Victoria’s rich list: Visy, Transurban, Coles, Country Road among top ranking companies
Victoria’s top performing companies have been revealed, featuring packaging and recycling giant Visy, toll road operator Transurban and fashion retailer Country Road. See the full list.
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Victoria’s fashion heavyweights are on the rise, with Cettire, Country Road, and Uniqlo Australia all strutting up the ranks of the state’s rich list in style.
But it was no match for Melbourne-headquartered mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP, which took out the two top spots of Victoria’s top performing companies, driven by staggering revenues and steady year-on-year growth.
Rio Tinto took the crown, overtaking BHP from last year, with revenue totalling $91.9bn.
Closely behind was BHP raking in $86.3bn, according to a report by market research and analysis company IBISWorld revealing the state’s highest-earning private and public businesses in FY24.
Both saw increases compared to the previous financial year, increasing by 2.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.
They also topped the overall list of the top 1000 highest earning businesses in Australia and New Zealand, closely followed by Woolworths and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, both based in New South Wales.
Other businesses with their headquarters in Victoria that made the top ten in Australia and New Zealand were banking corporations ANZ and NAB with $65bn and $62.1bn in revenue respectively, both soaring by around 20 per cent.
Supermarket giant Coles – which has recently come under scrutiny from regulators and the public for allegations of misleading pricing practices – came in tenth, with $43.8bn, or a 7.6 per cent increase.
ASX-listed clothing retailer, Cettire, was the biggest mover on Victoria’s list, climbing 317 places to 645. Its revenue also skyrocketed by 78 per cent to $747m.
Other Victoria-based clothing retailers to move up the list included Country Road, which shot up 181 places to 450 and Uniqlo Australia, which jumped 67 places to 695.
Country Road, known for its minimalist clothing and homewares, brought in $1.1bn in revenue, and Uniqlo Australia, the Australian arm of the Japanese clothing brand which has seen a surge in popularity among youth, raked in $690m.
IBISWorld senior industry analyst Matthew Reeves said the motor vehicle sector also had some “notable movers”.
Nissan Motor Co rose 125 places to 184, BMW climbed 44 places to 223, both bringing in over $2.5bn in revenue.
Suzuki Australia made the list at 962, after missing out the previous year, with a more modest $447m in revenue.
Carsales.com also surged 149 places to 460 on the list, and Geelong car dealership Rex Gorrel Family Group jumped 64 places to 877.
Despite the negative conditions for housing construction, Mr Reeves said there were some outliers that saw significant growth.
Carlisle Homes skyrocketed 314 places up the list to 561, and Creation Homes climbed 100 places to 665.
Other notable Victorian businesses to make the list include packaging and recycling giant Visy which came in 17th in Victoria with $9.9bn in revenue.
Founded by the late ‘cardboard king’ Richard Pratt and now led by his son Anthony Pratt, the company has consistently topped the list of Victoria’s largest private businesses in recent years.
Australia’s biggest toll road operator Transurban cemented itself as one of the top-earning Victorian businesses, raking in $4.5bn from Melbourne drivers last year.
Transurban runs the CityLink toll roads in Melbourne and will operate the West Gate Tunnel when it opens.
Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox’s Linfox, increased its revenue by 3.7 per cent to $3.9bn, Crown Resorts dropped slightly by 0.7 per cent to $2.7bn in revenue.
Metro Trains was closely behind with $2.5bn in revenue – a four per cent increase on the year prior.
But it wasn’t good news for other Victorian companies, Mr Reeves said, with fashion retailer Forever New dropping off the list, with revenue falling four per cent to $385.5m, below the cut-off of $402.5m.
“Malt producer Boortmalt Australia also fell off the list, recording a revenue decline of 18.2 per cent, falling to $389.7m,” he said.
“International freight forwarding company, DSV Australia dropped off the list with revenue declining 11.5 per cent to $377.1m.”
Pharmaceutical wholesaler H & H Group had the greatest revenue fall (54 per cent) on the Victorian list.
Water freight transporter ANL Container Line and pharmaceutical product manufacturer GSK Australia also copped losses, declining by 43.6 per cent and 35.4 per cent respectively.
Mr Reeves said in total Victorian companies on the list recorded just over $1 trillion in revenue – an increase of 5.7 per cent on last year.
Of Australia and New Zealand’s top 1000 private and public companies, 273 were from Victoria, only behind New South Wales with 423.
“The 27 per cent of companies from Victoria accounted for over 34 per cent of revenue, outperforming their share,” Mr Reeves said.
“Victoria is home to half of the top 10 on the list – Rio Tinto, BHP, ANZ, NAB and Coles Group – this factor helps explain its strong revenue share.”
Companies from all other states, as well as those from New Zealand all perform broadly in line with or below their share of the list.
This included 113 from Queensland (8.5 per cent of revenue), 36 from South Australia (1.9 per cent), six from Tasmania (less than 1 per cent), two from the ACT (less than 1 per cent), 90 from Western Australia (10 per cent) and 57 from New Zealand (3.8 per cent).
To compile the list, IBISWorld gathered data through primary research, company reports lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and its own appraisals of company revenue based on historic data and industry analysis.
The list is based on sales plus other revenue. Revenue from discontinued operations are excluded. Charitable entities and government bodies were also excluded from the list.
All foreign-owned companies are represented only by their Australian and New Zealand incorporated operations and subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region.
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Originally published as Victoria’s rich list: Visy, Transurban, Coles, Country Road among top ranking companies
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