Key Takeaways:
$276 billion in revenue recorded, increasing 11% from the previous year, with 70% of companies seeing growth
Private financiers decline, builders rebound despite input costs
Hancock Prospecting, Visy, CBH Group top the list, with new entrant Virtual Gaming Worlds moving to 6th
New South Wales & Victoria account for 63% of total revenue, Western Australia’s growth continues
Introduction
IBISWorld Australia’s Top 500 Private Companies list for 2022 ranks Australian enterprises by annual revenue from the past financial year. Derived from primary research and our database of 5,000 enterprises, the list provides an overview of companies’ consolidated revenue figures, employee numbers and primary operating industries. Estimated figures based on industry and peer analysis, as well as historical data are included to populate the list.
To qualify for the list, companies must be Australian-owned private businesses, including partnerships, co-operatives, associations and non-listed public companies. Government bodies, majority foreign-owned companies and companies majority owned by a listed company are excluded from the list.
The Top 500 – Year on Year
The companies on the 2022 Top 500 Private Companies List present an average revenue figure of $553.4 million, while 2021’s list averaged $495.8 million. Together, the Top 500 companies for 2022 account for a total of $276.7 billion, an 11.6% increase on the 2021 list’s total revenue of $247.9 billion. Over 75% of companies on the list this year demonstrated revenue growth, while last year this figure was only around 60% of companies.
Flourishing at the top of the list for the third consecutive year is Hancock Prospecting, with an estimated revenue figure of $18.9 billion, supported by rising iron ore prices and strong performances within the mineral exploration and cattle farming sectors. Hancock Prospecting’s 2021-22 revenue figure reflects an estimated increase of 11.7% from 2020-21.
Notable Performers
A notable entry to this year’s list is Spaceframe Buildings, ranked at 404. Engaged in commercial and industrial building construction services, the company’s revenue surged by 80.1% to $176.7 million in 2021-22, making it the biggest entrant in terms of revenue growth. Other construction companies, such as SEE Group and Georgiou Group, also produced significant revenue growth. SEE Group’s revenue grew by 76.2% to $324.6 million, and Georgiou Group’s revenue grew by 48.4% to $926.1 million.
Refuelling Solutions Group, which provides fuel management and delivery services, produced revenue growth of 64.9%, to $935.7 million, earning it 61st spot on the list, fueled by high demand for diesel. Apco Service Stations, a petroleum and convenience store retailer, increased its revenue by 50.2% to $641.1 million, ranking it at 95 on the list. This trend is a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict pushing up global energy prices. Furthermore, the Adelaide-based Peregrine Corporation, which owns and operates the ‘On The Run’ brand of service stations and a fuel distribution business, ranked 7 on the list, once again as South Australia’s largest Australian-owned private enterprise.
Other notable companies with significant growth in revenue for the 2021-22 financial year include Bisley, which grew by 59.3% to $147.4 million; Davidson Group, which grew by 49.3% to $223.1 million, as well as AW Edwards, with the commercial construction firm more than doubling their previous years’ turnover.
Turnover Troubles
Heritage Bank, which ranked at 281 on the list, had a significant revenue decline of 20.5%, to $250.4 million in 2021-22. Despite this steep decline, Heritage Bank still maintains a strong overall financial position, with two new branches opening in New South Wales within the past financial year. Overall, it was a tough year for Australia’s privately held banks and credit unions, recording an average decline in revenue of 7.7%.
Other companies with significant declines in revenue include construction companies such as Sarah Group, which declined by 20.2% to $415.0 million; Hotondo Homes, which declined by 16.9% to $338.1 million; and Richard Crookes Constructions, which declined by 15.7% to $1.4 billion. These results are attributed to rising energy prices threatening construction activities, as well as increased input costs.
Industry Breakdown
The most represented industries in Australia, in terms of the number of Top 500 list inclusions, are:
Building Construction, which makes up just over 10% of this year’s Top 500 list, with 51 companies included and was the top performing sector in terms of total revenue, accounting for 9% of the total. Average revenue in the building construction sector was $502.3 million, with a total revenue of $25.6 billion.
While it has been a turbulent 12 months for Australia’s building industry, the larger private operators appear to have withstood increasing input costs and disrupted supply chains.
In last year’s list, revenue in the construction sector fell by 1.6% on average, rebounding to increase by 8.9% this year. However, the median tells a slightly different story, reading only a 1.9% increase. Builders operating in the Multi-Unit Apartment and Townhouse Construction industry were the most concentrated, with five companies representing 17.2% of the overall sector’s revenue. The lowest grossing of the five, Victoria-based Central Equity, was ranked at 303, while Hutchies and Meriton took spots 10 and 21, respectively.
Commercial and Industrial Building Construction firms were well represented, with 33 companies accounting for nearly half of the construction sector’s turnover. They also produced the highest revenue gains among building construction industries, with an average increase of 14.1%, while their counterparts in the House Construction industry averaged a more modest 3.9% growth, and the Multi-Unit Apartment and Townhouse Construction industry averaged a 2.0% fall. The 33 firms covered in the list employed in excess of 8,000 people, with apartment builders employing approximately half that.
Local raw material and timber wholesalers have benefitted from the construction industry’s fixed-term contracts and increased input costs, as supply chain pressures put a premium on sourcing materials from overseas. Basic material wholesalers saw an average growth of 17.4%, with Timber Wholesaling and Fabricated Wood Manufacturing firms gaining 14.9%.
New South Wales saw the strongest returns for their building industries, accounting for 41.9% of the gross revenue brought in by the building construction sector in this year’s Top 500. While Victoria had 17 entries, the most of any state, the revenue of these firms only represented 22.1% of the total.
Hutchinson Builders, better known simply as Hutchies, recorded the highest revenue for builders in the list, with the Queensland-based firm recording $2.6 billion in turnover. Meriton of New South Wales were not far behind, with $2.2 billion. Victoria’s largest builder was Hansen Yuncken, reporting just over $1.0 billion in revenue and ranking at 54.
Motor Vehicle & Motor Vehicle Parts Retailing, which contributed 33 companies to this year’s list, making up 6.6% of the 500. The average revenue for this sector was $446.9 million, with a total revenue of $14.7 billion. The average growth rate for companies in this sector was 7.4%. This sector includes the Motor Vehicle Dealers, Motorcycle Dealers, Trailer and Caravan Dealers, Motor Vehicle Parts Retailing, and Tyre Retailing industries.
Other Store-Based Retailing, which makes up 6.4% of this year’s list with 32 companies. The sector’s total revenue was $16.9 billion, with companies contributing average revenue of $528.4 million. On average, revenue for companies in this sector grew by 18.6% over the year. This sector includes a range of product retailing industries, ranging from Clothing Retailing to Department Stores to Garden Supplies Retailing.
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (Except Computer System Design and Related Services), which contributed 31 companies to the list, totalling 6.2% of the Top 500. Companies in this sector generated an average revenue of $695.2 million, producing 10.5% more on average than the past year. Total revenue from this sector was $21.6 billion. Industries in this sector range from Accounting Services to Environmental Science Services to Professional Photographic Services.
Food Product Manufacturing, which made up 4.8% of the Top 500 list this year. These 24 companies had an average revenue of $540.8 million, growing at 0.8% on average, and a total revenue of $13.0 billion.
In the past year, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Support Services sector showed the largest growth, with companies generating 56.6% more revenue on average. The Rental and Hiring Services (Except Real Estate) sector followed with a 45.1% revenue increase on average. The Motion Picture and Sound Recording Activities sector had the largest revenue decline, with companies losing an average of 19.4%. The sector with the second-largest fall was Furniture and Other Manufacturing, with revenue declining by 8.4% on average.
The highest performing sector was Metal Ore Mining, with only one company making the list, list topper Hancock Prospecting. The Warehousing and Storage Services sector had the second-highest average revenue, again only contributing one company: third placed CBH Group. The Pulp, Paper and Converted Paper Product Manufacturing sector was the third-highest performing sector with an average revenue of $3.5 billion and total revenue of $10.5 billion across three companies, including second placed company Visy.
State Analysis
Broken down by state, the list heavily favours the east coast. New South Wales and Victoria combined make up 67.6% of the list and 63.0% of the list’s revenue, correlating to the country’s major population centres. Despite having the third most entries on the list, Queensland falls short of Western Australia in terms of revenue.
Western Australia has the highest average revenue of all the states, in part due to it hosting the list’s number one entry, Hancock Prospecting, which in itself has more than double the revenue of second place Visy. Victoria may have the second most entries in the list and the second highest percentage of revenue, but its average revenue only exceeds Tasmania’s due to the spread of entries throughout the list.
The Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania make up six and seven entries respectively, and together account for less than 2.0% of the list’s total revenue.
New South Wales’s three top performing companies all generated over 100% growth in the last financial year, with the top performer, Multigate Medical Products, increasing its revenue by 273.4%. The only other company to grow its revenue by over 100% was Victoria’s Texco Construction (Vic), which grew by 149.0% over the period.
Only New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory’s top growers are within the top 100 companies by total revenue, with none of the other states’ top performers placing above 356th. At the other end of the scale, New South Wales holds three of the list’s four worst performers, with their total revenue falling by as much as 33.7%.
Companies in the Commercial and Industrial Building Construction industry top Queensland and Victoria for top performers, but the industry is absent from the top of the overall list. New South Wales, the state with the highest total revenue, holds two of the top 10 companies, while three of the state’s top four companies participate in the Accounting Services industry and it is the only state to show such a bias towards one industry or sector.
Victoria contains the list’s 2nd place company, Visy, which generated nearly double the total revenue of the state’s next highest company. Despite this difference, Victoria hosts three of the list’s top 10 companies. Western Australia also holds three companies in the list’s top 10, but most of its total revenue is generated by Hancock Prospecting.
Conclusion
For 30 years, IBISWorld has compiled the Top 500 Private Companies of Australia, and few have been as eventful as of late. While the full effects of world-wide inflation, the Russia Ukraine conflict and rising interest rates are still to come, these Australian enterprises remain well poised to overcome these challenges.
