Top 500 credit insurer. When compiling the list, Coface professionals take into account not only sales revenue but also data such as number of employees, company structure, characteristics of economic sectors and individual markets, and the internal creditworthiness ratio of the credit insurance company. Thus, the CEE Top 500 gives a representative picture of the economic performance of the region as a whole.
1.48 billion euros per person
“In the past year, most CEE companies have benefited from a favorable economic environment – and this is especially true for companies in export-oriented countries,” said Declan Daly, CEO of Coface’s Central and Eastern Europe region. The average sales of the top 500 companies started 1.48 One billion euros in 2019, up from nearly 1.4 billion the previous year. This corresponds to a 6 percent increase. Three-quarters of the listed companies have sales revenue, while 25 percent have had to post a recession or decline on an annual basis.
The first list included 163 companies from Poland, 78 from the Czech Republic and 73 from Hungary. It also means that the weight of Hungary has increased: Coface’s first list prior to the year included 71 companies based in Hungary. The number of companies in the Czech Republic increased from 60 to 78, while the number of companies in Poland decreased from 175 to 163.
Hungarian companies have performed better
The regional ranking is led by Polish oil company PKN Orlen with sales of 26.1 billion euros, ahead of Skoda Auto in the Czech Republic with sales of 18.1 billion euros and Molt of Hungary with sales of 15.9 billion euros. Coface’s listing also shows that companies in the auto, oil and gas, and trade sectors are the major players in the region, accounting for two-thirds of the combined sales of half a thousand companies.
The 73 Hungarian companies on the top list performed above average, with total sales increasing 6.3 percent, to over € 114 billion.
In the case of Hungarian companies, the average turnover per company is 1.56 billion euros, which is also a better than average result for the entire field.
Hungarian giants
After Mol, the largest Hungarian company is Volkswagen’s Gyor Automobile Factory, Audi Hungary, with 8.6 billion euros, and Legrand Hungary, which produces electrical products, is third, with sales of 6.6 billion euros. The fourth is the giant energy company, which operates the grid and deals with electricity generation, MVM, and the fifth is Robert Bosch Kft. The first closed last year with sales of 5.5 billion euros and the latter 4.6 billion euros, according to Coface’s top list.
Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing Kft. And Flextronics Kft. Wizz Air, Magyar Suzuki and Samsung Electronics are among the top ten companies in Hungary. The last five companies had sales of 3.7-2.3 billion euros in 2019.
