US companies dominate the top rankings

US companies lead the way once again in this year’s Irish Times Top 1000 Companies listing, the definitive guide to Ireland’s largest and best-performing businesses. Indeed, American companies account for no fewer than eight of this year’s top 10 and 12 of the top 20.

Apple topped the rankings once again. Shrugging off pandemic-related global supply chain disruptions and semiconductor shortages, the company grew its Irish revenues by 47 per cent to €179.9 billion for the year ended September 2021. This came on the back of the colossal growth of 54 per cent reported for the second half of 2020.

Google, Microsoft and Meta came in at no two, three and four respectively, but their Irish revenues were somewhat dwarfed by those of Cupertino iPhone maker.

Google saw its Irish revenues increase by 5.9 per cent to €48.4 billion. That figure needs to come with a health warning, however, as it relates to the company’s financial year ended December 31, 2020.

That means the increased demand for its products due to long-term home and remote working during the pandemic is not reflected. This was reflected in the company’s global results for the year ending December 31st, 2021, which saw revenue growth of 41 per cent to a new record of $256.74 billion.

Microsoft was another company to receive a pandemic boost with usage of its Teams communications and collaboration product more than doubling during the period. The company saw its Irish revenues grow by 13.5 per cent to €47.1 billion for the financial year ended on June 30th, 2021.

Closing in on the top three is the social network behemoth formerly known as Facebook. Meta has been one of the fastest moving companies on the Top 1000 for several years and climbed to fourth place in 2021 with Irish revenues of €34.3 billion. It continued that growth trajectory with stellar growth of 47 per cent for the year ended December 31st, 2020.

And it is clear that this growth is continuing with Meta announcing an increase in global revenues of 37 per cent for the year ended December 31st, 2021. It will be no surprise if there is a change in the top three in next year’s rankings.

A feature of the top 10 companies in recent years has been the inclusion of a number of American companies who made Ireland their home following acquisitions or mergers which came to be characterised as inversions in some cases. Although the great majority of these companies’ activities are conducted outside of Ireland, the fact that their global headquarters are now based here means that their global revenues and not just their Irish revenues are used for inclusion in the listing.

Takeover

Global medical technology leader Medtronic held on to sixth place in this year’s rankings following a rise in global revenue of 5.5 per cent to €24.8 billion. The company moved its headquarters to Ireland following its takeover of Covidien in 2015.

Fire and security equipment specialist Johnson Controls became Irish headquartered in 2016 following its merger with Tyco International. The company recorded global revenue of €19.2 billion, broadly unchanged from the previous year, to take seventh spot.

Intelligent power management systems manufacturer Eaton Corp is ninth in the ranking with global revenues of €17.3 billion, up 10 per cent on last year. The company established its global headquarters in Ireland following its 2013 acquisition of Cooper Industries.

Computer giant Dell completes this year’s Top 10 despite a slight dip in its Irish revenue to €12.6 billion for the year ended January 29th, 2021. The company edged out two other American companies, industrial manufacturer Trane Technologies and pharma giant MSD, to claim its place in the top 10.