Prudentia

Nov 17, 2023

2023-11-17 Based on data from the end of 2022, the top three companies in the new TOP101 list of Estonia's most valuable companies compiled by Prudentia and Nasdaq Tallinn were Swedbank Eesti valued at 1.53 billion euros, Enefit Green valued at 1.46 billion euros and Luminor Bank valued at 1.35 billion euros. Swedbank Eesti won the TOP101 ranking both this year and last year. "A strong and responsible financial sector is especially important for economic growth when the economy is going through more difficult times. Swedbank's team of the best specialists in Estonia is a partner who understands the customer’s business and helps the customer to find the best solution. Our goal is to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, through various economic cycles," said Eero Treumann, member of the Management Board and Head of Corporate Banking of Swedbank Eesti that received the title of the most valuable company in Estonia. According to Illar Kaasik, the initiator of the TOP101 and the managing partner of Prudentia, the only company that could have competed with this year's two top-ranked companies, Swedbank Eesti and Enefit Green, was Infortar, a holding company which ranked 13th. "But only if they had managed to complete the planned IPO by the deadline of locking the ranking, and the company had been valued at more than 1.53 billion euros," he noted. For the next year, Kaasik predicts tight competition between the banking sector, renewable energy companies and new companies on the stock exchange. According to Illar Kaasik, the latest ranking reflects well what is happening in the economy of Estonia and our region, because in terms of percentage, companies operating in the transit and timber sectors have lost the most value over the year. According to Kaarel Ots, CEO of Nasdaq Baltic Stock Exchanges, both this year's TOP101 ranking and TechTOP ranking of Estonia's most valuable technology companies show that there has been a revolution in the generation of corporate value ​​and in the attitude of investors. "It seems to me that the pendulum of emotions is moving rapidly from one extreme to the other - if in the years of euphoric growth cycle the company's beautiful narrative and growth at all costs were important, today we are looking for profit. But regardless of what interest rates do or what decisions politicians make or don't make, the ambitious ideas of enterprising people and the courage to take risks will carry life forward in the future. There are mainly two options to take part in the growth that often accompanies this - start your own business or invest in them," stated Ots. According to Kaarel Ots, the TOP101 ranking of Estonia's most valuable companies differs from several business rankings compiled in Estonia by the fact that not only revenue, profit and growth numbers are taken into account: "Companies are also given clear feedback on how they are viewed and appreciated by the society, the environment and financiers. When compiling the ranking, Nasdaq Tallinn assesses the company's transparency through the Corporate Governance score, which affects the final value of the company by up to 20%," he noted. There have been changes in the 2023 TOP101 ranking in terms of sectors. The share of the real estate sector has increased by approximately 0.68 percentage points (pp), but this is likely to change in the next year’s ranking. Also the share of the sector of natural resources has increased by 0.5 pp due to high price of wood. The transport and logistic sector also increased, by 0.22 pp. One sector whose share decline was manufacturing, especially manufacturing of consumer goods (down by 0.48 pp) which includes mainly food and beverage manufacturers. The reason was that not all companies operating in the sector in the 2022 ranking made it to this year’s TOP101. Another sector that saw its share decrease was the sector of energy carriers caused by the failure of Kirde Varad (VKG) to submit its financial report. Percentagewise, the biggest growth in value in this year’s TOP101 was posted by Tavid (127%), Infortar (88%), Eften Real Estate Fund 4 (65%). The biggest decrease in value took place in UPM-Kymmene (-28%), Nord Terminals (-26%) ja Graanul Invest (-21%). The total value of the 2023 TOP101 companies amounted to 31 billion euros compared to 29.6 billion euros a year ago. In 2022 Estonia’s GDP in current prices was 36 billion euros. GDP growth in current prices was influenced by the rise in prices, while the inflation has affected the total value of Estonia’s 101 most valuable companies. The minimum value for a company to be included in the 2023 TOP101 was 84.25 million euros which is practically unchanged from the year before (84.36 million euros). Nine companies exceeded the magical one billion euros in value which is one company more than in 2022. The list of companies that did not feature in 2023 ranking include Kirde Varad (VKG), Tiigi Keskus and Circle K, since their financial reports had not been submitted by the time when the ranking was compiled (15 October 2023). Also AS Maag Grupp and AS Liviko were no longer included in the ranking. Prudentia Advisory in cooperation with Nasdaq Tallinn, has compiled the TOP101 ranking of Estonia's most valuable companies already for five years. The aim of the TOP101 ranking is to promote the Estonian capital market and highlight the contribution of Estonian entrepreneurs to the sustainability of the economy. Estonian entrepreneurs are creating new jobs and are generating the tax revenue, keeping the country running. The total value of the 101 most valuable companies and its Dynamics shows how the country's economy is doing and what may lie ahead. The full list of 2023 TOP101 Estonia’s most valuable companies is available at  www.top101.ee . Detailed presentation of the ranking including additional materials and interviews will also be published in the TOP101 section of Delfi Ärileht and in Magnaat magazine.