The economy of Deutschland is the absolute leader by GDP within the European Union, which in turn is the 3rd largest economic entity in the world behind China (2nd) and USA (1st). Remember this “3rd” position, it will be sort of a theme for this article.
Anyway, as such companies in Germany enjoy a large and most importantly stable economic environment. It’s no wonder then that some of the biggest German companies heavily outperform even some of the biggest oil & gas companies in the world. Though not everything is as swell in the land of poets and thinkers.
By some estimates the German economy grew by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2022, still 0.9 percent below the pre-pandemic numbers. To exasperate the problem even further, the gas & energy looming crisis can potentially hit the German markets far greater than other regions, the unclear situation with Covid in China doesn’t help the issue.
With all that said, the economic sentiment index seems to be improving nonetheless, this doesn’t mean it’s positive however, with 350 largest German companies surveyed it’s still below zero. Though judging by the state of the world in 2022, we can’t really blame them.
So, let’s put a metaphorical pin half-way through 2022 and list out companies with the highest revenue in Germany. This way we’ll get a good start point to gauge the investment opportunities next year and see how the conflict affected businesses in Germany.
Following is our list of Top 30 companies by revenue, all of the data is sourced directly from each companies’ annual reports as declared for the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021).
1. Volkswagen (VW) AG
Starting off our list, Volkswagen (VW) group is largest company in Germany, a brand known throughout the world, with many people not understanding the true scope of this corporation. With popular car brands such as Audi, Cupra, Porsche, SEA, Skoda, Lamborghini and Bentley under its belt, Volkswagen group eclipses most companies in the world. In 2020 this company ranked 7th largest in the world by most metrics.
Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, this multination automotive manufacturer recently announced its 2025 strategy to focus on electrification of its portfolio. VW Group has committed $48 billion in car battery supplies and plans to outfit 16 factories to build electric cars by the end of 2022.
Its difficult to predict however how much the fuel crisis will hit this German conglomerate, as they recently decided to settle out of court the 2015 “Dieselgate“ scandal paying out 242 million USD to UK drivers. This company is part of the companies that pulled from the Russian market which was only 2.4 percent of their total sales at the time.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions - 250.2
2. Mercedes-Benz AG
Second largest business in Germany is yet another automotive focused enterprise. Previously known as Daimler AG, Daimler-Benz and DaimlerChrysler, this German corporation is headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, yet again rebranded its name to its current one at the beginning of 2022.
Mercedes-Benz recently started investing heavily into green incentives and are claiming to be the first company to use converted polycarbonates from CO2 in its designs, in an effort to reach a fully carbon neutral fleet.
In more latest news Mercedes-Benz has announced a change in strategy with a complete overhaul in mind to put more investments in their higher-end vehicles, reducing the entry level suite of cars. Let’s see how this decision will affect them next year, for now their revenue:
FY2021 Revenue in €billions - 168
3. Uniper
Uniper SE, an energy company headquartered in Germany, Dusseldorf is a relatively new one as it was founded in 2016 by a separation from E.ON. Being one of the largest German businesses focused on fossil fuels, it has 11.000 employees spread over 40 countries, as such it has quite a clout in the German economy.
Though with the 2022 conflict still raging about, and being part of the energy crisis related industry, Uniper is by all accounts going to hit quite a few hurdles in the following years. This company was also one of the main participants in the Nord Stream 2 project with Russia which was suspended due to sanctions, an investment that will most likely go by the wayside.
In more recent news, Uniper was heavily criticized for complying with Russian demands to pay in roubles for the Russian gas. Still Russia cut its deliveries to Uniper by 25% as of writing this article.
Expect this company to go through turmoil with far more consequences entering the 2023.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions - 163
4. Allianz
Allianz is a multinational financial services company based in Germany, Munich. The third largest insurance company according to Forbes as of 2022, not far behind its US and China competition.
Though Allianz group has shown fantastic results in 2021, there were quite a few dodgy news headlines, especially in the ending quarters of the year. With multiple fraud related probes by both the US and Germany governments, and a few related shake-ups with a number of terminations in the upper board of directors.
Not long ago this German corporation has agreed to settle their US fraud case by paying 6 billion dollars due to the collapse of its structured Alpha funds during the pandemic. In other news they also pleaded guilty in an Australian case as well.
Good thing they have quite impressive revenue results for 2021:
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 148.5
5. Aldi Group (Nord & Sud)
This is a privately owned group of companies with the same name, legally separate as of 1966 they are not open to public investments. Aldi Sud and Aldi Nord, though separate entities, have very close business ties and as such we’ve combined their revenue results, as they declare them on various sources.
Aldi group has over 10.000 discount stores in over 20 countries, these two German based corporations have been showing steady growth over the past years, expanding in multiple new markets with the latest announcements targeting Lithuania.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 128
6. Schwarz Group
Yet another privately/family-owned German based enterprise, more commonly known under the Lidl and Kaufland brands. Schwarz group is the largest European retailer and third retailer by revenue in the world, not far behind Amazon (2nd) and Walmart (1st).
With approximately 13.000 stores in over 39 countries, this German corporation has had nothing but steady growth to report over the previous years, and at least according to the news headlines, has nothing to fear going into 2023.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 125.3
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7. BMW Group
BMW otherwise known as “Bayerische Motoren Werke”, is a German multinational corporation focused on automotive industry, third one in this list. Headquartered in Germany, Munich, this corporation also owns the Rolls-Royce, Mini, and Alpina brands.
At the beginning of 2020, BMW reported a sharp drop in sales due to the pandemic and its restrictions. Though, the end of the year and subsequently the start of 2021, the company experienced steady growth and has shown exceptional results in FY2021.
Unlike many of its peers, this German business doesn’t seem to invest heavily if at all into the greenhouse incentives or energy cars, we shall see how it affects them going forward.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 111.2
8. Deutsche Telekom
This German based business is the largest telecommunications company in Europe, and it’s headquartered in Bonn, Germany. Operating in my European countries, it is far more recognizable under the T-Mobile brand.
Though publicly owned and traded, the German government holds almost 1/6th stake in the company. Deutsche Telekom has a wide portfolio of assets all over the world in telecom companies across Europe under a large variety of names.
Like many companies on our list, Deutsche Telekom is considered the third largest business in its market, not far behind its US based counterparts.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 108.8
9. Deutsche Post DHL Group
Headquartered in Germany, Bonn, this multinational package and delivery company, is the largest mail and parcel delivery service in Europe and second the world behind UPS.
With more than 1.6 billion parcels per year, this German based corporation has seen a sharp growth due to the pandemic and thus heavier reliance on package delivery in general.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 81.7
10. Bosch Group
Another privately owned German multinational company working in Engineering and Technology. It is headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany, and has been hitting the news headlines with various low to mid-level sized acquisitions in the previous couple of years.
This is either a diversification strategy or their planning for something specific, only time will tell.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 78.7
11. BASF
As the largest chemical producer in the world, 4 years in a row, it’s based in Germany, BASF is working on technologies that will help it go green as fast as possible.
It is testing renewable energy–powered electric heaters in steam crackers, as opposed to fossil-fuelled furnaces, and it plans to use electrolysis to generate hydrogen.
Overall, BASF has been able to avoid most of the hurdles in the past years and has show only steady growth, hopefully this remains the trend for the future years.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 78.6
12. E.ON
E.ON is a European electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It runs one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. Operating in over 30 countries, it boasts an impressive 33 million customers.
This German company essentially birthed another company further up the list – Uniper, back in 2016, separating its fossil fuel division into a separate company.
A story where the child company overshadows its parent.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 77.4
13. Munich Re
A German multinational company, covering the insurance market, is based in Munich; it is one of the world's leading reinsurers. As such this company works primarily with insurance companies, as it assures their own risks and provides comprehensive advice on business matters.
Its subsidiary company and main insurance branch which deals with normal clients in called ERGO group, their combined revenue is calculated in our list.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 69.3
14. EnBW-Energie Baden
EnBW is a publicly traded energy company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany. Another European company that heavily invests in its future and renewable green sources of energy. At least as declared by their 2025 strategy going further.
This German corporation has recently been on every investor’s news as it has shown the largest share price growth in the past five years – their shares have grown by 318%. As such their shareholders have received quite hefty dividends. However, it will be interesting to see how this German energy supplier deals with the looming energy crisis.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 67
15. Siemens AG
As one of the largest industrial manufacturers in Europe, this German multinational conglomerate is headquartered in Munich. Its main markets are Industry, Energy and Healthcare, as well as Infrastructure & Cities.
The corporation is a prominent maker of medical diagnostics equipment and its medical health-care division, which generates about 12 percent of the corporation's total sales, is its second-most profitable unit, after the industrial automation division.
The company also completely severed business ties with any Russian operations after February 2022.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 62.3
16. AUDI AG
Commonly referred to as Audi, this German company is yet another automotive manufacturer on our list, making heavy emphasis on luxury vehicles. Though it is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group listed above, it is its most profitable asset and as such, if viewed under the lens of a separate company it is in our top 20 companies.
Recently Audi has made public their plans to continue expanding into the Chinese market, hence expect this German business to climb the ranks in the future lists.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 53
17. Merck KGaA
Commonly known as Merck, this German multinational science and technology company is headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 57,000 employees and is present in over 66 countries.
The company is divided into three business lines: Healthcare, Life Sciences and Electronics. This German corporation was instrumental during the pandemic as it participated heavily in the mRNA vaccine technologies & improvements to such.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 48.7
18. Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn is the National railway company of Germany, it is headquartered in Berlin. This German company describes itself as the second-largest transport company in the world, after the German postal and logistics company Deutsche Post DHL group we discussed previous. It is also the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe.
The company generates about half of its total revenue from operating rail transport. The other half of the business comprises the further transport and logistics businesses, as well as various service providers.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 47
19. Bayer
One of the oldest German companies on our list, this multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. With its history stretching back to the start of the 19th century, it was instrumental in manufacturing and developing most of revolutionary medicine we take for granted today.
It continued its streak as it was naturally part of the forces arrayed to combat the 2019 Covid Pandemic.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 44.1
20. ZF Friedrichshafen
Also known as ZF Group is an American German car parts maker headquartered in Friedrichshafen. Yet another German automotive industry company.
Specialising in engineering, it is primarily known for its design, research and development, and manufacturing activities. It has recently entered a partnership with Aeva Inc for its new development of Lidar sensors, instrumental in the self-driving technology.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 38
21. Fresenius
Full name Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA; is a health care company based in Germany, in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. It supplies products and services for dialysis, in hospitals and inpatient and outpatient medical care. The company engages in hospital management and in engineering and services for medical centres and other health care facilities.
Though very recently, in March, the company announced a massive merger with “InterWell health and Cricket health” to form a completely new entity. So, expect the new company to replace Fresenius in our next year’s list!
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 37
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22. Thyssenkrupp group
A German multinational conglomerate with focus on industrial engineering and steel production. This corporation is considered among the largest producers of steel in the world and 2nd largest in Europe after ArcelorMittal. With 12 million metric tonnes of crude steel produced in 2021, Thyssenkrupp group can boast quit an economic success-story.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 34
23. Continental
And yet another automotive manufacturing company from Germany. This German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company specializing in brake systems, interior electronics, automotive safety, powertrain and chassis components, tachographs, tires and other parts for the automotive and transportation industries.
With multiple brands under its umbrella, If you’re into cars and want reliable tires, then you’ve most likely heard or even use Continental tires, whether you know it or not.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 33.8
24. SAP
Our first software company on our list, SAP is a German corporation based in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg that develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. One of its most notorious products would be their Enterprise Resource Management system.
Recently SAP announced the formation of the joint venture SAP Fioneer, a dedicated Financial Services Industry (FSI) Unit between SAP and investment company Dediq GmbH. It will be interesting to see what this venture leads to, but for now here’s their revenue:
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 27.8
25. Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. This German enterprise has enjoyed quite a fruitful couple of decades with consistent acquisitions through the years with the latest one in March 2021.
Hapag-Lloyd announced the acquisition of Nile Dutch Investments B.V., a leading container service provider to and from West Africa. The company then showed remarkable results and growth, though it remains to be seen how the company weathers the new sanction locked world.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 26.4
26. Deutsche Bank
German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank's network spans 58 countries with a large presence in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
The company is a universal bank with four major divisions: Investment Bank, Corporate Bank, Private Bank and Asset Management. In the beginning of the year Deutsche Bank sold about $4 billion of holdings seized in the implosion of Archegos Capital Management in a private deal to emerge unscathed after Archegos defaulted on margin loans.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 25.4
27. Metro AG
Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership only cash and carry stores primarily under Metro brand. Though the company has shown impressive results in recent years, unlike most of its Western competitors, this German enterprise has been slow to announce any divestments or scaling back of its operations in Russia, drawing criticism.
We shall see how this action, or better said inaction affects them next year.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 24.7
28. RWE Group
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. The company is the world's number two in offshore wind power and Europe's third largest in renewable energy.
Following the purchase of E.ON's renewables business and nuclear electricity generation assets, RWE is expected to become Europe's third-largest renewable energy provider behind Spain's Iberdrola and Italy's Enel.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions - 24.5
29. Ceconomy
Ceconomy AG is an international retail company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ceconomy operates more than 1,000 consumer electronics stores in twelve countries. In addition to MediaMarkt and Saturn, the group owns Deutsche Technikberatung.
The company is relatively new in grander scheme of things as it was previously part of Metro AG. Ever since 2017 Ceconomy and Metro have been independent sister companies.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 21.4
30. Adidas
Adidas is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach in 1924. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike.
The recent history of this German business has been patchy with various scandals and racism related allegations, though this has not stopped it to have an impressive turnover in 2021.
FY2021 Revenue in €billions – 21.2
